Consumer Electronics
“Rather Than Investing $10 Billion Into A Mega Fab In One City, We Could Build Smaller, Decentralised Fabs Across The Country” – Raja Manickam, iVP Semiconductor
– Advertisement – Amid a global reset in semiconductor strategy, India’s clean-slate advantage lies in frugal innovation, chiplet architecture, and agile microfabs. With no legacy constraints, we havethe freedom to shape the future rather than imitate the past. Raja Manickam, Founder and CEO iVP Semiconductor “There is an Indian in every chip,” I often say,…
A new IDM era kickstarts in the gallium nitride (GaN) world
The news about TSMC exiting the gallium nitride (GaN) foundry business has stunned the semiconductor industry, also laying the groundwork for integrated device manufacturers (IDMs) like Infineon Technologies to seize the moment and fill the vacuum. Technology and trade media are abuzz with how GaN power device manufacturing is different from traditional power semiconductors, and…
Power Tips #143: Tips for keeping the power converter cool in automotive USB PD applications
Today’s car buyers, whether purchasing premium or economy models, expect to charge multiple devices simultaneously through in-vehicle USB ports. To meet this demand, automakers are replacing legacy USB Type-A ports with multiple USB Type-C ports that support the latest USB power delivery (PD) standards. These standards enable significantly higher power levels—up to 48 V and…
Real-time Web-based Home Automation
In today’s era of the Internet of Things (IoT), smart home automation has evolved from being a luxury to an accessible and essential part of modern living. This project demonstrates a scalable and real-time home automation system built around the powerful IndusBoard Coin, a compact development board based on the ESP32-S2 microcontroller. The system allows…
Chiplet design basics for engineers
The world is experiencing an insatiable and rapidly growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (HPC) applications. Breakthroughs in machine learning, data analytics, and the need for faster processing across all industries fuel this surge. Application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), typically implemented as system-on-chip (SoC) devices, are central to today’s AI and HPC solutions….
A nice, simple, and reasonably accurate PWM-driven 16-bit DAC
Implementing a simple digital-to-analog converter (DAC) by cascading a single pulse width modulator (PWM) and an analog low-pass filter is nothing new. Nor is applying to a filter the sum of the outputs of a most significant 2N-count PWM and a least significant 2N-count one to get a composite 22N-bit DAC [1][2]. But designing one…
Perusing Walmart’s onn. 4K Pro Streaming Device with Google TV: Storage aplenty
Toward the end of my late-April teardown of Walmart’s first-generation Google TV-based onn. 4K Streaming Box, which EDN quickly augmented by publishing my dissection of its “stick” sibling, the onn. Full HD Streaming Device, two weeks later, I wrote: I’ve also got an onn. Google TV 4K Pro Streaming Device sitting here which I’ll be…
PCB design tips for EMI and thermal management in 800G systems
As the industry accelerates toward 800G Ethernet and optical interconnects, engineers face new challenges in managing electromagnetic interference (EMI) while ensuring signal integrity at unprecedented speeds. The transition to 112G pulse amplitude modulation 4-level (PAM4) SerDes introduces faster edge rates and dense spectral content, elevating the risk of radiated and conducted emissions. Simultaneously, compact module…
Japan’s Rapidus Enters Elite Semiconductor League With 2nm Prototype
– Advertisement – Facing high stakes, yet higher ambitions, Japan’s Rapidus presents the chip world with its first 2nm prototype chip. Will this big bet be able to compete with the giants like TSMC? On July 18, at a press event in Chitose, Hokkaido, Japanese firm Rapidus Corporation confirmed that it had successfully validated the…
Firmware-upgrade functional defection and resurrection
My first job out of college was with Intel, in the company’s nonvolatile memory division. After an initial couple of years dabbling with specialty EPROMs, I was the first member from that group to move over to the then-embryonic flash memory team to launch the company’s first BootBlock storage device, the 28F001BX. Your part number…