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  Headlines and summaries from the pages of Electronic Engineering Times. Previous editions are available from the 1994, 1995, 1996, and 1997 News Archives.
Friday July 25, 1997Digital sees new Galaxies in high-end computingThe pioneer of computer clustering, Digital Equipment Corp., claims it is in the early stages of systems-software work that could lead to a new way of building high-end computer systems. While few details about the project--dubbed Galaxies Software Architecture--are available, one engineer involved in it suggested the work could open up a new debate in computer architectures.
ATE industry reinventing itself for systems-on-a-chipThe major players in automatic test equipment descended on the recent Semicon/West to confront the greatest challenge of their industry's history: how to access and test the coming systems-on-a-chip. The future of ATE began to jell as vendors rolled out new equipment and revealed reorganizations intended to take them into the next decade. And the outlook that emerged was that no single test technique will carry the day for system-level chips.
Taiwan fabs move to 64-Mbit DRAM productionDRAM fabrication facilities in Taiwan are moving 64-Mbit parts into production this month, using technology that has largely been obtained from joint ventures with foreign manufacturers. With 16-Mbit DRAM selling for $7 or less and 64-Mbit parts for $35, the Taiwanese are quickly going to 64-Mbit with hopes of staying ahead of the DRAM price curve.
Investment firm acquires ZilogChip maker Zilog Inc. will be changing hands yet again, this time when it merges with the investment partnership Texas Pacific Group, which plans to take the chip company private.
SVR looks to rebound from a bad yearRecent financial setbacks have made the future appear bleak at Silicon Valley Research Inc. (formerly Silvar-Lisco), one of the world's oldest EDA vendors. But despite heavy losses and declining revenues, the company is confident it will gain a new lease on life with this week's release of Sonic 3.0, its cell-based placement-and-routing tool set.
Hitachi to shut memory plant for five daysWith Japan's chip industry still in the doldrums, Hitachi Ltd. has announced that it will close its main memory facility for five days late this month. Though Hitachi portrayed the shutdown of its Naka facility as a regular maintenance move, a spokesman said the plant closure, when combined with the 7- to 10-day shutdowns by the three major Korean DRAM producers, might help boost DRAM prices.
Thursday July 24, 1997Diversified Novellus gears for deep-submicronOnce criticized as a one-product shop, semiconductor equipment vendor Novellus Systems Inc. is expanding its scope in a bid to lead the industry in the technological changes necessary for deep-submicron manufacturing.
Ortel sees broadband openingThe Ortel Corp. that broke out of California Institute of Technology in the early 1980s to commercialize semiconductor lasers is barely recognizable today. Though the company's continuous-wave lasers remain critical to hybrid fiber/coax systems, Ortel is expanding its reach throughout the broadband infrastructure, including wireless networks and wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) fiber backbones.
Platforms bow for robotics researchApplied AI Systems Inc. demonstrated an array of robotic platforms here this month at Stanford University's Genetic Programming Conference. Researchers investigating hardware autonomous agents can choose from among walking, wheeled or track-driven robots, each with its own on-board microprocessor and inter-robotic communications system.
VR project adds a dash of wisdom to external reality"Telesavance"--the communication of a person's awareness of an environment--is working its way into the lexicon of virtual reality through work at the University of Washington's Human Interface Technology lab. Experiments there aim at capturing and transmitting a participant's "situational awareness" rather than simply physical representations of position and movement.
Midwest firms scramble to fill EE job openingsThe Midwest isn't usually considered a hotbed of electronics activity, but don't tell that to the human-resources managers who are trying to fill job spots there. The engineering shortage is a reality for most of the heartland's companies, which are hiring good people almost as fast as they can find them.
Washington BriefsRecent news briefs from Washington D.C. tell of satellite service signing Bloomberg, Encryption Act approval and DoD hosting Net standards meting.
Wednesday July 23, 1997Cambridge eyes DSP applications with ASICsEyeing digital-signal-processing applications, Cambridge Consultants Ltd. is planning to create application-specific variants of its tiny, 3,000-gate 16-bit XAP microcontroller core. Areas of expansion include DSP-like functions such as "additional multipliers, multiplier-accumulators, perhaps with a 48-bit accumulator," said Alistair Morfey, group leader for ASIC design at CCL and architect of the XAP.
Tester eyes high pin countsCredence Systems Corp. brought its next-generation ATE system, called ValStar 2000, to the recent Semicon West show. The system is equipped to test the complex logic, embedded memories, analog functions and high-speed buses that characterize the new breed of high-pin-count VLSI chips.
Xylan elects to use ASICs in its switching systemsWhile some startups use standard chip sets at the core of their frame- or cell-switching fabric, Xylan Corp. has chosen to use proprietary ASICs in its LAN and ATM switching systems line. The company has opted to roll its own ASICs for switching duties, routing, port control and even such mundane functions such as media-access control (MAC) for use in its Ethernet-switching modules.
