Semiconductor Innovation in an Investment Constrained Economy
Updated: 2012-11-30 19:59:34
The current innovation climate in the semiconductor industry is alive and well but entrepreneurs have to adjust to the realities of the current economic situation and investment trends. The world's governmental economic development agencies have always looked at Silicon Valley with envy and paid big money to try to find the key which would unlock the secrets

How much time have you wasted trying to understand software tools by deciphering the logic of their creator? I always find it very frustrating to be limited by features and tool capabilities that do not do exactly what I want, or which do not work at all with my other applications. We are engineers! We can learn and adapt, but we often want to be able to extend and improve the tools we are using. Why is that not always possible?View the full article HERE
Texas Instruments introduced their ADS1293 analog-front-end (AFE) IC. The TI ADS1293 can support one to five leads with a single AFE. It reduces the size, power consumption and overall cost of scalable medical instrumentation systems. The AFE is available now in a 5mm x 5mm QFN package. It is priced at $5.50 in 1,000-unit quantities. [...]
Texas Instruments rolled out their SM28VLT32-HT 4 MB Flash memory device. The TI high-temperature, nonvolatile IC eliminates the need for up-screening and qualification testing of industrial-grade components for temperature ranges outside data sheet specifications. The SM28VLT32-HT is sampling now in an 8-mm x 25-mm ceramic flat pack, with KGD package options. Volume quantities will available [...]
Analog Devices announced the ADAS3022 data acquisition integrated circuit. The 16-bit, 1-MSPS ADI IC uses one-third the board space of competing discrete devices. It enables engineers to simplify designs and reduce the size of advanced industrial data acquisition systems. The ADAS3022 is available now in 40-lead LFCSP ((lead-frame chip-scale package). It is priced at $14.95. [...]
Microchip Technology introduced the MCP19035 power-conversion controller family and the MCP87xxx family of power MOSFET devices. The MCP19035 and MCP87xxx families are available now for sampling and volume production. The MCP19035 family is available in a 3×3 mm 10-pin DFN package. Prices start at $1.12 each in 5,000-unit quantities. The MCP87022 and the MCP87050 are [...]
Microchip Technology introduced their configurable MGC3130 electrical-field based 3D gesture controller. The device features patented GestIC technology. GestIC enables the next dimension in intuitive, gesture-based, non-contact user interfaces for a broad range of end products. The configurable MGC3130 E-field IC offers low-power, precise, fast and robust hand position tracking with free-space gesture recognition. Samples of [...]
Berkeley Design Automation released their Analog FastSPICE AMS. AFS AMS combines the foundry certified Analog FastSPICE circuit simulator with any leading Verilog hardware description language (HDL) simulator to provide full Verilog-AMS language support. It offers simple, fast, and accurate verification of complex nanometer-scale mixed-signal circuits. Read more: Analog FastSPICE AMS Combines Circuit and Verilog HDL [...]
Dialog Semiconductor introduced the DA9063 integrated configurable power management IC for ARM quad-core and dual-core application processors. The DA9063 PMIC device can deliver up to 12A from its six DC/DC converters, which is at least 24% better than the competition. The Dialog Semiconductor DA9063 IC has an operating temperature range of -40 to +85 degrees [...]
Analog Devices launched the AD514x and AD512x series of non-volatile single-, dual- and quad-channel digital potentiometers. The ADI digiPOT devices feature resistance tolerance of ±1 percent (typical). The AD514x and AD512x series improves component matching in industrial and communication control systems. Digital POT devices can be used to calibrate system tolerances or dynamically control system [...]