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Nickel Cadmium (NiCd) batteries are widely used in consumer electronics due to their high energy density and long life. Constant current charging is often recommended by manufacturers. Several websites, including Wikipedia, suggest safely charging NiCd batteries at a 0.1C rate, meaning at 10% of their rated capacity, for 14 to 16 hours, instead of 10 hrs.

Slow charging does not cause a temperature rise, which may affect the life of the battery. More energy must be supplied to the battery than its actual capacity to account for energy loss during charging. Hence, 14 to 16 hours of charging instead of 10 hours.

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The battery charger

Figure 1 gives the circuit for slow charging a NiCd battery pack with two AA-sized 1200-mAH cells. The battery is charged with 120 mA (10% of 1200 mA) constant current for about 15 hours.

Figure 1 The circuit for a low-cost NiCd (2 AA size 1200 mAH battery pack) slow charger with charge capacity indicator. Each segment in the U5 and U6 LED bar graphs indicates a charge capacity rise by 10%. As the charging current is constant, the time duration of charging indicates the charge capacity. After 10 hours, the battery should be fully charged. Charging for a few more hours than necessary supplies more energy to account for energy loss during charging. R2 and C1 are for the power ON reset of counters. The Vcc and ground pins of U2, U3, U7 and U8 are not shown here. They must be connected to 9-V DC and Vss, respectively. Time accuracy is not es. Each segment may glow for approximately 1 hour.

Every hour of charging is indicated by the glow of one LED bar graph segment (U5 and U6). After 15 hours, charging stops automatically. This is not a microcontroller-based circuit, so that even people without programming knowledge or a programmer device can build this circuit. A crystal-based timing circuit is not used here, as there is no necessity for time accuracy.

How it works

U1 is 555, configured as an astable multivibrator to generate a pulse train of width 0.88 seconds. R7 can be replaced by a 50K resistor and a 50K multiturn potentiometer in series for adjustment. LED D2 blinks at this rate. 

U7 divides this pulse train. Dividing by a 212 output at pin one yields a pulse train with a pulse width of 1 hour. U2A counts these pulses.

U3 is a 4- to 16-line decoder with an active LOW output. The selected output goes LOW, causing the corresponding bar graph segment to glow, while all other outputs remain HIGH. Since the 16th output at pin 15 of U3 remains HIGH, Q1 turns ON and the battery starts charging, and D1 begins glowing.

U4 is configured as a constant current generator. With R3 set as 10 Ω, the charging current is set at 100 mA, which is 10% of 1200 mA.

During the first hour, the output of U3 at pin 11 goes LOW, and the first segment of the LED bar graph U5 glows. After 1 hour, counter U2A increments once, and the output of U3 at its pin 9 goes LOW, which causes the second segment of the LED bar graph (U6) to glow.

This process goes on until the 15th segment glows to indicate the 15th hour of charging. When the 16th hour starts, the 16th output at pin 15 of U3 goes LOW, turning Q1 OFF.

Now charging stops, and the “Charging ON” LED D1 goes OFF. This LOW output, connected to U8B inverter input, outputs HIGH at the U2A clock input, which disables further counting. Hence, Q1 continues to be OFF. At this point, the battery is fully charged and becomes ready for usage.

Jayapal Ramalingam has over three decades of experience in designing electronics systems for power & process industries and is presently a freelance automation consultant.

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The post Low-cost NiCd battery charger with charge level indicator appeared first on EDN.

Decision tree learning algorithms are supervised machine learning algorithms that solve classification and regression problems. These models split up data through branches based on feature values until at the very end, a prediction is made; this setup closely aligns with human decision logic. Each internal node represents a decision based on a feature, whereas each branch represents results of that decision, and each leaf corresponds to a final prediction or class label. This intuitiveness makes them easily interpretable and graphical, hence their application in various fields.

Types of decision trees learning algorithms:

Decision tree algorithms are varied according to how splits are conceived, what types of data they handle, and how computationally efficient they are. ID3 is the basic algorithm which splits or bifurcates depending upon information gain and works well for classification, though it tends to overfit and exhibits problems with continuous attributes from the get-go. Based on ID3, C4.5 adds gain ratio for more effectively dealing with discrete and continuous data, though it can struggle in noisy environments. CART is a general-purpose algorithm applied to both classification and regression; it optimizes Gini impurity for classification and mean squared error (MSE) for regression, and includes pruning for diminishing overfitting. CHAID uses chi-square tests for split and is best suited for large categorical data, although it’s not best for continuous variables. CART is extended by Conditional Inference Trees use statistical hypothesis testing to perform unbiased splits with multiple types of data but are generally slower than standard tree algorithms because they have stringent testing mechanisms.

Decision tree learning algorithms examples:

Decision trees find their applications in real-world instances. They diagnose diseases based on the symptoms in the healthcare system. They assess loan eligibility by considering income and credit score in finance. They forecast a particular weather condition based on factors such as temperature and humidity in meteorology. They recommend products based on the analysis of user behavior in e-commerce. They are versatile due to their ability and flexibility to work with numerical as well as categorical data.

