Coming Back for Seconds
Design West 2012 Part Two
In this week's Fish Fry, I look into two ever-present themes at this year's Design West Expo: power and software. On the software side, I interview David Kleidermacher (Green Hills Software - CTO) about embedded security, virtualization, and even Green Hills's collaboration with Nintendo. On the power side, I chat with Infinite Power Solutions about energy harvesting and find out why they don't call themselves "Limited Power Solutions".
Digital to Analog and Back Again
This week’s Fish Fry is all about those persistent pesky power problems that plague our designs and what we can do to solve them. If you’re a digital guy or gal struggling to get into the analog game, or even if you’re an analog person trying your hand at digital design, this Fish Fry is for you. First, I interview Steve Logan (Xilinx) about how Xilinx has added analog ADCs to their recent development kits and how you can start designing with one. I also chat with Rob Chiacchia (Linear Technology) about the state of the art in digital power management.
All the Signal Integrity You Can Shake A Stick At
Fish Fry Takes On DesignCon
Eye diagrams, Bert Scopes and more SerDes than anyone knows what to do with...what could it be? DesignCon of course. In this week’s Fish Fry, I look into to why DesignCon was so popular this year and why signal integrity issues were the un-offcial theme of the show. I also interview Brad Griffin of Cadence about why we need power distribution analysis and why he thinks DesignCon is the best show of the year.
A Little Extra Power on the Side
With a Little Guy Trying to Exert Some Power of His Own
It was a bit after 5, right around time to go home. Which, of course, has nothing to do with the time when people actually go home in Silicon Valley.
Except this one particular day.
It was Loma Prieta day. The earthquake that interrupted the World Series. I seem to recall finding myself under my desk, trying to grip the carpet to keep from going airborne due to the shaking. Books tumbled from my bookcase onto the chair where I had been sitting seconds before. This one was definitely different.
Minding the Gap
A Look at Wide-Bandgap Materials
Assumptions are always dangerous, but there’s one reasonably safe assumption you can make about our IC-related topics: the underlying material is most likely silicon. Silicon is so dominant that anything else is considered fringe or boutique.
But if you keep your eyes open at technology conferences, the phrase “wide-bandgap materials” is becoming increasingly evident, with two compounds, GaN and SiC, dominating that discussion. These two substances tend to be treated separately and in isolation, whether in conference sessions or articles or papers. Which leaves unanswered the obvious big-picture questions: why two materials? Do they compete with or complement each other? And are there other wide-bandgap materials in the offing? And, at an even more basic level, why are we doing this at all?
Methods of Estimating Component Temperatures
Part 3 – Board Temperature
In electronics systems, the board temperature adjacent to the component often is known or controlled as a part of the system design. This means that by measuring the board temperature during operation, you can estimate the component’s junction temperature. You can use the thermal parameter Psi-JB (ΨJB) for this purpose since it is unique to a particular device, and is generally provided by the component manufacturer. This Part 3 in this three-part series details the proper method to determine the component junction temperature by measuring the board temperature. By carefully addressing component temperature, you can ensure operation within the thermal limits of the component.
Methods of Estimating Component Temperatures
Part 2 – Case Temperature
In electronics systems, the case temperature (sometimes referred to as top temperature) of a component often is easy to measure. Fortunately, the component case temperature is very close, both physically and thermally, to the component junction temperature. This means that you can estimate the component’s junction temperature by measuring it’s case temperature during operation. You can use the thermal parameter Psi-JT (ΨJT) for this purpose since it is unique for a particular component under typical use conditions, and is generally provided by the component manufacturer. This article details the proper method to determine the component junction temperature by measuring the case temperature. By carefully addressing component temperature, you can ensure operation within the thermal limits of the component.
Methods of Estimating Component Temperatures
Part 1
It is well known that IC components heat up during operation as they dissipate power while doing their analog and digital magic. But how can the user determine if a component (semiconductor device) is too hot? Many engineers have seen videos on this or may even have personal lab experience with overloaded components which start to smoke or melt. What is not commonly known, however, is that well below this temperature the component function or reliability starts to degrade. How can you be certain that each component in an electronic system is within its safe operating range?
Making Analog Fun
The Life and Times of Jim Williams
In this week's Fish Fry, Amelia recounts the engineering accolades, accomplishments, and artistic endeavors of analog guru Jim Williams. She interviews Bob Dobkin (Linear Technology co-founder, Vice President, Engineering & Chief Technical Officer) about Jim Williams' work at Linear Technology, Jim's passions outside the office, and what we should all take away from Jim's life story.
Also this week, Amelia chats with Lihn Hong, Marketing Vice President of Kilopass about their non-volatile memory and how this offering may just be better than your standard flash interface.
You'll want to jump on this week's nerdy giveaway as well...but you'll have to listen to find out what it is and how to win!
Putting a Spin on Motor Control
Texas Instruments Stakes Some Turf
More than 180 years ago, a bunch of guys started messing around with harnessing electromagnetism - building devices that converted electrical energy to mechanical energy. Their basic design - the electric motor - has changed surprisingly little in the almost two centuries since those early attempts. Electric motors have gradually become more efficient and more powerful, but the fundamentals have remained the same with few major breakthroughs - until fairly recently.
We see a number of examples in our world where devices have been made “smart” to very little advantage. Well-meaning engineers, enamored with the potential of embedded processors, have put intelligence into everything from toasters to road signs. There are few examples, however, where the advantage of taking a “dumb” mechanical device and adding intelligent control have had as much impact on performance as with electric motors. Electronic motor control pays enormous dividends in performance, efficiency, and reliability.