Tekmos' Blog

Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are an excellent choice for rapid development, prototyping, and low-volume production. But as products mature and volumes increase, many organizations reach a tipping point were continuing with an FPGA is no longer the most efficient or cost-effective option.

So how do you know when it’s time to make the move?

Below are 7 clear signs that your design may be ready for FPGA-to-ASIC conversion and how making the transition can improve performance, reduce costs, and ensure long-term supply.

1. Your Production Volumes Are Increasing

FPGAs are ideal for low-to-medium volumes, but their per-unit cost remains relatively high compared to ASICs. If your production volumes are scaling into the thousands (or more), an ASIC can significantly reduce unit cost over time.  

Do people love remote work? For most, including at Tekmos, they do, and it’s mainly the flexibility. Travel and commute are reduced including the cost of both. There is a reduction of distractions. The ability to travel and live anywhere, including outside of major cities offers workers the ability to be closer to family. A big plus is often an increase in productivity.

At Tekmos we use Microsoft Teams to share, communicate by division and as a company. While we use our company email to share across our divisions, and telephone calls, Microsoft Teams allows us to see, hear, share, and speak to one another as a group or one on one using cameras, microphones and headsets. Tekmos' communication skills have improved greatly which has increased cohesiveness among team members.

US Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that 4.7 million people, which make about 3.4% of the US workforce, were already working remotely before the novel coronavirus took the world by storm. Regular work-at-home has grown 173% since 2005, 11% faster than the rest of the workforce (which grew 15%) and nearly 47x faster than the self-employed population (which grew by 4%) (Global Workplace Analytics’ analysis of 2018 ACS data).

What is the most important issue for remote working? Communication tops the list, with 27% of people mentioning it as their #1 challenge. Remote work makes it harder to read body language, hear what people are saying, ask follow up questions in the hallway, or quickly ask a coworker for clarification at their desk. Lacking social interaction and isolation are close behind. Again, Microsoft Teams offers the ability to see, hear and interact with coworkers.

Best Practices to thrive as a remote worker

Tekmos is thinking seriously about what we want our work paradigm to achieve because of this pandemic. We think we can architect and build systems that will allow us to meet our objectives of an engineering design firm and manufacturer of semiconductors, while maintaining clear and open communication, a key factor in running any company.

What do we need to ask ourselves as we look at the future? Our lease will be expiring the 2nd quarter of 2021. We have begun to make decisions about whether we stay in our current location. Where will we move if we do? Do we lease or buy? We have already learned we can save substantially in overhead by moving and creating a new model for Tekmos.

What is our overall vision of our ideal work system for Tekmos in the future? Many of our team have worked remote already due to the pandemic. Do we consider adapting a partial virtual model and how does all of this fit together?

Executives in traditional industries who spent days and weeks on the road are discovering that a well-managed Zoom meeting can be as effective as a face-to-face — and a lot easier (and less expensive) to organize. While the broad impacts of remote work have yet to be measured across industries and for extended lengths of time, initial studies have found that it can increase productivity and lower employee turnover. (Harvard Business Review)

The study, titled “From Immediate Responses to Planning for the Reimagined Workplace,” found that 77% of respondents expect that the number of employees working primarily from home (at least three days a week) will increase postpandemic.

Tekmos has had an increase in ASIC products required for military applications. Because of this we have had to incorporate military screening and qualification procedures.

Tekmos follows military screening outlined in Mil-STD-883: Test Method 5004.13. This screening consists of tests dedicated to inspect the design, wafer fabrication, and device assembly of a product and is performed on the entire Lot of parts. The tests include Nondestructive Bond Pulls, Temperature Cycling, Electrical Parameter Tests, and more. So far Tekmos has had a 100% success rate on military screening 5004.13.

Unlike the initial screen procedures, the military qualification procedures are outlined in Mil-STD-883: Test Method 5005.17 and only use a small portion of the Lot for testing. Many of the tests are considered destructive, which ultimately means the parts no longer are active for customer use and must be scrapped. Qualification involves 5 groups of testing; Group A: Electrical, Group B: Mechanical and Environmental, Group C: Life Tests, Group D: Package, Group E: RHA (if applicable).

Group A testing is done in-house once production parts arrive from the dedicated assembler. Tekmos begins screening by performing an initial electrical test to remove any assembly rejects from the Lot. After Initial test, parts are then placed in ovens for a burn-in cycle in accordance with TM 1015, for 160 hours at 125ºC. While the parts are under burn-in, Tekmos constantly monitors the current output of the parts to ensure their electrical stability. Once completed, the parts will run through a tri-temperature screening with the same initial test used pre-burn-in. The parts are tested at 125ºC, 25ºC, and -55ºC to make certain the product is meeting the device specifications.

For Groups B and D, Tekmos sends off parts to an approved test house. These parts, although tested off-site, are constantly being tracked through various communication channels for accurate completion estimates and potential issues needing to be resolved. Once all parts have completed, the test house will send reports and certificates of conformance for the testing performed. The reports are then reviewed by the Production Engineer, Zachary Kolb, and Director of Quality, Kelsey Casto.

This October will be my 6th year as a Tekmos employee. Oh- how time flies. Tekmos has gotten to see me graduate college, buy my first house, get married, and so much more! So-I think it’s only fitting to write an article about my experience within the company and a few life changing principles I have learned in the many different roles as; Intern, Assembly Engineer, and Director of Quality.

I started at Tekmos in 2014 as an Engineering Intern helping the design and layout of Printed Circuit Boards (PCB). I was familiar with working on CAD programs, so I was able to pick up the PCB software easily, but there was one important lesson I still needed to learn; admitting to my mistakes. Not every PCB I designed was functional, which meant my 20 year old self made numerous arguments blaming others for the mistakes. After one failed (expensive) project and my countless excuses blaming others, Lynn Reed, President, sat down in my cubicle with me and shared some wisdom about taking ownership of my work, including the mistakes, because in the end the project is ultimately my responsibility. Those simple, self-explanatory words changed my view on how to embrace mistakes and take ownership. Yes, I still made mistakes on some PCBs, but my attitude towards failure had drastically changed.

My next important learning experience came after I got promoted to an Assembly Engineer. This promotion meant I was now transitioning into a role I had little knowledge in and leaving the comfort-ability of PCB designing. I had to embrace getting out of my comfort zone and take initiative on learning a subject outside of the classroom. Although- fellow Tekmos employees graciously helped along the way. Specifically Test Floor Technician, Phil Buck, who spent many patient hours explaining the assembly process of ICs, machine operations/troubleshooting, and even the importance of electrical safety while working on test floors. With his help, I learned how to get comfortable with my new role as an Assembly Engineer and be humble in times of the unfamiliarity.

Fast forward one year, VP of Operations, Jon Gehm, introduced me to the Quality Management System (QMS). Initially, I was assisting him with audit prepping and reorganization, but over time he encouraged me to take leadership on the AS9100 quality system upgrade and set a goal to become the Director of Quality at Tekmos. This encouragement really tested my self-confidence and I had to learn to push myself beyond my set boundaries. I had many learning curves on what it meant to be in a Director position, but it eventually led me to grow a voice in meetings, audits, improvement plans, and much more. Eventually I was promoted to Director of Quality and have been at this role since 2017.

Because of the leadership and environment at Tekmos I have learned how to admit to mistakes, embrace the uncomfortable, and gain self-confidence.