Top 10 decision tree learning algorithms:

1. ID3 (Iterative Dichotomiser 3)

ID3 is one of the earliest classes of decision tree algorithms, developed by Ross Quinlan. It uses the information gain to select the best feature on which to split the data at each instance of a node. The algorithm calculates entropy that signifies the impurity of a dataset and selects the feature that gives the largest decrease in entropy. ID3 is a very simple and elegant approach to classification problems. However, it suffers when dealing with continuous data. Also, ID3 does not work well in the presence of noise or when the training data is very small, as it tends to overfit the data.

2. C4.5

C4.5 is an extension of the ID3 algorithm and solves many of its shortcomings. Most importantly, it introduces the “gain ratio” as a splitting criterion, so that information gain is normalized and is not biased toward features with many values. It also includes support for continuous attributes, pruning, and handling missing values, ideal features to make it robust and applicable to real-life datasets. It is one of the most influential algorithms in decision tree learning.

3. CART (Classification and Regression Trees)

CART is an all-purpose medium for the classification and regression. They evaluate Gini impurity or sometimes called error, while regression uses Mean Squares Errors (MSE) to quantify the accuracy of splits. CART always grows binary trees; that is, each node can split exactly into two branches. It uses cost-complexity pruning to improve accuracy and avoid overfitting and hence, is widely used in modern ML.

4. CHAID (Chi-squared Automatic Interaction Detector)

The chi-square tests determine the best splits, so this is best for categorical data and multiway splits. Unlike CART, CHAID can create trees with more than two branches per node. It’s particularly effective in market research, survey analysis, and social science applications, where categorical variables dominate. However, it’s less effective with continuous data and may require discretization.

5. QUEST (Quick, Unbiased, Efficient Statistical Tree)

QUEST uses statistical tests to produce an unbiased and quick decision tree splitting. It can avoid the bias that some algorithms yield regarding the variable with many levels and is efficient in handling large datasets. QUEST accepts explanatory variables, either categorical or continuous, and provides pruning mechanisms. It is rarely used in preference to CART or C4.5 but is appreciated for its statistical rigor and for speed.

6. Random Forest

Random Forest is an ensemble learning method where many trees are constructed using bootstrap samples and random sampling of features, and then each tree votes for the final prediction. This leads to better accuracy and less overfitting. It works well for classification and regression problems and handles large data sets with higher dimensions. Being fast, robust, and scalable, Random Forest is often used as a benchmark in predictive modeling.

7. XGBoost (Extreme Gradient Boosting)

XGBoost works by sequentially building trees, with each one focusing on correcting the errors of the previous one by regularizing to avoid overfitting, and it is generally optimized for speed and performance. XGBoost has become a go-to algorithm in data science competitions due to its high accuracy and efficiency. It supports parallel processing and handles missing values gracefully.

8. LightGBM (Light Gradient Boosting Machine)

LightGBM stands for Light Gradient Boosting Machine and is a speed- and scale-oriented gradient boosting algorithm developed by Microsoft. Using a leaf-wise tree growth strategy, LightGBM basically results in deeper trees and better accuracy. It is helpful when working with large datasets and supports categorical features natively. It is widely used across industries for various applications like fraud detection, recommendation systems, and ranking problems.

9. Extra Trees (Extremely Randomized Trees)

The execution of Extra Trees resembles that of Random Forest, but more randomness is inducted as splitting thresholds are chosen at random and not optimized. This increases bias and reduces variance and may lead to faster training times. If your dataset is prone to overfitting, this method may be useful, and it is beneficial when dealing with high-dimensional data. In ensemble learning, Extra Trees are often employed to increase generalization.

10. HDDT (Hellinger Distance Decision Tree)

HDDT uses the Hellinger distance as a splitting criterion, making it effective for imbalanced datasets. It’s particularly useful in domains like fraud detection and rare event modeling, where traditional algorithms may falter.

The post Top 10 Decision Tree Learning Algorithms appeared first on ELE Times.

Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany is introducing a 12kW reference design for high-performance power supply units (PSUs), specifically designed for AI data centers and server applications, and targeted at R&D engineers, hardware designers, and developers of power electronics systems. Leveraging all relevant semiconductor materials silicon (Si), silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), the reference design is said to offer high efficiency and high power density...

submitted by /u/SocialRevenge [link] [comments]

Eulitha AG of Kirchdorf, Switzerland (which provides lithography equipment and services for the nanotechnology, photonics and optoelectronic markets) says that several Asian vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) foundries have adopted its deep ultraviolet (DUV) patterning platform for 6-inch wafer production. Eulitha recently shipped multiple systems to support the rapidly growing demand for VCSELs used in applications ranging from LiDAR, 3D sensing, data centers, and next-generation optical communications...

I missed to route two traces from a Raspberry Pi Compute Module socket (my acrrier board) and had to rework. The pad has a width of 0.2mm (.0080"), so I got extra a new tip for that (Weller LT 1LX). After two attempts I could successfully tack the bodgewire to the unconnected pads. submitted by /u/toombayoomba [link] [comments]

As technology around us enters unconventional areas, such as rings and glasses, it is nothing but the marvels of miniaturization and microassembly redefining the rules. Miniaturization refers to the trend of making products and devices smaller, particularly in electronics, mechanics, and optics. Microassembly, on the other hand, is the precise manipulation, orientation, and assembly of microscale components, often smaller than 1000 micrometers, into complex, functional hybrid microsystems, such as those found in Microelectromechanical Systems (MEMS).

