What do IC design for test, the Tessent multi-die software solution and the best semiconductor material of all time have in common? This week’s podcast of course! My guest Vidya Neerkundar (Siemens) and I discuss trends in the IC industry today, the unique testing challenges for today’s cutting edge integrated circuits and why automation for 2D and 3D IC design-for-test is the way of the future. Also … Read More → "Automation and the Future of IC Design for Test"
According to Greek mythology, the Chimera (a.k.a. Chimaera) was a monstrous fire-breathing hybrid creature that was composed of different animal parts. These days, the term "chimera" has come to describe (a) any mythical or fictional creature with parts taken from various animals, (b) anything composed of very disparate parts, or (c) anything perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling. …
Read More → "Chimera GPNPU Blends CPU, DSP, and NPU into New Category of Hybrid Processor"Now that we’re well into the 21st century, most people rarely think of Rockwell Microelectronics in connection with microprocessors and microcontrollers. The parent company, North American Rockwell (renamed Rockwell International in 1973), was a major military/aerospace contractor. Rockwell built the Apollo spacecraft, the B1 Lancer bomber, and the US Space Shuttle. Rockwell’s Rocketdyne engines were used … Read More → "A History of Early Microcontrollers, Part 3: The Rockwell Microelectronics PPS-4/1"
I have been fascinated by the manipulation of light since I was a kid. In another Fish Fry podcast playlist on Youtube, I investigate a variety of innovations in photonics. I chat with Dr. Eyal Cohen (Co-founder and CEO of Cognifiber) about Cognifiber’s glass-based chips, proprietary fibers, and embedded waveguides, and why the advancement of this kind of technology could revolutionize the world of edge computing. I also … Read More → "Fish Fry 500: The Best of Photonics (Now on Youtube!)"
As with many first-of-a-kind devices, the Texas Instruments (TI) TMS0100 calculator chip family was a narrowly defined microcontroller, mostly good for making calculators. However, the first chip in the TMS0100 family, originally called the TM1802NC and later renamed the TMS0102, incorporated everything a microcontroller requires to be a microcontroller: a CPU, RAM, ROM, and I/O. Granted, it was a specialized microcontroller. Its I/O … Read More → "A History of Early Microcontrollers, Part 2: The Texas instruments TMS1000"
