Tekmos' Blog

This month we have published our brochure describing Unify ASICs for the IoT.

System engineers need to meet the challenges of smaller physical packaging, lower power consumption and better connectivity solutions that offer fast time to market. The Unify - ASICs Brochure describes capabilities and approaches of how Unify ASICs achieve smaller space with low power by using standard parts combined with our low risk Unify ASIC. The Unify ASIC features a silicon interconnect combined with integration of logic and mixed signal technologies by Tekmos for better connectivity solutions.

The Unify ASIC designed by Tekmos for the customer, provides a breakthrough approach offering the lowest development cost for a System in a Package solution for new products. The Unify ASIC includes design security making it extremely difficult for others to copy a customer's product design. Unify ASICs protect market share and allow the customer to maintain higher selling prices over the life of their product.

Tekmos will be an exhibitor at the upcoming IoT Developers Conference in Santa Clara, May 25-26. We will be located in the exhibit area and look forward to your stopping by to see how Unify ASICs can improve your product developments.

The month of May seems to be a great time for many conferences this year. Tekmos is a major sponsor and exhibitor at the upcoming IMAPS HiTEC High Temperature device conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico, May 10-12. Tekmos will be featuring our high temperature microprocessors, memory devices and ASICs, with ASICs able to operate up to 300ºC. We look forward to presenting our latest product offering for high temperature applications ranging from 175ºC to 300ºC. Please visit us in the exhibit area and learn more about our high temperature microprocessors and ASICs with long lasting operational life.

Tekmos has just doubled our test capacity, and this is the story behind it. Once you have chosen a brand of testers, there are strong incentives to keep on using that brand. The first is the cost of test hardware. Each part has a dedicated load board. While each hardware set is on the order of a thousand dollars, we do a lot of chips and over time we have hundreds of thousands of dollars invested in test hardware that is dedicated to a specific tester. Another incentive is the software associated with the test programs. We have man-years of engineering time invested in the test programs which would be lost with a new tester brand.

That is why we were excited to learn that a major semiconductor foundry was closing their test facility, and selling six of the same brand of tester that we use. Used testers sell at a steep discount, and we got a good purchase price.

The main issue was that the testers were in China, and it was our responsibility to get them back to Texas. 

The first step was to hire a Chinese packing company. Each tester and each manipulator was put in a hermetic bag, and then packed in a custom shipping crate. Then, all 12 crates were packed in a 40 foot shipping container. We then made arrangements to have the container shipped from Shanghai to Houston.

We knew the name of the ship, and as a result, were able to track it's movements across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal, and on to Houston. The tracking detail was accurate enough that we could see it wait as the locks filled on the canal.

Tekmos celebrated its year end get together at the Texas Land & Cattle Restaurant with a very tall Christmas tree looming over the festivities. There was a full house of Tekmos team members along with their families enjoying choices of smoked sirloin, prime rib, Cesar salads with lime cilantro dressing, creamed spinach, salmon, and barbecue shrimp. Lynn Reed wore his traditional Christmas tie and a Santa hat. Carole Reed is saluted for organizing a smooth celebratory event. The only hitch was that very large Christmas tree of which no one had control.

The Zilker Tree is located in Zilker Park just around the corner from the restaurant where Tekmos employees and family gathered. Every year the tree is lit for the holiday season and every year 400,000 plus people drive, walk, and bicycle to walk under, twirl and photograph themselves at the Zilker Tree as well as stroll through the Trail of Lights that winds through the park.

The Zilker tree stands 155 feet tall and is composed of 39 streamers, each holding 81 multicolored, 25-watt bulbs - totaling 3,309 lights. At the top of the tree, a double star measures 10 feet from point to point. The double star displays 150 frosted bulbs. This unique spiral pattern of lights was created by City of Austin electricians. At its circumference, the tree measures 380 feet. The diameter is 120 feet. The base of the tree is made up of 19 utility poles, each 14 feet tall, arranged in a circle around the Moonlight Tower.

On December 10, 1967, the first tree was lighted by Mayor Pro Tem Mrs. Emma Long. In subsequent years this honor has been awarded to the young winner of a city-wide tree coloring contest.

While the traffic slowed the arrival and departure to the Tekmos party, it also brought the spirit of the season to make the year end gathering memorable.

Throughout the past year, we have presented several articles on IoT, the Internet of Things. I was asked if I could summarize the ideas in a short couple of paragraphs. Of course, summaries always leave the writer with the issue of potentially throwing out some of the key ideas that make the topic interesting. I said I would give it a try anyway.

The Internet of Things is all about connecting diverse electronics to make them even more useful. The flow of information often starts with analog sensors, measuring almost anything one can think of, from temperature, speed, pressure, and location, to color, voice, and personal characteristics. Often the analog signals are made into digital ones and zeros and transmitted somewhere. There is often some type of processing of this information to add meaning or context. The data can then be used to inform people or machines which in turn take some action. The range of possible uses is extremely wide, from telling where your cat is to turning on air conditioning when someone is anticipated to be in the building. It can be used to automatically order replacement parts when a machine becomes aware that parts are wearing out or sensing that you are at the grocery store and sending a text reminder that it thinks you are running low on milk. But the IoT is not just a cute toy. For example, the amount of money to be saved by smart energy use is tremendous. There are predictions that the major use of IoT for the next several years will be retrofitting to make old machinery more efficient.

As one might expect, good things come at a price. As expected, there are a large number of technical issues. We talked about sensors and issues on making electronics smaller by such approaches as stacked die. The article on having someone taking over your car, while you are driving it, points out what is likely the biggest problem of all: making devices so that, either intentionally or unintentionally, the interconnectivity does not lead to major problems. While having your refrigerator send spam may be a humorous annoyance, having one's pacemaker subject to a hacker is truly frightening. During the next year, we will investigate more aspects of the IoT and some of the ramifications of implementing it. We will also look at how the technology is evolving.

Well, the New Year is fast approaching. To me, this is always an exciting and somewhat magical time. It gives us the opportunity to take a pause, look at things, and maybe be a little more honest about those changes we seem to have put off throughout the year behind us. Everyone has their own list. Of course we all want to lose a little more weight. We should stop procrastinating whatever that thing that needs to be done in the garage is. And we should probably be a little nicer to whichever aunt, uncle or obnoxious cousin it is that you have been avoiding all year until the holidays.

We are all guilty of those lists, and they are always good for a chuckle. But around Tekmos, we are taking those lists a little more seriously this time of year. Our quality system actually demands it. In that light, we are pleased to announce that Tekmos has gone through the auditing process, passed, and received our updated BSI ISO 9001 and 14001 certificates.

Around here, we don't just make resolutions, we actually put them in writing. And if I do say so myself, we do a pretty good job of making those goals happen. That is what our customers expect, and what we expect to do for our customers. Of course we are going to be a little nicer to crazy Uncle Joe. And I really am going to lose that weight next year. But even if that doesn't happen, it is nice to know that you can come by Tekmos, and see that some resolutions really are set in stone. That is always a good comfort this time of year, for our customers, and also for our-selves as well.