There are numerous functional safety standards. Most are based on IEC 61508, the foundational safety integrity level (SIL) standard. IEC 61511 is the SIL standard for the process industry. ISO 26262 is applicable to safety in automotive systems. ISO 13849 is a safety standard that applies to parts of machinery control systems that provide safety […]
FAQ
What is the MIPI I3C HCI good for?
The mobile industry processor interface (MIPI) improved inter-integrated circuit (I3C) host controller interface (HCI) provides a scalable, low-power, medium-speed, two-wire I3C utility and control bus interface for connecting peripheral devices to application processors in smartphones, computers, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, automotive systems, and similar applications. MIPI I3C HCI supports faster design times for applications […]
How does MISRA fit into automotive and industrial systems?
MISRA is a set of C and C++ coding standards developed by the Motor Industry Software Reliability Association (MISRA). Today it’s being maintained and expanded by the MISRA Consortium. MISRA has grown into a standard for embedded industries as well as automotive systems. For example, ISO 26262 Functional Safety – Road Vehicles cites MISRA C […]
Why 3D packaging could be the next breakthrough for processing
By Brian Hendren, Tektronix As semiconductor manufacturers start to reach the potential physical limits of shrinking process nodes, chip packaging is emerging to improve performance. Flip chip assembly remains the most popular method for interconnecting dies, but new advancements in silicon interposers are enabling 2.5D packaging architectures and, in turn, making 3D packaging possible. To […]
Why advanced packaging is vital to the future of semiconductors
The cost and the physics of fitting more transistors in the space available are showing diminishing returns. The concept of “known good die” is much more difficult to quantify. For all the talk in the semiconductor industry about trying to reach 1.8 nm process nodes, advanced packaging and its impact on performance seems to be […]
Post-quantum crypto standardization — background
At some point in the not-too-distant future, it’s expected that quantum computing will pose a security risk to all currently used encryption techniques. Most current encryption methods are based on the challenges associated with factoring large numbers into their prime factors. They provide good levels of security when classical computers are being used, but quantum […]
Post-quantum crypto standardization — what’s the end game?
The post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization program being run by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is developing encryption algorithms to protect classical computers from attacks by quantum computers. NIST has announced the first four PQC algorithms and is preparing them for final development. In the meantime, organizations of all types are analyzing the […]
What’s a quantum processing unit?
Quantum processing units (QPUs) are the quantum equivalent of microcontrollers (MCUs) in electronic equipment. QPUs and the quantum computers that use them are evolving and heading toward large-scale computing. This FAQ looks at current quantum computing architectures and how they are evolving and reviews currently available QPUs and efforts to develop QPUs based on superconductivity […]
IoT: Microcontrollers and sensors must work as a team
Get an understanding of how to select sensors and microcontrollers for your IoT product, with an emphasis on circuit design to optimize performance. Sensors in IoT devices collect data from the environment, after which the data can be processed and analyzed to make intelligent decisions. The quality of your sensors and how well you integrate […]
How does the PCIe protocol stack work?
The Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) is a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. It’s the common motherboard interface in systems from personal computers to servers and storage devices and is used with graphics cards, sound cards, hard disk drive host adapters, SSDs, Wi-Fi, and Ethernet hardware connections. It uses a three-layer protocol stack to […]
