Electronics trends for 2015

Here are my collection of trends and predictions for electronics industry for 2015:

The computer market, once the IC growth driver per se, apparently is approaching saturation status. Communications industry is still growing (6.8%.). Automotive V2X, LED lighting and smart domestic objects are set to drive semiconductor market growth through the year 2020, according to market analysis firm Gartner.

Car electronics will be hot in 2015. New cars will have more security features, smart infotainment and connectivity in them. It is an are where smart phone companies are pushing to. Automotive Industry Drives Chip Demand article says that until 2018, the IC demand from automotive customers is expected to exhibit the strongest average annual growth — 10.8% on average. This is significantly higher than the communications industry, at second place with 6.8%. Demand drivers include safety features that increasingly are becoming mandatory, such as backup cameras or eCall. But driver-assistance systems are also becoming ubiquitous. Future drivers will include connectivity, such as vehicle-to-vehicle communications, as well as sensors and controllers necessary for various degrees of autonomous driving.

Power electronics is a $90 billion-per-year market. The market for discrete power electronics is predicted to grow to $23 billion by 2024 from $13 billion today. Silicon rules power electronics industry, but new materials are pushing to headlines quickly. In the power electronics community, compound semiconductors such as gallium nitride (GaN) are drawing more attention as they try to displace silicon based power devices, which have been doing the heavy lifting for the past 30 years or so. While silicon-based devices are predicted to remain predominant with an 87% share of the market, it is expected that SiC- and GaN-based components to grow at annual rates of 30% and 32%, respectively. There’s no denying the cost advantages that silicon possesses.

Chip designs that enable everything from a 6 Gbit/s smartphone interface to the world’s smallest SRAM cell will be described at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) in February 2015. Intel will describe a Xeon processor packing 5.56 billion transistors, and AMD will disclose an integrated processor sporting a new x86 core, according to a just-released preview of the event. The annual ISSCC covers the waterfront of chip designs that enable faster speeds, longer battery life, more performance, more memory, and interesting new capabilities. There will be many presentations on first designs made in 16 and 14 nm FinFET processes at IBM, Samsung, and TSMC.

There is push to go to even smaller processes, and it seems that next generation of lithography equipment are started to being used. Earlier expectation was for chipmakers to use traditional immersion lithography for production of 10 nm chip, but it seems that extreme ultraviolet (EUV) scanners that allows allow scaling to 10 nm or even smaller is being used. TSMC to Use EUV for 7nm, Says ASML. Intel and TSMC have been injecting money in ASML to push process technology.

2015 promises to see initial FPGA product releases and (no doubt) a deluge of marketing claims and counter-claims. One thing is certain: 2015 will not be boring. There will be FPGA products that use processes beyond 20nm, for example Altera and  Xilinx have committed to use the TSMC 16nm FinFET technology. There is  publicized (and rumored) race to get to production at 14nm has seen time frames for initial samples move into 2015. However, with both FPGA companies reporting gross margins of close to 70 percent, it would be possible for either company to take an initial hit on margin to gain key socket wins.

It seems that the hardware becomes hot again as Wearables make hardware the new software. Apple invest its time when it released the Apple Watch last quarter, going up against the likes of Google’s Android Wear and others in the burgeoning wearables area of design. Once Apple’s bitten into a market, it’s somewhat a given that there’s good growth ahead and that the market is, indeed, stable enough. As we turn to 2015 and beyond  wearables becomes an explosive hardware design opportunity — one that is closely tied to both consumer and healthcare markets. It could pick up steam in the way software did during the smartphone app explosion.

There will be more start-up activity within hardware sector. For recent years, the software has been on the main focus on the start-ups, and the hardware sector activity has been lower. Hardware sector has seem some start-up activity with many easy to use open hardware platforms became available (make development of complex devices easier and reachable for smaller companies). The group financing (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, etc.) have made it possible to test of new hardware ideas are market-worthy and get finance to get them to production.

EEs embrace hackathons aand accelerators. Design 2.0 is bubbling up in the engineering community, injecting new energy into the profession. In many ways, it’s the new Moore’s Law. Easy to use open hardware development platforms have made it possible to design working hardware device prototypes within hackathons.