The two concepts, miniaturization and microassembly, are the most interconnected themes of the electronics industry, powering the next generation of technology revolution from homes to appliances and roads to vehicles. This vast application compels us to track and see what’s latest with the technology while also considering the challenges and opportunities the sector has to offer. Recent studies in the field of medical electronics have unveiled certain challenges that have led to the development of new micro-systems. The following article intends to unravel those very latest observations and developments. 

What’s the problem with heterogeneous integration? 

As the macroscopic devices are converted into their micro/nano-scale counterparts, integration of components like electronic devices, micro-electromechanical structures (MEMS), and optoelectronic devices on the same substrate is a debated issue. It is because of the different physical forces manifesting themselves in varying proportions owing to scaling effects. 

For instance, adhesion forces that originate primarily from surface tension, van der Waals forces, and electrostatic forces are fundamental limitations of micromanipulation. In particular, the adhesion forces between objects are significant compared with the gravitational forces when the sizes of the components are less than 1 mm. This means that as the components, the target objects, become smaller, the surface-area-to-volume ratio increases, leading to a more pronounced scaling effect, hence originating difficulties in the fabrication of miniature devices.

All this is because the physical considerations change as we move from the macro- to the microscale. Earlier conducted studies have considerably shown that micro/nano-robots are sensitive to environmental parameters and that the dominant forces in different media are distinct (only van der Waals forces are ubiquitous). 

As the scale decreases, objects invisible to the naked eye must be studied using light or electron microscopes. While the ability to control each object diminishes, their collective properties become more significant. These scale-dependent physical principles demand different strategies for designing devices at the micro- and nano-levels. Naturally, challenges that are straightforward at the macroscopic scale become far more complex in this domain.

As we move into exploring various domains using this technology, the design of microassembly/micromanipulation processes must consider these factors to isolate undesired interference, which is a challenging task in practice.

What is the solution? 

According to a paper published in Elsevier’s Engineering Monthly, it discusses this very problem to reach a solution. The paper discusses various solutions, one of which is a multimer design by Yu et al., where the researcher combines several small pieces of different materials into a connected group. This makes sure that the nanoparticles that were earlier prone to sticking due to higher forces are prevented from tumbling end-over-end, which keeps changing the contact points. This dynamic motion reduces the time and area of contact, so sticking is weaker.

This logically translates into building components with different microscale components with different geometries and materials. Assembled devices, which are usually manipulated through non-covalent interactions, are responsive to environmental stimuli such as temperature, pressure, and flow. Eventually, the paper suggests using magnetic, optical, and acoustic fields and mechanical methods to generate actuation power at the micro/nano-scale.Additionally, owing to their rapid response and ability to be remotely controlled, magnetic field-based methods offer a pathway for one-dimensional (1D) to 3D microassembly.

While there are various ways, we’ll focus on electromagnetic principles only, for now. Magnetic field-induced assembly (MFIA) of nanoparticles allows for the 1D, two-dimensional (2D), or 3D organization of magnetic particles under the influence of a magnetic field. This refers to the automatic and spontaneous arrangement of particles within a magnetic field rather than an assembly induced by artificially moving targets. Experiments also show that under a uniform intensity of magnetic field, the nanoparticles arrange themselves in a linear, chain-like, or hexagonal pattern even in in vivo applications.

Hence, using an external magnetic field, programmed devices can be made, turning them into magnetically actuated microrobots. Using the same principle, magnetically controlled microrobots have been used for several different microassembly tasks. The assembled block, spherical, and flake-like magnetic doping devices can be used to assist robots in pushing different units for the assembly of micro components. 

 How does this improve grip & control?

Electromagnetic fields allow magnetic micro-units to be precisely controlled. By programming their magnetic response, these units can move in a directed way and assemble into desired structures or swarms. Temporary anchoring methods (like hydrogels or mechanical locks) prevent accidental movement, ensuring stability until assembly is complete. Advanced designs, such as quadrupole modules, also minimize interference between neighboring units. Together, these techniques improve both the precision of positioning and the grip or stability of micro-components during assembly.

Another approach to microassembly uses magnetic microgrippers that can hold and transport individual units. Unlike magnetic microrobots that mainly push components into place, microgrippers can grasp them directly, allowing for more precise and complex 3D assembly. 

In conclusion, assembled magnetic microrobots demonstrate versatile and controllable propulsion under rotating magnetic fields, enabling functions such as transport, stirring, and targeted delivery. While artificial designs like magnetic microcubes showcase structured assembly for cell transport, biohybrid microrobots expand these possibilities by integrating magnetic materials with living cells. Such innovations, including macrophage-based robots capable of 3D navigation and drug delivery, highlight the growing potential of magnetic microrobots in advanced biomedical applications.

Applications 

These microcomponents can form diverse geometries and can easily be decoupled as the magnetic field gradually dissipates. This flexibility in structural reorganization allows them to adapt to and overcome different environmental constraints. Expanding programmed magnetic assemblies to biological materials with programmed orientations and structures, the paramagnetism of radicals to biological materials has been used in order to endow magnetic assemblies of different arbitrariness with programmed orientations and structures.

Eventually, the use of magnetic devices provides the basis for the development of microbiotics. When these units become functional with closed-loop control, for instance, in drug delivery, they can be classified as microrobots rather than merely micro-patterned components.

