Thank you to Beau Schwabe + Propeller 2 Layout Plans
Ken Gracey
Posts: 7,395
Dear Customers,
Over the last year the Propeller 2 has been through some significant design changes. It had grown too much and consumed way too much power. In May, we put the design on a diet to reduce the size and power. Since then, Chip has been working on both the Verilog code and I/O pin schematic. The I/O pin is the portion of our design requiring manual layout. It contains the A/D, D/A, and all wire-level I/O functions. Combining manual layout and Verilog is done all the time, but not so successfully the way we’ve approached it.
Today we’re changing the way we’re finishing the Propeller 2 and we are hiring an ON Semiconductor approved design firm to do the manual layout and properly verify the whole system. This company will have the latest tools, which have become very expensive to license for our limited use. This approach has better accountability during handoffs and reduces unknowns of the whole-chip verification. We should efficiently finish the project and have successful foundry runs in the future.
Unfortunately it also means we’re eliminating our IC Layout Engineering position held by Beau Schwabe. Beau has been a strong contributor to the Parallax community for 20 years and valuable contributor to our Propeller 2 evolution. Beau will be missed inside Parallax.
Chip is pleased to provide a professional recommendation for Beau to any possible employer. If you are a potential employer seeking IC layout design, please contact me via kgracey@parallax.com and I’ll give you Chip’s number. Some of Beau’s expertise is identified below.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
====================
Our Recommendation for Beau Schwabe
Beau Schwabe has been employed at Parallax for the past nine years doing our IC layout work. He has sucessfully laid out many blocks which have been proven on test chips. This work has been at the 180nm node. His layout work has included:
Beau has been into electronics since he was young and he has developed many board-level circuits for servo control and inductive sensing. So, he has an intrinsic understanding of things that would dictate IC wire widths and such. I suppose this has made my work with him very easy, as he always did the right thing without much instruction.
We have let Beau go because we've decided to outsource our future layout work. Our utilization of Beau has been low lately and it's not cost-effective for us to keep a full-time layout engineer on the payroll. Had we more layout work, we would certainly be keeping him on staff.
If you have any questions about Beau’s work at Parallax, please contact me for a professional reference.
Sincerely,
Chip Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
Over the last year the Propeller 2 has been through some significant design changes. It had grown too much and consumed way too much power. In May, we put the design on a diet to reduce the size and power. Since then, Chip has been working on both the Verilog code and I/O pin schematic. The I/O pin is the portion of our design requiring manual layout. It contains the A/D, D/A, and all wire-level I/O functions. Combining manual layout and Verilog is done all the time, but not so successfully the way we’ve approached it.
Today we’re changing the way we’re finishing the Propeller 2 and we are hiring an ON Semiconductor approved design firm to do the manual layout and properly verify the whole system. This company will have the latest tools, which have become very expensive to license for our limited use. This approach has better accountability during handoffs and reduces unknowns of the whole-chip verification. We should efficiently finish the project and have successful foundry runs in the future.
Unfortunately it also means we’re eliminating our IC Layout Engineering position held by Beau Schwabe. Beau has been a strong contributor to the Parallax community for 20 years and valuable contributor to our Propeller 2 evolution. Beau will be missed inside Parallax.
Chip is pleased to provide a professional recommendation for Beau to any possible employer. If you are a potential employer seeking IC layout design, please contact me via kgracey@parallax.com and I’ll give you Chip’s number. Some of Beau’s expertise is identified below.
Sincerely,
Ken Gracey
Parallax Inc.
====================
Our Recommendation for Beau Schwabe
Beau Schwabe has been employed at Parallax for the past nine years doing our IC layout work. He has sucessfully laid out many blocks which have been proven on test chips. This work has been at the 180nm node. His layout work has included:
- Complete set of standard cells for 1.8V and 3.3V, including logic, flipflops, and clock gates
- 8192 x 32 SRAM, single-port, byte-write
- 512 x 32 SRAM, 3 read ports and 1 write port
- 256 x 32 SRAM, dual-port
- Several small ROMs
- Phase-locked loop with 300MHz VCO
- Delta-sigma ADC, first-order, variable resolution
- Brown-out detector with bandgap reference
- Fast DAC, 9-bit, 75-ohm, 2ns settle-time
- 20MHz Crystal oscillator with integrated load capacitors
- 20MHz/20KHz RC oscillator
- Clock switcher with deglitcher
- Poly fuse with blow and read circuits
- Various analog blocks incorporating concentric layout techniques
- Pads for digital and analog I/O, crystal oscillator, power, and ground, including ESD circuits
- Entire pad frame, including power rings
Beau has been into electronics since he was young and he has developed many board-level circuits for servo control and inductive sensing. So, he has an intrinsic understanding of things that would dictate IC wire widths and such. I suppose this has made my work with him very easy, as he always did the right thing without much instruction.