Silicon Startups Get Incubator article tells that there will be new IC start-up activity as semiconductor veterans announced plans for an incubator dedicated to helping chip startups design their first prototypes. Keysight, Synopsys, and TSMC have signed exclusive deals to provide tools and services to the incubator. Silicon Catalyst aims to select its first batch of about 10 chip startups before April.

MEMS mics are taking over. Almost every mobile device has ditched its old-fashioned electret microphone invented way back in 1962 at Bell Labs. Expect new piezoelectric MEMS microphones, which promise unheard of signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) of up to 80 dB (versus 65 dB in the best current capacitive microphones) in 2015. MEMS microphones are growing like gangbusters.Also engineers have found a whole bunch of applications that can use MEMS microphone as a substitute for more specialized sensors starting in 2015.

There will be advancements in eco-design. There will be activity within Europe’s Ecodesign directive. The EC’s Ecodesign Working Plan for 2015-2017 is currently in its final study stages – the plan is expected to be completed by January 2015. The chargers will be designed for lower zero load power consumption in 2015, as on February 2016, after the 5-watt chargers are no longer at no load connected consume more than 0.1 watts of power. Socket for power supplies values ​​are defined in the new Energy Star standard VI.

LED light market growing in 2015. Strategies Unlimited estimates that  in 2014 the LED lamps were sold $ 7 billion, or about 5.7 billion euros. In 2019 the LED lamps will already sold just over 12 billion euros. LED technology will replace other lighting technologies quickly. For those who do not go to the LED Strategies Unlimited permission difficult times – all other lamp technologies, the market will shrink 14 percent per year.  The current lighting market growth is based on LED proliferation of all the different application areas.

IoT market is growing fast in 2015. Gartner is predicting a 30 percent compound annual growth rate for the IoT chip market for the period 2013 to 2020. The move to create billions of smart, autonomously communicating objects known as the Internet of Things (IoT) is driving the need for low-power sensors, processors and communications chips. Gartner expects chips for IoT market to grow 36% in 2015 (IoT IC marker value in 2014 was from $3.9 billion to $9 billion depending how you calculate it). The sales generated by the connectivity and sensor subsystems to enabled this IoT will amount $48.3 billion in 2014 and grow 19 percent in 2015 to $57.7 billion. IC Insights forecasts that web-connected things will account for 85 percent of 29.5 billion Internet connections worldwide by 2020.

With the increased use of IoT, the security is becoming more and more important to embedded systems and chip designers. Embedded systems face ongoing threats of penetration by persistent individuals and organizations armed with increasingly sophisticated tools. There is push for IC makers to add on-chip security features to serve as fundamental enablers for secure systems, but it is just one part of the IoT security puzzle. The trend toward enterprise-level security lifecycle management emerges as the most promising solution for hardened security in embedded systems underlying the explosive growth of interconnected applications. The trend continues in 2015 for inclusion of even more comprehensive hardware support for security: More and more MCUs and specialized processors now include on-chip hardware accelerators for crypto operations.

Electronics is getting smaller and smaller. Component manufacturers are continually developing new and smaller packages for components that are mere fractions of a millimeter and have board to component clearances of less than a mil. Components are placed extremely close together. No-lead solder is a relatively recent legislated fact of life that necessitated new solder, new fluxes, higher temperatures, and new solder processing equipmentTin whisker problems also increased dramatically. You should Improve device reliability via PCB cleanliness, especially if you are designing something that should last more then few years.

Photonics will get to the circuit board levels. Progress in computer technology (and the continuation of Moore’s Law) is becoming increasingly dependent on faster data transfer between and within microchips. We keep hearing that copper has reached its speed limit, and that optics will replace copper for high-speed signals. Photonics now can run through cables, ICs, backplanes, and circuit boards. Silicon chips can now have some optical components in them using silicon photonics technologies. For more than 10 years, “silicon photonics” has attracted significant research efforts due to the potential benefits of optoelectronics integration. Using silicon as an optical medium and complementary metal-oxide semiconductor fabrication processing technology, silicon photonics allows tighter monolithic integration of many optical functions within a single device.