Micro-assemblies with magnetic Microrobots: The application of an external magnetic field can both convert different components into programmed devices and turn them into magnetically actuated microrobots. This section summarizes the magnetic actuation and navigation of assembled micro-robots. These microrobots can be divided into two main types: magnetically actuated microrobots for robot-assisted assembly and assembled swimming magnetic microrobots as carriers or deliverers.

1. Bio-inspired microrobots: Magnetically controlled bio-inspired microrobots have shown great potential in microassembly tasks. Different geometries—such as blocks, spheres, flakes, and cubes—enable them to push, grasp, or transport components in both fluid and solid environments. 

1. Magnetic Micro-Grippers: These are microassembly tools capable of grabbing and transporting units, enabling more sophisticated 3D assembly than pushing-based microrobots. Fabricated using techniques like digital light-processing 3D printing with magnetic and nonmagnetic resins, they can be remotely guided by magnetic fields to operate in confined spaces. 

Assembled Swimming Magnetic Microrobots as Carriers or Deliverers: Assembled magnetic microrobots, driven by a rotating magnetic field, can achieve controllable propulsion in diverse fluidic environments. They can be configured into chain-like structures for transporting cells or act as microstirrers. Beyond artificial designs, biohybrid microrobots—such as macrophage-based systems or magnetotactic bacteria—enable precise drug delivery and cancer cell targeting. These cell-based microrobots, capable of forming dimers, trimers, or tetramers, respond to environmental cues like light, offering versatile and targeted delivery applications.

Prominent Challenges

While the technology holds immense potential, it also comes with some inherent challenges to counter. Some of them have been listed below:

1. Miniaturization & Production: Space limits and scale mismatches require advanced methods like two-photon polymerization.
2. Handling Fragile Objects: Flexible structures (e.g., neural electrodes) demand high precision; current methods are costly or lack accuracy.
3. Feedback Limits: Visual systems fail in closed environments; alternatives include Fiber Bragg sensors, mini-endoscopes, and MRI-compatible robots.
4. Automation: Over-reliance on vision reduces robustness; advanced strategies like reinforcement learning are needed for autonomous navigation.
5. Safety: Metallic magnetic residue poses risks; biofriendly carriers help, but safe removal methods and standardized assessments are still lacking.

In conclusion, MFIA and magnetic microrobots provide versatile, remotely controlled tools for microassembly with strong potential in biomedical engineering. Their broader adoption and clinical use will depend on overcoming key challenges—practicality, complex geometries, reliable feedback in closed environments, higher automation, and material safety.

The post Building the Smallest: Magnetic Fields Power Microassembly appeared first on ELE Times.

In-plane Hall-effect switch from TI can replace incumbent position sensors that are more expensive and difficult to manufacture

Texas Instruments (TI) introduced the industry’s most sensitive in-plane Hall-effect switch for position sensing, offering engineers a cost-effective, user-friendly alternative to magnetoresistive sensors. TI’s TMAG5134 Hall-effect switch features an integrated a magnetic concentrator, enabling it to detect magnetic fields as weak as 1mT in applications such as door and window sensors, personal electronics, home appliances, and more. This level of sensitivity allows for the use of smaller magnets, further reducing system-level costs. Additionally, the TMAG5134’s in-plane sensing capability enables it to detect magnetic fields parallel or horizontal to a printed circuit board, giving engineers greater design flexibility.

Why it matters

Engineers seeking high sensitivity levels in low-power, compact position-sensing designs today rely on reed switches or tunnel magnetoresistive (TMR), anisotropic magnetoresistive (AMR) or giant magnetoresistive (GMR) sensors. However, these technologies often come with high costs and manufacturing complexities because they require specialized materials and fabrication techniques. In contrast, Hall-effect technology eliminates the need for specialized manufacturing and enables engineers to significantly reduce design costs and speed time to market.

Historically, designers have not considered Hall-effect switches as viable replacements for TMR, AMR, GMR or reed switches because of their limited sensitivity. The introduction of TI’s TMAG5134 represents a fundamental shift for the position sensing market; engineers can now achieve greater sensitivity than traditional Hall-effect sensors without the additional cost and complexity of magnetoresistive sensors.

“The electronics we interact with in our daily lives, from our laptops to our smart home systems, use sensors to help make decisions based on the world around them,” said Jason Cole, vice president and general manager, Sensing Products at TI. “For decades, TI’s sensing portfolio has enabled engineers to achieve greater accuracy, power efficiency and reliability in their designs. The TMAG5134 Hall-effect switch builds on these years of innovation, delivering a simplified, cost-effective solution that creates new possibilities for design engineers across industries.”

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Automotive Skills Development Council (ASDC) hosted its 14th Annual Conclave 2025, themed “Stronger Together, Transform Tomorrow”, bringing together leaders from government, industry, and academia to deliberate on the future of skilling in the automotive sector.

The event commenced with the traditional lamp lighting ceremony. F.R. Singhvi, President, ASDC, presented the Annual Update, highlighting the Council’s 2024–25 impact—key achievements included forging partnerships with universities, advancing women’s skill development and employment, strengthening industry–academia collaboration, and expanding its international footprint. This was followed by addresses from the Guests of Honour: C.S. Vigneshwar (President, FADA), Shradha Suri Marwah (CMD, Subros Limited & President, ACMA), C.V. Raman (CTO, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.), and Dr. Vinita Aggarwal, IES (Retd.), Executive Member, NCVET.