Intel devices meet CFI protocol specsIntel Corp. has announced its first flash-memory chips to conform to the recently specified Common Flash Memory Interface (CFI). The 16-Mbit and 32-Mbit devices offer low-voltage operation, 16-bit word width and the usual set of flash-memory features.
Fujitsu supports range of data-transfer speedsA trio of SCSI IC controllers that handle a broad range of data-transfer speeds and bus options is available from Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc. Designed for easy programmability, the new SCSI-2 and Fast SCSI devices are delivered with complete software support.
MOSFET gets a new spinSGS-Thomson Microelectronics Inc. has combined a vertical power MOSFET with a current-mode pulse-width-modulation (PWM) circuit in the design of its newest monolithic ICs for switched-mode power supplies (SMPS). The Viper100 uses the company's high-voltage vertical smart-power technology called Vipower.
Tuesday July 22, 1997Study calls for "seamless" Net policyThe ever-changing Internet is a unique communications medium that cannot be regulated like other networks, a new industry study concludes. The policy paper released by Washington-based MCI Telecommunications Corp. argues that government policy toward the Internet should be "market-friendly" and, like the Internet, seamless. The study, which is aimed at government and corporate policy makers, tackles such issues as digital copyrights, access fees, privacy, encryption and taxation.
Artificial brain using FPGAs on displayBilled by its creators as the world's first artificial brain, the cellular-automata brain machine (CBM) awoke last week for a workout at Stanford University's Genetic Programming conference. More than 300 researchers heard presentations for harnessing survival-of-the-fittest principles to automatically build software and hardware that evolves.
Japanese sextet hopes compact-flash card will stickSony Corp. and five other Japanese companies have proposed a compact flash-memory-card that uses a file format with larger sectors. Its sponsors say the format is better suited to audio/video and digital still-camera applications. MemoryStick, as the card is tentatively called, will compete with the CompactFlash format supported by SanDisk Corp. and its backers, as well as Toshiba Corp.'s SmartMedia card and the Miniature Card format supported by Intel Corp., Sharp, Fujitsu and Advanced Micro Devices.
Cadence moves from licensing to flexible pricingTaking a major step away from the traditional EDA "maintenance" licensing model, Cadence Design Systems this week will announce a more flexible pricing structure for standard product support. Cadence also is rolling out a custom support program with additional services billed on a per-use basis.
Two spin process for space-based communicationsWhen the IEEE's Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference opened yesterday, two semiconductor makers revealed a CMOS-processing accord aimed at subsystem and OEM vendors involved in commercial space applications. UTMC Microelectronics Systems Inc., a player in military rad-hard markets, will work with American Microsystems Inc. to develop a class of custom and standard parts called Commercial RadHard, guaranteed to provide up to 100k rads of radiation tolerance.
Aronson becomes Synplicity CEOFPGA synthesis provider Synplicity Inc., signed up a high-profile president and CEO last week with the appointment of Bernard Aronson, founder, president and CEO of Epic Design Technology before its sale to Synopsys Inc. Aronson is leaving his position as senior vice president and general manager of Synopsys's Epic technology group.
Monday July 21, 1997Net pirates plunder the high CsA little-known extension of an audio-compression technique, MPEG-2 Audio Layer-3, has opened the door to sending large volumes of CD-quality music over the Internet or packing the equivalent of several commercial compact disks onto a single CD platter. It has also opened the gate on a flood of pirating activity by an underground community of students and hackers. Hundreds of MP3 Internet sites have sprung up on which digital music is being illegally reproduced and distributed free.
PC camp blinks in standoff over HDTV formatsThe digital-TV video-format war that has pitted TV manufacturers against PC vendors could be fizzling, with the PC industry--at least for now--giving in to some broadcasters' demands for 1,080-line-interlaced HDTV-video transmission.
Consortia unveil agreement on 300-mm guidelines at SemiconSemiconductor manufacturers who gathered at the Semicon/West trade show recently face a difficult transition to larger wafers, as they continue burrowing into finer processing geometries. The dual shift means the next century's factories will need unprecedented levels of automation to satisfy chip makers' craving for added productivity and reliability. What's not clear is whether equipment suppliers will be up to the challenge.
Design language will speak many tonguesAn industry-wide, international effort aimed at developing a new System-Level Design Language (SLDL) is taking a new angle following a workshop held recently. Instead of devising a single new language from scratch, a consensus is emerging that a "meta-language layer" to leverage existing languages is a better idea.
Windows CE extends reach beyond the palmtopWindows CE, originally devised by Microsoft Corp. as an operating system for palmtop computers and consumer-electronics devices, is set to proliferate into a new generation of "thin client" desktop and mobile computers. At issue is whether the new systems will expand the software giant's reach or compete with existing Windows 95-based systems.
Novellus builds a control network into its reactorAt 60 wafers per hour minimum, Novellus Systems Inc. often has to use a sequential-multistation-tool approach to maintain throughput. But the control necessary for very thin intermetal dielectrics makes it impractical to stop processes every few minutes for wafer changes. Instead, Novellus attempts to keep materials flowing while keeping the wafer environment stable, said vice president of engineering Jeff Benzig.
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