Thomas Wessel, managing director for European sales and marketing at Analog Devices, talks to EW about MEMS technology, the power/performcnec push-pull factor and how to recruit the best analogue designers
EW: The power consumption of DSPs is making the battery life of DAB radios a joke. Is there anything that can be done to make it a few mA?
Thomas Wessel: The basic challenge with a DAB radio design exist in a pull in opposite directions - between very low power and high end features such as rewind. For just the DSP alone, without accounting for memory and I/O to access the memory (for things such as rewind), the power can indeed go down to a very low number. An ADI Blackfin can - without too much optimisation - get it done for around 30mW. Add to it the various features the latest radios demand - such as recording on a flash card or USB access, and the power goes up.
EW: What development would allow significant cost to be cut from ICs with integrated MEMS?
Thomas Wessel: ADI’s roadmap to multi-axis motion sensing for under $1 includes a number of factors. Firstly, small die size is important, and our integrated MEMS technology enables the smallest sensors compared with “passive” MEMS. We can also reduce the costs of wafers, packaging and assembly by using standard processing tools and standard packaging, and in particular with wafer scale packaging (WSP) which eliminates package costs altogether. Finally, we can keep costs down by using the high quality and reliability of proven processes such as the iMEMS process which has been operational for 15 years and produces high yields.
EW: How do you attract and retain analogue designers of sufficient quality?
Thomas Wessel: Many factors contribute. Because we have the best analogue designers in the world, we can attract the best. Also, throughout our history, we have always believed in the cycle of employees who are challenged, motivated, and valued, will create customers who are loyal, collaborative, and successful, and this in turn will drive up the value of the company for all our stakeholders - employees, customers, investors, communities, the public. That way of thinking has lead to a recruiting programme that emphasises making a long term commitment, doing your best, and being rewarded.
EW: As chips get more complex and teams get bigger, how does individual talent shine through?
Thomas Wessel: The complexity of the chips or the size of the team aren’t the issue. As a company with nearly 3,500 engineers working all over the world, nurturing individuals takes constant and consistent attention. In a recent employee survey, we asked people to tell us what they liked most about working at ADI, nearly 90 per cent said “the people they work with everyday”. We take that to heart and rely on peer nominations for special achievement awards, promotions, even the esteemed position of ADI Fellow starts with a nomination from peers.
EW: How do you keep ADI differentiated from Texas Instruments and National Semiconductor in the eyes of engineers?
Thomas Wessel: At ADI, we dedicate ourselves to developing technologies that can help make our customers’ products better, more successful, more competitive. We pride ourselves in being a company that is easy to work with at all levels.