C.V. Raman, CTO, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd, emphasized that India’s mobility future will be driven by advanced engineering, digitalization, and disruptive technologies such as EVs, IoT, and AI. To realize the $5 trillion vision, he stressed the need for skilling to evolve by integrating experiential learning, fostering industry–academia collaboration, and leveraging startup innovation.

Dr. Vinita Aggarwal highlighted the importance of qualification standardization, stating: “India’s journey to becoming a global skill hub is powered by standardization and industry alignment. With over 180 automotive QPs under NSQF, we must ensure they remain dynamic—integrating hands-on training, apprenticeships, and micro-credentials. The automotive sector should actively adopt and upgrade these QPs to build a future-ready, tech-driven workforce.”

Speaking at the conclave, F R Singhvi, President, ASDC, remarked: “This conclave has reinforced our belief that India’s skilling ecosystem thrives on partnerships. Together, we are shaping a workforce that is not only job-ready but future-ready.”

A major milestone of the conclave was the release of a White Paper and the signing of MoUs with Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Auto, Gandhi Auto, Delphi TVS, and Bosch India to scale up skilling initiatives nationwide.

The conclave also hosted two high-impact panel discussions: Academic Excellence to Industry Impact: Aligning Talent Pipelines with Future Mobility Technologies and From Garage to Gigabyte: Skilling for Next-Gen Automotive Technologies. These sessions examined how new-age skilling can bridge classroom learning with the demands of digital-first, tech-driven automotive industries.

Vinkesh Gulati, Vice President, ASDC, added: “Our collective responsibility is to ensure that every young aspirant finds a place in the industry’s growth story. ASDC is committed to bridging the gap between potential and opportunity.”

The Certified Candidates Convocation felicitated skilled candidates from ASDC’s flagship programs, underscoring its commitment to inclusive skill development. Presentations on CSR Best Practices by Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp Ltd. showcased impactful industry-led skilling models. Recognitions included Internationally Placed Candidates, Rewards & Recognition Awards, and the ASDC Excellence and Special Recognition Awards, celebrating exemplary contributions to the skilling ecosystem.

The conclave firmly reiterated that public-private partnerships will be the cornerstone in addressing the evolving needs of the automotive industry and enabling India to emerge as a global leader in mobility technologies.

The post ASDC Conclave 2025: Accelerating Tech-Driven Skilling for Future Mobility appeared first on ELE Times.

The landscape of IC design is experiencing a profound transformation. With the physical and economic limits of conventional two-dimensional scaling, the industry is rapidly embracing three-dimensional integrated circuits (3D IC) to unlock higher performance, lower power consumption, and denser silicon utilization.

For semiconductor professionals, understanding the distinct nuances of 3D IC microarchitectures is no longer optional. It’s becoming essential for those seeking to maintain a competitive edge in next-generation system design.

Microarchitecting in the 3D IC era represents more than an incremental change from traditional practices. It entails a fundamental redefinition of how data and controls move through a system, how blocks are partitioned and co-optimized across both horizontal and vertical domains, and how early-stage design decisions address the unique challenges of 3D integration.

This article aims to provide essential context and technical depth for practitioners working toward highly integrated, efficient, and resilient 3D IC systems.

3D IC technology now stands at a pivotal juncture. Source: Siemens EDA

Putting things in context

To grasp the impact of 3D IC, it’s crucial to define microarchitecture in the IC context. System architecture typically refers to a design’s functional organization as seen by software engineers—abstract functions, data flows, and protocols. Microarchitecture, viewed through the hardware engineer’s lens, describes how those features are realized in silicon using components like register files, arithmetic logic units, and on-chip memory.

Microarchitecture centers around two domains: the datapath, which encompasses the movement and transformation of data, and the control, which dictates how and when those data movements occur. Together, they determine not only performance and efficiency but also testability and resiliency.

Furthermore, while traditional ICs optimize microarchitecture in two dimensions, 3D ICs require designers to expand their strategies into the vertical axis as well. Because data in 3D ICs no longer flows only laterally, it must be orchestrated through stacked dies, each potentially featuring its own process technology, supply voltage, or clock domain. Inter-die communication—typically realized with micro-bumps, through-silicon vias, or hybrid bonding—becomes critical for both data and control signals.

With the move toward submicron interconnection pitches, design teams must address tighter integration densities and the unprecedented task of partitioning logic and memory across multiple vertical layers. This process is not unlike assembling a three-dimensional puzzle.

Effective microarchitecture in this context demands careful co-optimization of logic, physical placement, routing, and inter-die signaling—with far-reaching implications for system latency, bandwidth, and reliability.

Moreover, some microarchitectural components can be realized in three dimensions themselves. Stacked memory sitting directly above compute units, for example, enables true compute-in-memory subsystems, affecting both density and performance but also introducing significant challenges related to signal integrity, thermal design, and manufacturing yield.

Taking complexity to the third dimension

A major trend shaping modern IC development is the shift toward software-defined silicon, where software can customize and even dynamically control hardware features. While this approach provides great flexibility, it also increases complexity and requires early, holistic consideration of architectural trade-offs—especially in 3D ICs, where the cost of late-stage changes is prohibitive.

The high costs of 3D IC design and manufacturing in general demand an upfront commitment to rigorous partitioning and predictive modeling. Errors or unforeseen bottlenecks that might be addressed after tape-out in traditional design can prove disastrous in 3D ICs, where physical access for rework or test is limited.