Enter electro-optical printed circuits, which combine copper and optical paths on the same board. Electro-optical PCBs use copper for distributing power and low-speed data, and optical paths for high-speed signals. Optical backplane connectors have been developed, as well as a technique to align the small waveguides to transceivers on the board. The next challenge is to develop waveguides on to boards where the tight bends don’t degrade performance to unacceptable levels.

3D printing will continue to be hot. Additive manufacturing, can build complex prototypes, parts, tools, and models in various materials for a variety of uses, and is quickly expanding beyond making one-off products to the space industry. The major space agencies have all taken notice of additive manufacturing as a key enabling technology, and so should you.

3D printing will bring structural electronics. With 3D printing hot in the news, and conformable, flexible, or even printed electronics fitting any shape, it is only a matter of time before electronic circuits can be laid-out as part of the 3D-printing process, the electronic framework becoming an integral supporting part of any object’s mechanical structure. For example “structural batteries” have already been implemented in electric cars, in racing-car aerofoils, and in the Tesla pure electric car.

Superconductors are heating up again.  Superconductivity will be talked again in 2015 as there were some advancements in the end of 2014. A group of international scientists working with the National Accelerator Laboratory in Menlo Park, Calif., have discovered lasers that can create conditions for superconductivity at temperatures as high at 140°F. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has discovered a law governing thin-film superconductors, eliminating much of the trial and error for companies that manufacture superconducting photodetector. With MIT’s new mathematical law, new superconducting chips can be designed with the correct parameters determined ahead of time.

For more trends and predictions you should also read Hot technologies: Looking ahead to 2015 and IEEE: Top 10 technology trends for 2015 articles.

1,206 Comments

  1. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Echo of the Bunnymen: How AMD Won, Then Lost
    http://goo.gl/er04T9

    In 2003, nothing could stop AMD. This was a company that moved from a semiconductor company based around second-sourcing Intel designs in the 1980s to a Fortune 500 company a mere fifteen years later. AMD was on fire, and with almost a 50% market share of desktop CPUs, it was a true challenger to Intel’s throne.

    AMD began its corporate history like dozens of other semiconductor companies: second sourcing dozens of other designs from dozens of other companies.

    While AMD and Intel shared a common heritage, history bears that only one company would become the king of semiconductors.

    Reply
  2. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Graphene Super Caps: Coming Soon?
    http://hackaday.com/2015/12/10/graphene-super-caps-coming-soon/

    If you read Hackaday regularly, you’ve probably heard that you can use a LASER to create graphene. There’s been a bit of research on how to make practical graphene supercapacitors using the technique (known as LIG or LASER-induced graphene). Researchers at Rice University have been working on this, and apparently they’ve had significant success inducing graphene capacitors on a Kapton substrate. The team has published a paper in Advanced Materials (which is behind a paywall) about their work.

    In particular, Rice claims that they have easily produced supercapacitors with an energy density of 3.2 mW/cubic centimeter (that’s what the University’s website reports; they probably mean mW-hours/cubic centimeter) with capacitances near one millifarad per square centimeter.

    While it is easy to grow graphene with a LASER (we’ve even seen it done with a DVD burner more than once), the interesting part of the Rice team’s research seems to be their use of electrodeposition of manganese dioxide, ferric oxyhydroxide, or polyaniline to create composite positive and negative electrodes.

    Scientists see the light on microsupercapacitors
    http://news.rice.edu/2015/12/03/scientists-see-the-light-on-microsupercapacitors-2/

    Reply
  3. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Improving fault coverage for random-pattern-resistant designs
    http://www.edn.com/design/integrated-circuit-design/4440967/Improving-fault-coverage-for-random-pattern-resistant-designs?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151210&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151210&elq=310ac5fed84241c187f8e82437ee376f&elqCampaignId=26058&elqaid=29703&elqat=1&elqTrackId=6bffb7a8e9fb467d8572232551cb34b5

    Designs with LogicBIST exhibit random pattern resistance because of the random nature of LBIST vectors, thus leading to low fault coverage. To handle this, we insert test points with the help of random resistant fault analysis (RRFA). The computation of the fault detection capability of a design with LBIST is done with the help of fault simulation, which gives an estimate of “quality of test”. We discuss these in more detail below, along with techniques to increase fault detection in LBIST designs.

