Tekmos Talks
A Newsletter for the Semiconductor Industry
 September 2015
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From the Desk of the President
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Interns Morphing to Engineers
Tekmos hires college students and assign them to work in various positions. Freshmen serve as operators, running handlers in our manufacturing area. Junior and senior engineering majors may be elevated to technicians, and used to assist engineers in their work.
This summer, we have had two people make the transition from Intern to Engineer.
Kelsey Melhorn was promoted to being an Assembly Engineer. She is in charge of setting up our in-house assembly operations.
Michael Robinson is now our newest design engineer. He graduated from Texas State University this summer, and decided to join us. He will be working on some of our microcontrollers.
We are pleased that they have decided to start their careers with us.
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ASICs by Richard Stallkamp
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So your ASIC supplier won't supply your ASICs?
Many ASIC manufacturers are either no longer around or are not offering ASICs any more. So what do you do if you need more parts? You come to Tekmos. Tekmos has been a trusted source of replacement ASICs (and conversions from FPGA to ASICs) for almost twenty years.
There are many things to consider when generating a new ASIC from a prior ASIC. Since every chip is different, a lot depends on what is contained in the original design documentation. The Tekmos starting point is usually a post-route, gate-level netlist but we can accept RTL, HDL, or VHDL and synthesize the design into the Tekmos library. We simulate the design using the vectors supplied to us to verify we have implemented the netlist correctly. We also run fault coverage on the vectors to make sure that they are effectively exercising the circuit. We prefer 95% fault coverage but we usually accept original vectors with coverages as low as 85%.
Sanity checks are always good. A great way to verify that the design and stimulus vectors match the prior design is to apply the input stimulus to real parts and see if the outputs are what we expect. Of course, we need our customers to supply a few of the original design parts in order to make this check. One might think that this is a waste of time and effort but we have had a few instances where the design files supplied to us were not the final version of the prior part. No one wants to try to explain to their boss that, after waiting for many weeks, they now have a supply of working parts that are for the wrong generation system.
It is nice to have a physical example of what we are trying to build. Having an actual physical part allows us to verify other characteristics, such as input switching levels and output drive levels. Occasionally we also find that these characteristics are different than what is called out in the specification. To successfully build a new ASIC, it is critical to determine exactly what is required, not just what is said in the specification.
Once we are convinced that the netlist and vectors match the prior part, the design is processed with a standard ASIC design flow. The design is committed to physical layout and the effects of the physical implementation are fed back for re-simulation. Once the designer is satisfied that the design still functions, after allowing for the physical layout, tooling is procured and silicon fabricated. Tested wafers are separated into chips and the chips packaged and tested. After you accept samples, Tekmos starts sending production parts to you.
So if your ASIC supplier won't or can't supply the ASICs you need, come to Tekmos who will supply them. And when you come, bring the original vendor signoff documentation package and a couple of reference parts. That is all we need.
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Internet of Things by Richard Stallkamp
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Even though we had talked about it before, my non-techie friend asked me "How big is this IoT thing?" I tried to explain again that the IoT, the Internet of things, is really a poorly defined marketing term that is very, very broad. Here is what we talked about.
How it was
Cars used to be mostly mechanical with a few electrical items. Computers were expensive, room-sized machines that required air conditioning. Long distance communication was either over phone wires or with specialized radio equipment. Music came from either the radio or a vinyl record player. Verbal instructions from parents had more effect on kids than on record players or telephone apparatus.
All this has changed
With recent advances, many different technologies have finally grown into each other. Cars are computers on wheels. A hand held smart phone is a computer that plays music and takes great pictures. It's a flashlight that can be used to deposit checks from home or tell you where you or a friend is. The smart phone can follow your verbal instruction to play music or to place calls. The term IoT is the recognition that all these things can interact.
A personal scenario
It is not hard to imagine that a future evening might include this scenario. You are in a city that is new to you. Your car recognizes you as you walk toward it and opens the door just in time. You sit down and say "Take me to a good, medium priced Greek restaurant that is no more than twenty minutes away." The car answers "Due to traffic conditions, it will take thirty five minutes to get to the Greek restaurant but there is a good Italian restaurant that is only ten minutes away in current traffic. I can make reservations at either. Which do you prefer?" You answer and the car reads you the current specials and plays Italian music until it drops you in front of your choice. It goes on to find the parking place that it has identified.
While this scenario may never happen, it is actually feasible today. It illustrates the working combination of visual recognition, self-driving cars, automatic use of traffic conditions, automatic search and reporting of online information, and the computer choice of appropriate music.
It's not just a fun toy for individuals
The IoT has major uses in utilities, lighting, smart use of air conditioning, remote control of oil wells, dams, air traffic, and much more. If highway vehicles "talk" with each other, they can travel much closer together, faster, and make safer entry merges. The sensing of a stalled vehicle on the tracks can stop a train even before the engineer sees the problem. Water flow in irrigation systems can be modified by weather forecasts. The impending failure of a manufacturing machine can be sensed and new parts ordered and ready. Human fire lookouts can be replaced by visual and infrared sensors that can be alert 24/7 and that do not ever need to be rescued. All these things can happen with interconnectivity.
Oddly enough, things not even connected to the internet sometimes get lumped in. I have heard the term IoT used when referring to using a smart phone to adjust a hearing aid. In short, the IoT is the interconnection of everything.
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New Product Announcement by Richard Stallkamp
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250 oC High Temperature TK74H373 Tri-State Octal D-Type Transparent Latch
The TK74H373 is designed for use in extreme temperature environments, such as down-hole oil drilling and wireline applications. It can also be used in jet engine applications where it is necessary to interface directly to high temperature structures. The part uses a special high temperature SOI process, with tungsten interconnect, to prevent metal migration. It has gold bond pads with gold bonding to improve bond reliability.
The TK74H373 features 8-bit registers with totem-pole 3-state outputs designed specifically for driving highly-capacitive or relatively low-impedance loads. The high-impedance state and increased high-logic level drive provide these registers with the capability of being connected directly to and driving the bus lines in a bus-organized system without need for interface or pull-up components. They are particularly attractive for implementing buffer registers, I/O ports, bidirectional bus drivers, and working registers. The eight latches of the TK74H373 are transparent D-type latches meaning that while the enable (G) is HIGH the Q outputs will follow the data (D) inputs. When the enable is taken LOW the output will be latched at the level of the data that was set up.
The TK74H373 is the newest Tekmos high temperature standard product. Tekmos also offers ASIC capability for designs that must be kept proprietary for IP reasons.
For more information on any high temperature products from Tekmos, contact Bob Abrams, Director of Sales@Tekmos.com or call 512-342-9871.
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Please share any comments, compliments and or requests by taking part in our Customer Survey provided here for your convenience. Tekmos is "Unifying the Industry" with continued innovation.
Sincerely,
Lynn Reed, President
 7901 E. Riverside Dr. Bldg.2, Suite 150Austin, TX 78744Phone: (512) 342-9871Fax: (512) 342-9873
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