It is thus essential for system architects and microarchitects to collaborate early, determining both physical placement of blocks and the allocation of functionality between programmable and hardwired components.

This paradigm also introduces new questions, such as which features should be programmable versus fixed? And how can test coverage and configurability be extended into the post-silicon stage? Design teams must maintain a careful balance among performance, area, power, and system flexibility as they partition and refine the design stack.

Among the most significant physical challenges in 3D integration is the sharp increase in power density. Folding a two-dimensional design into a 3D stack compresses the area available for power delivery, while escalating local heat generation. Managing thermal issues becomes significantly more difficult, as deeper layers are insulated from heat sinks and are more susceptible to temperature gradients.

Test and debug also become more complex. As interconnect pitches shrink below one-micron, direct probing is not practical. Robust testability and resilience need to be designed in from the architecture and circuit level, using techniques like embedded test paths, built-in self-test, and adaptive power management long before finalization.

Finally, resiliency—the system’s ability to absorb faults and maintain operation—takes on new urgency. The reduced access for root-cause analysis and repair in 3D assemblies compels development of in-situ monitoring, adaptive controls, and architectural redundancy, requiring innovation that extends into both the digital and analog realms.

The need for automation

The complexity of 3D IC design can only be managed through next-generation automation. Traditional automation has centered on logic synthesis, place and route, and verification for 2D designs. But with 3D ICs, automation must span package assembly, die stacking, and especially multi-physics domains.

Building 3D ICs requires engineers to bridge electrical, thermal, and mechanical analyses. For instance, co-design flows must account for materials like silicon interposers and organic substrates. This necessitates tightly integrated EDA tools for early simulation, design-for-test verification, and predictive analysis—giving teams the ability to catch issues before manufacturing begins.

System heterogeneity also sets 3D IC apart. Diverse IP, technology nodes, and even substrate compositions all coexist within a single package. Addressing this diversity, along with long design cycles and high non-recurring engineering costs, demands multi-domain, model-based simulation and robust design automation to perform comprehensive early validation and analysis.

Meanwhile, traditional packaging workflows—often manual and reliant on Windows-based tools—lag far behind the automated flows for silicon IC implementation. Closing this gap and enabling seamless integration across all domains is essential for realizing the full promise of 3D IC architectures.

The evolving role of AI and design teams

As system complexity escalates, the industry is shifting from human-centered to increasingly machine-centered design methodologies. The days of vertical specialization are yielding to interdisciplinary engineering, where practitioners must understand electrical, mechanical, thermal, and system-level concerns.

With greater reliance on automation, human teams must increasingly focus on oversight, exception analysis, and leveraging AI-generated insights. Lifelong learning and cross-functional collaboration are now prerequisites for EDA practitioners, who will require both broader and more adaptable skillsets as design paradigms continue to evolve.

Artificial intelligence is already transforming electronic design automation. Modern AI agents can optimize across multiple, often competing, objectives—proposing floorplans and partitioning schemes that would be unfeasible for manual evaluation. Looking ahead, agentic AI—teams of specialized algorithms working in concert—promise to orchestrate ever more complex design sequences from architecture to verification.

Building failure resilient systems

As the boundaries between architectural roles blur, collaboration becomes paramount. In a world of software-defined silicon, architects, microarchitects, and implementation engineers must partner closely to ensure that design intent, trade-offs, and risk mitigation are coherently managed.

Real-world progress is already visible in examples like AMD’s 3D integration of SRAM atop logic dies. Such hybrid approaches demand careful analysis of read and write latency, since splitting a kernel across stacked dies can introduce undesirable delays. Partitioning memory and processing functions to optimize performance and energy efficiency in such architectures is a delicate exercise.

Heterogeneous integration also enables new microarchitectural approaches. High-performance computing has long favored homogeneous, mesh-based architectures, but mobile and IoT applications may benefit from hub-and-spoke or non-uniform memory access models, requiring flexible latency management and workload distribution.

Adaptive throttling, dynamic resource management, and redundancy strategies are growing in importance as memory access paths and their latencies diverge, and architectural resiliency becomes mission critical.

As failure analysis becomes more complex, designs must include real-time monitoring, self-healing, and redundancy features—drawing upon proven analog circuit techniques now increasingly relevant to digital logic.

Thermal management presents fresh hurdles as well: thinning silicon to expose backside connections diminishes its native lateral thermal conductivity, potentially requiring off-die sensor and thermal protection strategies—further reinforcing the need for holistic, system-level co-design.

3D IC moving forward

3D IC stands at a pivotal juncture. Its widespread adoption depends on early, multi-disciplinary design integration, sophisticated automation, and a holistic approach to resiliency. While deployment so far has largely targeted niche applications, such as high-speed logic-memory overlays, 3D IC architectures promise adoption across more segments and vastly more heterogeneous platforms.

For industry practitioners, the challenges are formidable, including three-dimensional partitioning, integrated automation across disciplines, and entirely new approaches to test, debug, and resilience. Meeting these challenges requires both technical innovation and significant organizational and educational transformations.

Success will demand foresight, tight collaboration, and the courage to rethink assumptions at every step of the design cycle. Yet the benefits are bountiful and largely untapped.