    Test through LBIST is a pseudo random test unlike the production scan test which is more deterministic test. The scan vectors in LBIST are generated by a Pseudo Random Pattern Generator (PRPG) which generates pseudo random sequences. Whereas in the case of production scan testing the scan vectors are deterministically fed through the scan inputs through the Automatic Test Equipment (ATE).

    Due to the random nature of LBIST test it is not always possible to test particular faults because of no direct control on what sequence of scan inputs is being shifted in the design.

    Reply
  4. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Digital isolators ward off 10-kV surges
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4440949/Digital-isolators-ward-off-10-kV-surges?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151209&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151209&elq=dcddc17868664b939d34a40ccc4629e4&elqCampaignId=26050&elqaid=29695&elqat=1&elqTrackId=57759a50423240b9999357b3ca8d1125

    The Si86xxxT multichannel digital-isolation devices from Silicon Labs protect industrial equipment against secondary lightning strikes. Based on the company’s capacitive-isolation technology, the series features a high-voltage isolation barrier that withstands 10-kV surge hits to increase reliability in a wide range of demanding industrial applications.

    http://www.silabs.com/products/power/isolators/Pages/si86xxxt.aspx

    Reply
  5. Tomi Engdahl says:

    DC/DC converter needs little room in portables
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4440983/DC-DC-converter-needs-little-room-in-portables?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20151214&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20151214&elq=bf2ccffe4ad24b5a997365c8dbf878ab&elqCampaignId=26152&elqaid=29899&elqat=1&elqTrackId=bbddc3e650ac40759c49d0a77fa15f92

    Offered in a 20-bump wafer-level chip-scale package, the RP602 1.5-A buck-boost converter from Ricoh automatically switches between PWM and VFM modes. The synchronous-rectification converter occupies only 3.92 mm2 of circuit board space and can be used in portable electronics, such as smart phones and smart watches. It is also a suitable power source for Li-ion battery-operated equipment, as well as IoT devices and communication modules.

    Key specifications include an input voltage range of 2.3 V to 5.5 V and an output voltage range of 2.7 V to 4.2 V, accurate to within ±1.5%. Line regulation is typically 0.5% in PWM mode. Load regulation is typically 0.1% at an output current of 0 mA to 500 mA in PWM mode.

    RP602Z Series
    1.5A Buck-Boost DC/DC Converter with Synchronous Rectifier
    http://www.e-devices.ricoh.co.jp/en/products/product_power/dc_updown/rp602/

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Common parts library eases startup production woes
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/embedded-insights/4440993/Common-parts-library-eases-startup-production-woes?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20151214&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20151214&elq=44347227743c45eba368726bfcf91d10&elqCampaignId=26136&elqaid=29891&elqat=1&elqTrackId=2fab745667564547bec61c2f25f1c768

    The difference between commercial hardware design and hobby electronics has blurred over the last few years. With open source hardware, the newer slate of very affordable and capable CAD tools, and the vast knowledge base available online, most of what can be done in a big corporate lab can also be done in a spare room at home. This has fostered a re-emergence of the hardware startup. It’s also brought to light a few problems that still need to be addressed.

    By day, I work for a manufacturing company; on the weekends, I design and build small electronic devices. My design projects are typically microcontroller-based, with many having custom Arduino-compatible hardware at the core. Being based on pre-existing open source designs, these aren’t terribly difficult projects. That’s not to say that aren’t any hang ups, though. It’s not in the assembly. I’ve got that handled; either by hand building the simple boards or by sending the complex ones through the plant at my day job. No, it’s not design or assembly that gets me down. It’s the measly supply chain.

    Smaller components, like passives, are easy to put into CAD, but not necessarily easy to keep on hand.

    Corporate design organizations have purchasing and manufacturing specialists who make sure that the chosen parts are available and in good supply. The startup engineer or hobbyist doesn’t have the luxury of that help. The Common Parts Library (CPL) initiative has recently emerged with the purpose of solving many of these component supply problems.

    The Common Parts Library (CPL) Initiative
    http://www.embedded.com/electronics-blogs/say-what-/4440992/The-Common-Parts-Library–CPL–Initiative

    I recently spoke with Octopart’s Sam Wurzel about the supply chain and what they’re doing to reduce availability problems. Octopart, if you don’t know, is a comprehensive parts search engine that is behind the Common Parts Library. The Octopart engine allows you to search for a part from most of the available distributors, all in one spot with the same search action. So, if the QFN version of your MCU keeps disappearing from one place, and randomly reappearing in some other place, then Octopart will lead you right to it.

