Impinj has found a way to make analog devices employing the same CMOS technology currently used for making digital chips and fine-tuning them after they are produced. The result is analog devices that can be scaled down to tiny sizes and work better than the current generation of analog chips.
The “self-adaptive silicon” technology is modeled on how the human brain adjusts nerve cells; it can monitor the chip’s functioning and adjust it to adapt to changes in temperature or battery power. It promises to improve battery life in wireless systems, enable low-power adaptive sensors, and allow for silicon chips that learn from experience.

Company co-founders Carver Mead and his former student, Christopher Diorio, developed the process while at Cal Tech in the 1990s.