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Ep. 46 | Microsoft VP Marcus Fontoura on Architecting Azure, the “World’s Computer”

Behind the scenes with a Microsoft Technical Fellow and Corporate VP who discusses the software, hardware, and infrastructure behind Azure cloud computing, the software-defined data center, and what makes the most efficient, sustainable data centers in the world.

one day ago by Daniel Bogdanoff

AMD SOM Kit Propels Robotics Beyond Custom Designs

Keen to free industrial robotics from the burdens of custom design, AMD has launched a SOM-based starter kit that puts ROS 2 and predefined interface apps into play.

May 17, 2022 by Jeff Child

GaN-on-Silicon for RF Applications? ST and MACOM Claim Success

STMicroelectronics and MACOM announced the successful production of RF GaN-on-Silicon technology, hoping to solve GaN production challenges for RF components.

May 16, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Innovative Interconnects: The Future of Chiplet-based Processors?

Many of the world's largest chipmakers like AMD, Intel, and NVIDIA are investing in chiplets. But heterogeneous processors are not without their flaws.

April 18, 2022 by Arjun Nijhawan

“First” Silicon-based Qubits at Scale Narrows Gap for Quantum Computing

Intel and QuTech have teamed up for scaling and solving quantum technology challenges with the success of the first fabrication of silicon-based qubits.

April 18, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Ep. 43 | Mark Papermaster: The EE and Exec Behind Apple, IBM, Cisco, and AMD’s Success

What hasn’t Mark Papermaster accomplished? He’s the engineer and exec who impacted Apple’s iPhones and iPods, the IBM Power PC, and has led AMD's remarkable rejuvenation from a company that “may have lost their way” to surpassing Intel’s market cap.

April 12, 2022 by Daniel Bogdanoff

The Pros and Cons of Moving EDA to the Cloud

Taking EDA to the cloud, Synopsys’ new software-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings for EDA and IC design raise the question: is cloud computing a good choice for chip design?

April 11, 2022 by Jake Hertz

2D Semiconductors May Be Key to 3D Integration, Say Stanford Researchers

New research indicates how 2D semiconductors could advance monolithic 3D integration in a scalable way—prolonging Moore's law in the process.

April 02, 2022 by vishvachi

Finding Your EE “Why” With Thy Tran: The “Semiconductor Gypsy”

In honor of Woman’s History Month, AAC talked with Micron’s Thy Tran who has made waves in the industry, inspiring new engineers and helping to bring groundbreaking DRAM technology to life.

March 31, 2022 by Kimber Wymore

Ep. 42 | Groq CEO and Ex-Googler Jonathan Ross on the Petaflop AI Chip and First Ever TPU

Groq’s chip architecture is something all electrical engineers will drool over. It not only focuses on high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML), but it can do 1 PetaOp—1 quadrillion operations per second. “Which is four commas, not three... yeah,” Groq’s CEO Jonathan Ross emphasizes while confirming it is indeed 300X faster than NVIDIA’s chip. This “successful college dropout” designed Google’s TPU (tensor processing unit) and came up with $10B ideas at X - the moonshot factory, but “never in a million years” thought he’d be Groq’s CEO.

March 29, 2022 by Daniel Bogdanoff

Chiplet Design Hopes to Rise Up as a Contender for Sidestepping Moore’s Law

To overcome Moore's Law and die-to-die interconnection issues, the world’s top companies are turning to chiplet design for their next-generation computing hardware.

March 28, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Photonic Wire Bonding Process Could Open Door to More Photonic Electronics

As photonics technology seeks its niche in the industry, one hurdle to overcome is a scalable fabrication process. One technique called photonic wire bonding (PWB) hopes to push photonics forward.

March 26, 2022 by Abdulwaliy Oyekunle

Nvidia’s Hopper Architecture Leaps in With Tons of New Tech for HPC and AI

Continuing to unpack NVIDIA's GTC Conference releases, one stand out was the Hopper architecture targeting high-performance computing (HPC) and AI/machine learning.

March 24, 2022 by Jake Hertz

Designing to Protect 5G Macro Base Stations for High Reliability

In this article, learn about protecting three major base station systems, the baseband unit, the power supply, and the backup battery system.

March 10, 2022 by Todd Phillips, Littelfuse

AAC Exclusive: A Chat With IBM Researchers Who Built the New “VTFET” Transistor

In December, IBM and Samsung announced a new transistor architecture said to defy conventional FinFETs. We spoke with two of IBM's leading researchers on this project for details.

March 07, 2022 by Ingrid Fadelli

Indium Oxide Semiconductors May Keep Moore’s Law Going

Researchers around the world are continually finding new ways to prolong Moore's law. Now, Purdue researchers have found another means to this end: using an atomic layer deposition technique for indium oxide-based transistors.

February 28, 2022 by Darshil Patel

The “Traitorous Eight” and the Rise of Fairchild Semiconductor

While Shockley Semiconductor may have been the first company of Silicon Valley, it was Fairchild Semiconductor—founded by eight former Shockley engineers—who proliferated thousands of tech companies.

February 28, 2022 by Tyler Charboneau

GaN Keeps a Steady Pace Into 2022 With a Focus on Design

The race to beat out silicon (Si) for the "best" semiconductor continues with a rush of gallium nitride (GaN) announcements focusing on creating and furthering GaN-based device designs.

February 21, 2022 by Antonio Anzaldua Jr.

SpaceX Loses 40 Satellites to Radiation: Spotlight on Rad-hard IC Design

Space, the "final frontier," has been a growing area of interest, especially for electronic devices. Companies like Microchip, BAE Systems, Intel, CAES, and Lattice Semiconductor take aim for better space-rated IC design.

February 14, 2022 by Darshil Patel

EU Officially Puts Forward Its Own Chips Act

The EU is following the U.S. in enacting its own chips act to stimulate the global semiconductor industry.

February 10, 2022 by Jake Hertz