We have let Beau go because we've decided to outsource our future layout work. Our utilization of Beau has been low lately and it's not cost-effective for us to keep a full-time layout engineer on the payroll. Had we more layout work, we would certainly be keeping him on staff.
If you have any questions about Beau’s work at Parallax, please contact me for a professional reference.
Sincerely,
Chip Gracey
Parallax, Inc.
Comments
Thanks, Beau, for your knowledgable analog input and for your diligent, exacting (and patient) work on both Propellers! Good luck with whatever you choose to do henceforth!
-Phil
Doc
Didn't Parallax just indicate the other day that they were short design engineers for PCB layout?
Seems strange that they would let someone of this caliber slip through their fingers..
There are other questions that come to mind, but since it's none of my business, I'll let someone else ask them,
Best of luck to you Beau. Thank you for all of the help with Expos and Projects over the years..
Wish you luck Beau!
I hope he find a satisfying job soon. It is tough loosing a job for any reason.
For the company, it is the correct decision to go with a company that has the resources to do the verification of the layout and chip. Those tools are incredible expensive and require specific skills.
Hard decisions but it is good to see Parallax is making them.
It is even more impressive that Parallax is proactive at finding Beau employment.
Now that is a good company for sure.
Hats off to Beau and Parallax management.
cheer,
rich
Outsourcing the P2 layout to the latest (very expensive) tools is a good move.
At the end of the day Parallax is a "business" and therefore tough decisions have to me made.
Once again, Thanks Beau for your fabulous hardware/software work. Good Luck!
Cheers
Brian
With his skill set, I have no doubt he will find another position in short order.
My best wishes go to you Beau.
Thank you for all those times that you have helped me, shared your valuable knowledge, and voiced your wise opinions. I sincerely hope that this milestone in your life will be a turning point for the better. I am truly sorry to see you go, because you have always been a valuable member of this wonderful community.
Bruce
has always helped me. I wish the best for him. I am hoping he will
always be around the forum, to join in a chat or two.
Thanks for all you have done for me.
Keep us informed Beau...
Bean
Good luck Beau, you've done a lot for Parallax and its customers!! Thank you for that!
But, much success to you! :thumb:
I don't think Beau is going away. He has already responded to a post:
http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php/157653-Another-one-of-those-quot-no-basic-stamp-found-quot-threads
And has a web site:
http://www.bscircuitdesigns.com/
That step makes sense, but likely will mandate a test shuttle to confirm the manual layout aspects.
It could also mean a re-mix of the analog features, to use more fab-proven blocks, which reduces the time/cost/risks in this section of the design.
That makes less near-term sense, as usually a company verifies transfer of the critical knowledge first, but I understand that cannot always occur as seamlessly as is ideal.
Thanks for all the information you have given us over the years. It really helped my understanding (or rather lack of it) of some of the issues involved in designing an IC.
I wish you all the best for the future.
Ken and Parallax,
It makes sense although more of the design will be outsourced. The tools are truly cost prohibitive for a small company now-a-days. Looking forward to seeing the results.
In short.. Beau, you will me missed. We have all benefited from knowing you. Please feel free to drop in from time to time.
Sometimes running a company is just not fun. I'm glad I didn't have to make the call.
Thank you for all your contributions and it was also a pleasure to have met you in Parallax Expo 2012.
Do give me a call if you're ever in Singapore!
Great ! Does this mean that we can hire Beau to make a Kickstarter P1.5 version ? ;-D
Ken, Parallax, all the best with the new direction. I can hear a very deep breath being taken before diving in.