Shortcuts in Failure Design
When a major hardware component goes it can often fail in catastrophic and spectacular ways. If your serpentine belt in your engine breaks not only does it mean your crankshaft stops but then by extension your alternator will stop charging your batteries which could result in power loss pretty quickly. Then your water pump would stop and your engine would start overheating while simultaneously your power steering pump would quit meaning you’d feel like you went from driving a modern car to some sort of fifty year old tractor. Serpentine belts are treaded on the inside for this reason. Wear can be measured much like on your tires where the depth of the tread tells you how long you have left to go on it and you can also visually inspect for cracks. But in more complicated assemblies, a single point of failure isn’t always as obvious. The result can be catastrophic system…
IC Designer’s Guide to IEEE Conferences
Just before Christmas last year, I asked the powers that be whether I can attend the 2011 International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC). The last and only time I’ve attended ISSCC was back in 2007 when I went with a colleague. For those that have followed my own personal blog, you’ll know him as the Psycho Colleague. For those that haven’t, let’s just say the metaphor fits him well. This past week, I was told that my request to attend ISSCC has been denied. No money in Q1; but it’s not all bad news. I’ve been approved to attend a conference of my choice in Q2, Q3, or Q4. This decision gave me pause — any conference in Q2-Q4? This got the hamsters running and kicked off a process of conference ranking in my head. I started to think about some of the more memorable papers that I’ve read. I tried…
The long and sordid history of bisphenol-A
Bisphenol A has recently found to not be safe for food containers, but it has a sordid history in IC packaging.
Do You Prefer To Work On Projects On Your Own?
I don’t! I know I’m not the most stereotypical engineer out there. I’m social (somewhat). I’m talkative (on my radio show at least). I don’t wear a pocket protector (sometimes). I haven’t whispered sweet nothings to my calculator (lately). But this whole idea of working on your own? Without being able to bounce ideas off of friends and c0-workers? Holy hell! That’s a nightmare! I recently started consulting for electronics work. It’s always outside the scope of my day-job (and sanctioned by my company) but still involves being an analog electrical engineer. The people/companies that need work done though often need one engineer, not an entire department! So the struggle I face, and one that many before me have likely also faced, is that of solitude! “But Chris! I thought engineers loved solitude!” Well, a lot of us do. I mean, I do too. But not when going over a…