[Technology Report] IP Modeling Holds Key To Easier Design Reuse
On the surface, designing complex systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) with reusable blocks of intellectual property (IP) looks like a breeze. Just throw together your architecture, drop those functional blocks into your design, and send it over the wall for...
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David Maliniak
[Ideas For Design] 1-kV Piezo Amplifier Keeps Cost, Noise Low
Piezoceramic (PZT), or "piezo," actuators are known to be excellent position transducers in the nanometer or micrometer range. These actuators are widely used in many precision applications. PZTs, which come in different shapes (tubes, disks, and...
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Contributing Author
[Editorial] Do We Take Technology Advances For Granted?
Today's relentless advances in semiconductor technology, which allow the doubling of chip complexity about every 18 to 24 months, have happened so regularly that we have been able to schedule our use of next-generation technology without any...
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Dave Bursky
[Pease Porridge] What's All This ROI Stuff, Anyhow? (Part 1)
Due to my recent comments on Ed Tipler's proposal (Electronic Design, April 16, p. 109) for improved efficiency of ordinary (capacitor-start) electric motors, several readers wrote to criticize, question, or doubt me. Some were very...
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Bob Pease
[Embedded in Electronic Design] Winning Web Ways
There are over a billion Web sites out there. Suppose you want a winning Web site, one that attracts designers and does more than showcases datasheets. Winning on the Web takes more than just piling data higher and deeper. ...
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Ray Weiss
[40 Years Ago] Tiros III Carries New Solid-State Timer
An all-solid-state timer on the newly orbited Tiros III weather satellite represents a significant electronic advance, according to its designers at RCA. Tiros III is making possible studies of the formation of tropical storms over the Caribbean,...
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Steve Scrupski
[40 Years Ago] Fiber Optics Pointed Toward Bright Future
Fiber optics held an important place in the Aug. 7-11 symposium of the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers in Los Angeles. Four companies showed fused-fiber image conduits: Mosaic Fabrications Inc. and American Optical Co., both of...
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Steve Scrupski
[Forefront] Top-Ranked Supercomputer To Reasearch Fuel Efficiency
An IBM supercomputer theoretically capable of achieving 3.8 trillion calculations/s will be used in scientific research that may lead to breakthroughs in fuel-efficient automobiles. According to the independent TOP500 List, it is the world's most...
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Lisa Eccles
[Forefront] Fastest SiGe HBT Surpasses 200-GHz Mark
Having moved the silicon-germanium (SiGe) process out of the labs and onto the manufacturing floor a few years ago, researchers at IBM Microelectronics have reformed the structure of the SiGe heterojunction-bipolar transistor (HBT) to catapult its...
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Ashok Bindra
[Forefront] Labs Investigate New Materials To Boost IC Speeds
Scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Motorola Labs, and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) have entered a cooperative research and development agreement to increase the speed of future generations of ICs....
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Lisa Eccles
[Forefront] Robot Dinosaurs "Roams" The Halls At MIT
Warning! Dinosaurs have invaded the MIT lab! They may one day "roam" through a museum near you, too. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence (AI) Lab in Cambridge have created a robotic dinosaur....
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Lisa Eccles
[Forefront] Digital Technique Improves Jitter Measurement
Jitter has always been a problem in high-speed data communications systems. As speeds increase to 10 Gbits/s and beyond, measuring jitter is becoming more and more challenging. So, Tektronix has developed a new and better method of jitter...
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Louis E. Frenzel
[Forefront] International Treaty Battles Cybercrime
A committee acting under the direction of the Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, France, has completed the final draft of a treaty that aims to aid countries in the fight against cybercrime. Drafted by the European Committee on Crime Problems...
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Lisa Eccles
[Forefront] Company Wire
Through its wholly owned subsidiary Applied MEMS Inc., Input/Output Inc. has entered into a preferred manufacturing partnership with Coventor Inc. for the design and manufacture of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). Applied MEMS will...
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Staff
[Forefront] Verification Platform Speeds Simulation And Emulation
R>epresenting a multifunction verification platform that provides both simulation acceleration and in-circuit emulation capabilities, the Palladium ASIC design verification system dramatically increases designer productivity. It offers compile...
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David Maliniak