Todd Burkholder is a senior editor at Siemens DISW. For over 25 years, he has worked as editor, author, and ghost writer with internal and external customers to create print and digital content across a broad range of EDA technologies. Todd began his career in marketing for high-technology and other industries in 1992 after earning a Bachelor of Science at Portland State University and a Master of Science degree from the University of Arizona.

Pratyush Kamal is director of Central Engineering Solutions at Siemens EDA. He is an experienced SoC and systems architect and silicon technologist providing technical leadership for advanced packaging and new foundry technology programs. Pratyush previously held various jobs at Google and Qualcomm as SoC designer, SoC architect, and systems architect. He also led 3D IC research at Qualcomm, focusing on both wafer-on-wafer hybrid bond and monolithic 3D design integrations.

Editor’s Note

This is the first part of the three-part article series about 3D IC architecture. The second part, to be published next week, will focus on how design engineers can put 3D IC to work.

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• Tighter Integration Between Process Technologies and Packaging
• Advanced IC Packaging: The Roadmap to 3D IC Semiconductor Scaling

The post Making your architecture ready for 3D IC appeared first on EDN.

Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms represent a class of machine learning methodologies where an agent learns to make decisions through interactions with an environment. The agent gets feedback in the form of rewards or punishments bestowed on it for the actions it takes, and the overall objective is to maximize cumulative rewards through time. Differing from supervised learning, RL does not rely upon labeled data, but rather it learns from experience. Through trial and error, reinforcement learning excels at solving sequential decision-making problems across domains like robotics, gaming, and autonomous systems especially when using value-based algorithms that estimate future rewards to guide action.

Main types of Reinforcement Learning (RL) algorithms:

1. Value-Based Algorithms

Value-based algorithms primarily work towards evaluating the potential benefits an action may have in a given condition while making a decision. Value-based methods usually learn a value function known as the Q-value, which specifies the expected reward in the future by taking a particular action in a certain state. The agent executes an action with the aim of maximizing this value. An example of such algorithms is the Q-Learning algorithm wherein Q-values are updated through the Bellman equation. More advanced versions are Deep Q-Networks (DQN) that approximate these values by using neural networks in high-dimensional environments such as video games.

2. Policy-Based Algorithms

Policy-based algorithms directly learn a policy that maps states to actions without estimating value functions. These methods optimize the policy using techniques like gradient ascent to maximize expected rewards. They are particularly useful in environments with continuous action spaces. One popular example is REINFORCE, a Monte Carlo-based method. Another widely used algorithm is Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), which improves training stability by limiting how much the policy can change at each update.

3. Model-Based Methods:

These algorithms learn the model and simulate the evolution of states from an initial state and finally an action. Once the dynamics model is learned, the agent can use it to simulate the future states and choose the best action without ever interacting with the real environment. This family of algorithms is very sample-efficient and suitable for cases where acquiring data is either very costly or risky. An example that revolutionized the field is MuZero, which learns the model and the policy without ever being given the rules of the environment;at the same time, it attains state-of-the art performance in Go, Chess, and other board games.

4. Actor-Critic Algorithms 

Actor-Critic algorithms are a hybrid reinforcement learning technique that combine the advantages of both value-based and policy-based methods. Actor-critic methods maintain two perspectives: the actor decides what action to take, while the critic evaluates how good the action was by employing a value function. This idea of two perspectives given stability to the training process and fosters great performance. Examples of algorithms: Advantage Actor-Critic(A2C), Asynchronous Advantage Actor-Critic(A3C), and Soft Actor-Critic (SAC) These are typically used in continuous control problems such as in robotics and autonomous driving.

Examples of Reinforcement Learning Algorithms:

Some widely used RL algorithms are Q-Learning, Deep Q-Networks (DQN), Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), and Soft Actor-Critic (SAC). Q-Learning is a basic algorithm that learns the value of actions in discrete environments. On the other hand, DQN uses deep neural networks to work with high-dimensional inputs such as images and videos. PPO is a policy-based algorithm known for its stability and efficiency in continuous control tasks and hence is often applied in robotics. SAC is an actor-critic method that uses entropy regularization to promote exploration and thus achieves a very good performance in brutally difficult environments.

Top 10 reinforcement learning algorithms:

1. Q-Learning

Since it is a value-based algorithm, Q-Learning is ideal for discrete action spaces. It learns by receiving rewards with which it updates Q-values for optimal action-selection policy. This makes it ideal, for example, in simple setups such as grid-worlds or basic games.

2. Deep Q-Network (DQN)

DQN is an extension of Q-Learning in which Q-values are approximated using deep neural networks, enabling it to handle high-dimensional inputs such as raw pixels. It has had a great impact on RL by offering a solution for agents to play Atari games straight from screen images.

3. Double DQN

Double DQN improves DQN by reducing overestimation bias through decoupled action selection and evaluation, resulting in more stable learning.

4. Dueling DQN

Dueling DQN extends DQN by splitting the state value estimation and action advantage estimation, which is particularly beneficial for problems with many similar actions.

5. Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO)

PPO is a policy algorithm that is both stable and efficient. It employs a clipped objective to avoid sudden policy updates and thus performs well in continuous control tasks such as robotics and locomotion.

6. Advantage Actor-Critic

Advantage Actor-Critic is policy and value learning combined, which makes it applicable to real-time decision-making in dynamic, multi-agent environments.

7. Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG)

DDPG is geared for continuous action spaces and employs a deterministic policy gradient algorithm. It’s best applied to tasks such as robotic arm control and autonomous vehicles, where accuracy matters when it comes to actions.

8. Twin Delayed DDPG (TD3)

TD3 improves DDPG with the addition of twin critics to mitigate overestimation and policy update delay for improved stability. These features make it particularly suitable for high-precision control in difficult simulations.

9. Soft Actor-Critic (SAC)

SAC promotes exploration with the incorporation of an entropy bonus to the reward signal. This allows the agent to strike a balance between exploration and exploitation, making it extremely sample-efficient and powerful in deep exploration-requiring environments.

10. MuZero

MuZero is a model-based algorithm that learns an environment model without knowing its rules. It unifies planning and learning to deliver state-of-the-art performance on strategic games such as Chess, Go, and Atari, and it’s one of the most sophisticated RL algorithms to exist.

The post Top 10 Reinforcement Learning Algorithms appeared first on ELE Times.

[Not mine] submitted by /u/Linker3000 [link] [comments]

As technology remains the perennial growth factor across all industries, the automotive sector is no exception to this phenomenon. Ranging from System-on-Chips (SoCs) to ADAS, modern-day automobiles have turned into machines driven by software and semiconductors. The integration of technology in automobiles has led to the emergence of modern-day connected and software-driven vehicles. As these vehicles hit the roads, it’s essential to highlight the breakthroughs, challenges, and opportunities they bring to the table. 

The e-Mobility Conference returns for its third edition on September 17th, 2025, at BIEC, Bangalore, alongside electronica India and productronica India, serving as a platform for the industry to voice challenges, share concerns, explore opportunities, and highlight key breakthroughs and insights.

Click here to secure your free seat in the conference now! 

In its 3rd edition, the conference is set to take up the theme “Silicon to Mobility: EVs’ Quantum Leap,” where the eminent speakers and moderators will discuss the semiconductor components of EVs in detail. The conversations and discussions would focus on issues ranging from composition, implementation, observations, and others. As the conference unfolds, it will look into some specific issues that present some substantial opportunities for the automotive industry. 

One among them is the issue of standardization, where the panel would look into a wholesome integration and composition of semiconductors in EVs, keeping in mind the dynamics of the market and demand already in place. As the conference moves forward, the discussions over the composition and integration aspect will move into the subject matter of Software Defined Vehicles (SDVs), underlining how chips and software are transforming the way we perceive vehicles. It will talk about the emergence of SDVs and how this transformational shift is gradually pushing the ownership as well as after-sales revenue in the automotive sector. 

In its later part, the conference would take up Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) to discuss how data-driven decisions and command and control can prevent accidents on the road, enabling a safer and healthier automotive landscape in the country and worldwide. Finally, the conference would rise to discuss the conundrum of semiconductor supply chains and how geopolitics is getting heavily in the way as nations double down on trade barriers and global trade receives a jolt from some specific policies. 

To witness all this firsthand for free and also get a chance to ask questions, register here!

As India and the world rise to adopt and embrace EVs, it becomes more important than ever to look into how we can shape these transformations to enable seamlessness and convenience for our people across the globe. 

The post SDVs, ADAS, and Chip Supply Chains- What to Expect at the 3rd e-Mobility Conference appeared first on ELE Times.

The company's newest SoC increases small-device edge computing performance while reducing cost and power consumption to deliver a 10-year operating life with a coin cell.

Quite an interesting failure - not something I've seen before. For those interested, this is inside a PA amplifier, which surprisingly does still function, although this may be for the untested channel. PAT sticker from 2005 so at least 20 years old. submitted by /u/DaChezePufz [link] [comments]

Silicon photonics-based chip-to-chip optical connectivity firm Ayar Labs of San Jose, CA, USA — which is pioneering co-packaged optics (CPO) for large-scale AI workloads — and high-performance ASIC design firm Alchip Technologies Ltd of Taipei, Taiwan have announced a strategic partnership to accelerate AI scale-up infrastructure. The collaboration fulfills hyperscaler demands for advanced AI accelerators and platforms that deliver enhanced performance, efficiency and scalability...

Ion implantation system maker Axcelis Technologies Inc of Beverly, MA, USA has launched the Purion Power Series+ ion implant product platform, designed specifically to enable improved device performance and increase productivity for next generation power devices, including emerging superjunction architectures...

A fully automated compliance suite tackles the complexities of HDMI 2.2 fixed-rate signaling, ultra-high bandwidth, and jitter sensitivity using Keysight's real-time scopes, intelligent software, and automated probing infrastructure.

Enphase Energy Inc of Fremont, CA, USA (which supplies microinverter-based solar and battery systems) has opened US pre-orders for the new IQ9N-3P Commercial Microinverter. This is Enphase’s first microinverter powered by gallium nitride (GaN) technology and designed for three-phase 480Y/277V (wye) grid configurations, without using external transformers...

Infineon Technologies AG Munich, Germany and electrical component maker Lingji Innovation Technology Co Ltd (a subsidiary of Beijing-based Ninebot Ltd) have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to further drive gallium nitride (GaN) technology in the area of light electric vehicles (LEV). Infineon provides GaN products supporting Lingji to develop high-performance electric two-wheeler inverter systems based on its new-generation CoolGaN G5 power transistors to drive advances in energy efficiency and performance...