SOITEC Pushes Substrate Advantages for Edge Inference

SOITEC Pushes Substrate Advantages for Edge Inference
by Bernard Murphy on 02-08-2024 at 6:00 am

FD SOI power min

You might not immediately see a connection between semiconductor substrate choices and inference at the edge. These technology layers seem worlds apart and yet SOITEC have a point. Edge AI has rapidly evolved from simple CNNs to now complex reinforcement learning systems and transformer based LLMs. Even when shrunk to edge footprints,… Read More


Rad Hard Circuit Design and Optimization for Space Applications

Rad Hard Circuit Design and Optimization for Space Applications
by Daniel Payne on 09-06-2023 at 6:00 am

LCL smart power switch diagram

The Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology (MCTIC) has a research unit, Renato Archer Information Technology Center (CTI), and two of their IC engineers presented at the MunEDA User Group meeting this May on the topic of designing Latching Current Limiter (LCL) circuits for space applications with RHBD (radiation-hardened… Read More


Plasmonics Integrates Photonics and Electronics

Plasmonics Integrates Photonics and Electronics
by Mitch Heins on 02-21-2017 at 7:00 am

In the last year we have seen a marked increase in activity around the integrated photonics space, especially around silicon-based photonics. Last year the American Institute for Manufacturing of Photonics (better known as AIM Photonics) was started to boot-strap U.S. efforts in integrated photonics. We also saw multiple … Read More


A Peek Inside the Global Foundries Photonic Death Star!

A Peek Inside the Global Foundries Photonic Death Star!
by Mitch Heins on 11-03-2016 at 12:00 pm

Last week I wrote about the Photonics Summit and hands-on training hosted by Cadence Design, PhoeniX Software and Lumerical Solutions and in that article I mentioned that Ted Letavic of Global Foundries laid out a powerful argument for why integrated photonics is a technology that is going main stream. This article dives into … Read More


The Fabless Empire Strikes Back, Global Foundries and Cadence make moves into Integrated Photonics!

The Fabless Empire Strikes Back, Global Foundries and Cadence make moves into Integrated Photonics!
by Mitch Heins on 10-20-2016 at 4:00 pm

In August I wrote an article proclaiming Score 1 for IDMs vs Fabless and discussedIntel’sannouncement of volume production of their 100G PSM4 and 100G CWDM4 transceiver products.

This week the Fabless Empire strikes back.
Daniel Nenni and I attended a two-day Photonic Summit and workshop hosted by Cadence Design, PhoeniX Software
Read More


Fabless Photonics Gets a Boost with Aurrion Acquistion by Juniper Networks

Fabless Photonics Gets a Boost with Aurrion Acquistion by Juniper Networks
by Mitch Heins on 08-07-2016 at 12:00 pm

It was announced this week that Juniper Networks is acquiring integrated photonics fabless supplier Aurrion for an undisclosed amount. Aurrion was founded in 2008 by Dr. Alexander Fang of ex Intel and IBM fame and specializes in Indium Phosphide (InP) based transceivers for long-haul communications.

The twist that made Aurrion’sRead More


Si Photonics in a 300mm Fab – This is Getting Serious!

Si Photonics in a 300mm Fab – This is Getting Serious!
by Mitch Heins on 05-13-2016 at 7:00 am

Greater demand for more data exchange within data centers is being driven by mobile computing and the Internet-of-Everything. In 2011, it was estimated that over 1 Zettabytes (ZB) of data was pushed through the internet. That’s 1×10[SUP]21[/SUP] bytes of data. And, that amount has been doubling every 3 years since. Given… Read More


Mind The Gap – Boarding the Silicon Photonics Packaging Train

Mind The Gap – Boarding the Silicon Photonics Packaging Train
by Mitch Heins on 05-01-2016 at 8:00 pm


I’ve been doing a lot of reading on silicon photonics lately and I’ve come to realize that while there is much written on the development of individual silicon photonic components and devices (modulators, photo detectors, optical amplifiers and such) that much of the cost and therefore chances of economic success… Read More


Would Sauron have made the One Ring if he had known about Plasmonics?

Would Sauron have made the One Ring if he had known about Plasmonics?
by Mitch Heins on 04-25-2016 at 7:00 am

In J.R.R. Tolkien’s novel ‘Lord of the Rings’, the Dark Lord Sauron created the “One Ring” as the ultimate weapon to conquer all of Middle-earth. So too it seems that in the world of integrated silicon photonics, the “ring” has become somewhat ubiquitous and powerful. Resonance … Read More


Silicon Photonics – Back to the Future – Part Deux?

Silicon Photonics – Back to the Future – Part Deux?
by Mitch Heins on 04-10-2016 at 8:00 pm

I cut my teeth in silicon IC design at Texas Instruments during the early 1980’s working on what would eventually become the ASIC and Fabless IC industries that enabled the explosive growth of the electronics industry over the last three decades. Of late I’ve become involved in the silicon photonics space and I am getting an incredible… Read More