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What you need to know about firmware security in chips
The rapid advancement of semiconductor technologies has transformed industries across the globe, from data centers to consumer devices, and even critical infrastructure. With the ever-growing reliance...
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Adaptive resolution for ADCs
Impact of ADC resolution and its reference Engineers always want to get all they can from their circuits; this holds for analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). To maximize performance from an ADC,...
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Boosting RISC-V SoC performance for AI and ML applications
Today’s system-on-chip (SoC) designs integrate unprecedented numbers of diverse IP cores, from general-purpose CPUs to specialized hardware accelerators, including neural processing units (NPUs),...
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Analyzing a lightning-zapped NAS
As introduced last October, the summer of 2024 was once again brutal from a lightning-induced electronics-culling standpoint at the Dipert household. I’ve already covered the hot tub control board that...
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From system design to SiP: What’s the design flow
Like any successful system-on-chip (SoC) effort, a multi-die system-in-package (SiP) project must start with a sound system design. But then what? Are the steps in the SiP design flow different from...
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A two-way mirror—current mirror that is
One classic set you’ll see in most vintage mystery movies is an interrogation room with a “two-way” mirror on one wall. This cool gadget lets the witnesses see the suspects from another room while the...
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Smartphone design: The confrontation of comfort and intention
The smartphone wasn’t designed to hijack our attention—it was designed to be indispensable. But somewhere along the way, it started doing both. While they’ve become essential for navigation,...
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TEG energy harvesting: hype or hope?
I like to follow energy-harvesting research developments and actual installations, as there are many creative approaches and useful applications. In many cases, harvesting has solved a power-source...
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PCIe card provides FPGA-based data acceleration
Powered by the Achronix Speedster 7t1500 FPGA, the VectorPath 815 PCIe accelerator card meets the performance demands of AI and HPC workloads. Speedster FPGAs integrate machine learning processors to...
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Toshiba shrinks SiC MOSFETs with DFN package
Toshiba has released four 650-V third-generation SiC MOSFETs in compact 8×8-mm DFN packages. The surface-mount DFN reduces volume by over 90% compared to leaded packages such as TO-247 (3-terminal) and...
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PSU combines GaN and SiC for hyperscale AI
Navitas announced a production-ready 12-kW PSU reference design that achieves 97.8% efficiency for hyperscale AI data centers with 120-kW rack densities. The design incorporates three-phase interleaved...
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MCU enables neuromorphic processing at the edge
As Innatera’s first mass-market neuromorphic MCU, Pulsar delivers intelligence at the edge by emulating the brain’s neural networks. It uses Spiking Neural Networks that process only changes in...
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Platform helps secure in-vehicle connectivity
NXP’s OrangeBox 2.0 automotive connectivity domain controller features an upgraded CPU and embedded AI acceleration. This second-generation development platform facilitates secure connectivity between...
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Hot swap basics: Controllers, schematics, and design examples
How does a hot swap circuit work? What’s the role of a hot swap controller? What are the basic design considerations for selecting a hot swap controller or module? Here is a short tutorial explaining...
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Warranties: Inconsistent-requirements and -results policies
Back in late March, at the end of my coverage of Google’s Pixel 9a smartphone launch: I mentioned that one of my Pixel 7 phones had started swelling, indicative of a failing battery: I teased that my...
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Power Tips # 141: Tips and tricks for achieving wide operating ranges with...
Inductor-inductor-capacitor (LLC) resonant converters have a couple of appealing characteristics for applications requiring an isolated DC/DC converter such as minimal switching losses, no reverse...
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The truth about Wolfspeed’s bankruptcy chatter
At a time when the explosive growth in artificial intelligence (AI), data centers, electric vehicles (EVs), and renewable energy is triggering an unprecedented demand for high-voltage, high-frequency...
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How reverse polarity protection works to safeguard car battery
Reverse polarity protection is essential in battery-connected automotive systems. So, while reverse polarity is a risky, how do we prevent it? This article delves into reverse polarity protection...
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A single op-amp solution to stabilize laser output
Semiconductor laser diodes (SLDs) are often packaged with a photodiode. The output current from this photodiode can be monitored to regulate the output power intensity of the laser diode. SLDs,...
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Microsoft Build 2025: Arm (and AI, of course) thrive
Last week was a biggie for those of you into tech conferences. First and foremost, of course, there was the 2025 iteration of the Silicon Valley-located Embedded Vision Summit, for which I have both...
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