Tag Archives: Microchip

Profiles in Science: Jack Kilby and the Integrated Circuit

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Sixty years ago this month, an unassuming but gifted engineer sitting in a lonely lab at Texas Instruments penned a few lines in his notebook about his ideas for building complete circuits on a single slab of semiconductor. He had no way of knowing if his idea would even work; the idea that it would become one of the key technologies of the 20th century that would rapidly change everything about the world would have seemed like a fantasy to him.

We’ve covered the story of how the integrated circuit came to be, and the ensuing patent battle that would …read more

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Secure Thingz and Data I/O collaborate to deliver IoT provisioning platform

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Secure Thingz and Data I/O Corporation announced their collaboration to deliver a secure provisioning solution for the new SAM L11 MCU family from Microchip Technology. This solution gives Microchip a secure and scalable platform to enable the rapid gr… Continue reading Secure Thingz and Data I/O collaborate to deliver IoT provisioning platform→

Microchip Acquires Microsemi For $8.35B

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Microchip has acquired Microsemi for $8.35 Billion dollars. Rumors of this acquisition were floating around earlier this week, but now the deal is done.

This acquisition is the latest in a years-long process of consolidation in the silicon industry. Previously, Broadcom attempted a hostile takeover of Qualcomm for One… Hundred… Billion dollars. Lattice would have been bought if the deal wasn’t shut down for national security concerns. Of course, Microchip bought Atmel in a deal likened to the fall of Constantinople, NXP and Freescale merged, Intel bought Altera, Linear and Analog are one, and On Semiconductor acquired Fairchild.

With the …read more

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New Part Day: ATMegas With Programmable Logic

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Since Microchip acquired Atmel, the fields of battle have fallen silent. The Crusaders have returned home, or have been driven into the sea. The great microcontroller holy war is over.

As with any acquisition, there is bound to be some crossover between two product lines. Both Atmel’s AVR platform and Microchip’s PICs have their adherents, and now we’re beginning to see some crossover in the weird and wonderful circuitry and design that goes into your favorite microcontroller, whatever that might be. The newest part from Microchip is an ATMega with a feature usually found in PICs. This is a Core …read more

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Microchip Introduces Tiny Cheap Linux Modules

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Linux is in everything these days, and that means designers and engineers are crying out for a simple, easy-to-use module that simplifies the design of building a product to do something with Linux. The best example of this product category would probably be the Raspberry Pi Compute Module, followed by the C.H.I.P. Pro and its GR8 module. There are dozens of boards with Allwinner and Mali chips stuffed inside that can be used to build a Linux product, and the ‘BeagleBone on a Chip’ is a fantastic product if you need Linux and want to poke pins really, really fast. …read more

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Lawmaker calls on microchip makers for briefing after Spectre, Meltdown disclosures

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Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., has requested a briefing with the CEOs of Intel, Arm Holdings, and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) — companies that produce computer processors, which have all been exposed to security vulnerabilities. Earlier this month, cybersecurity experts discovered modern processor chip flaws called ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’ and since then, computer processor companies have been scrambling to deploy fixes. The flaws involve deep rooted vulnerabilities in most microchips that could allow hackers to access and steal sensitive documents and information. Each company has implemented software patches to repair systems and devices affected by ‘Meltdown’ but ‘Spectre’ on the other hand, cannot be easily repaired— there’s currently no known fix for it yet besides redesigning the processors from scratch. Since companies like Intel have implemented patches, computers with its processors have been performing slower. Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO, addressed the vulnerabilities at CES, stating that the company is still working […]

The post Lawmaker calls on microchip makers for briefing after Spectre, Meltdown disclosures appeared first on Cyberscoop.

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Lawmaker calls on microchip makers for briefing after Spectre, Meltdown disclosures

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Rep. Jerry McNerney, D-Calif., has requested a briefing with the CEOs of Intel, Arm Holdings, and Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) — companies that produce computer processors, which have all been exposed to security vulnerabilities. Earlier this month, cybersecurity experts discovered modern processor chip flaws called ‘Meltdown’ and ‘Spectre’ and since then, computer processor companies have been scrambling to deploy fixes. The flaws involve deep rooted vulnerabilities in most microchips that could allow hackers to access and steal sensitive documents and information. Each company has implemented software patches to repair systems and devices affected by ‘Meltdown’ but ‘Spectre’ on the other hand, cannot be easily repaired— there’s currently no known fix for it yet besides redesigning the processors from scratch. Since companies like Intel have implemented patches, computers with its processors have been performing slower. Brian Krzanich, Intel CEO, addressed the vulnerabilities at CES, stating that the company is still working […]

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Microchip ICD4 REview

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[Mike] is an avid PIC developer and replaced his ICD3 debugger for an ICD4. He made a video with his impressions and you can see it below. [Mike] found the heavy aluminum case with a sexy LED attractive, but wondered why he was paying for that in a development tool. He was also unhappy that they replaced the ICD3 cable connections with new connectors. Finally, he wished for the pin out to be printed on the case.

On the other hand, the ICD4 will also do JTAG and handle the Atmel parts (which Microchip acquired). [Mike] opens the box and …read more

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Digitool Helps Debugging

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Logic analyzers used to be large boxes full of high-speed logic and a display monitor. Today, they are more likely to be a small box with a USB port that feeds data to a PC application. [Juan Antonio Rubia Mena] wanted something more self-contained, so he built Digitool. Built around a PIC18F2525, the device can measure frequency up to 10 MHz and inject square waves up to 1 MHz into the circuit under test. Oh yeah. It also has a simple four-channel logic analyzer that displays on a tiny LCD.

The 500,000 sample per second rate and the 1024 sample …read more

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Friday Hack Chat: 8-Bit Micros With Microchip

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A few years ago, Microchip acquired Atmel for $3.56 Billion. There are plenty of manufacturers of 8-bit microcontrollers, but everyone makes 8051s, and the MSP430 isn’t as popular as it should be. Microchip’s acquisition of Atmel created what is probably the largest manufacturer of 8-bit micros, with a portfolio ranging from ATtinys smaller than a grain of rice to gigantic PICs.

This Friday, we’re hosting a Hack Chat with the Technical Marketing Engineer of 8-bitters at Microchip. If you love AVR, this is the guy to talk to. If you’re still rocking the vintage 1993 PICkit, this is the guy …read more

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