    Octopart is now owned by Alitum

    That’s only three parts on a bill of materials comprising about 35 different parts, but multiply that out for a dozen different boards.

    Also consider that, if I don’t want my job stopped, I need to check every part on the BOM each time I send that board in for manufacture. It all adds up.

    Why doesn’t the manufacturer just pick something and automatically make the substitution, you ask? They can’t, because they don’t know what parameters are important to the designer. Say my LED has a 5 mA forward current and they substitute one with a 20 mA forward current. That might totally mess up my battery life, or it could bring me above the total current source limit of the MCU. On the other hand, if brightness is important to me, putting a 5 mA LED in place of a 20 mA LED could ruin the performance of my product.

    “Startups are getting frustrated over the same problems — they don’t understand issues with parts availability and would build boards and need to scrap them because they couldn’t find some of their parts,” said Wurzel. “BOMs get sent to manufacturers that aren’t useable because the parts aren’t available in the supply chain.”

    Large companies with a lot of volume manufacturing solve this problem by having a list of approved substitutions. The engineer will pick two or three parts that are all suitable for the design, and the purchasing agents can buy anything on the list without needing any additional approval.

    Octopart is working to do the same thing en masse with its Common Parts Library initiative. The idea is that Octopart can look at a large set of purchasing data and determine what kind of parts engineers use the most. From this data, they have come up with two lists: one focused on production and one on prototypes. For each part in the CPL, they try to identify at least two manufacturers’ parts that are of equivalent value that will be available. It’s not an absolute guarantee, but it’s close enough.

    Common Parts Library for Production
    The Common Parts Library for Production is a set of commonly used electronic components for designing and manufacturing connected device products.
    https://octopart.com/common-parts-library

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Why Santa Claus switched to modular instrumentation
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/catching-waves/4403383/Santa-Claus-switches-to-modular-instrumentation?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151211&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_funfriday_20151211&elq=168656e53f4d42188f9180a9fb00ba83&elqCampaignId=26090&elqaid=29752&elqat=1&elqTrackId=ecc951b5f0764938bd7ba4449f06bbdd

    I found a solution. I switched to modular instrumentation. I started with VXI. Then I switched to PXI, and actually have a little AXIe as well. First of all, the reindeer loved it. A quarter of the size, but less than one tenth the weight. It was originally Rudolph’s idea.

    Speed, Size, Flexibility. Not the top things Mrs. Claus may think about me, but this was what attracted me to modular instruments. I love my work again. The elves are ecstatic, and now are experimenting with virtual instrumentation and FPGA customization.

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Low-power PIC MCUs eliminate external memory
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4440984/Low-power-PIC-MCUs-eliminate-external-memory?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151207&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151207&elq=4a8b5a536784414e9030eec15c947053&elqCampaignId=26037&elqaid=29686&elqat=1&elqTrackId=a93e24dc6d7443e39af03c7e262a36c9

    Microchip has expanded its PIC microcontroller portfolio with the PIC24F GB6 family, which includes up to 1 Mbyte of flash memory with ECC and 32 kbytes of RAM. The PIC24F GB6 is the first 16-bit MCU in the PIC portfolio to offer such a large memory size.

    All eight members of the PIC24F GB6 family have been released for volume production, with prices starting at $1.74 each in high volumes. Product variants are available in 64-pin, 100-pin, and 121-pin packages.

    PIC24FJ1024GB610
    In Production
    http://www.microchip.com/wwwproducts/Devices.aspx?product=PIC24FJ1024GB610

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    The MAX14691–MAX14693 adjustable overvoltage, undervoltage, and overcurrent protection devices guard systems against overcurrent faults in addition to positive overvoltage and reverse-voltage faults. When used with an optional external pMOSFET

    http://silica.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/en/silica/circuit-protection-misc/3074457345617297688

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Samsung Drives Into Next-Gen Auto Components Market
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328473&

    Consumer electronics giant Samsung is wading into the automotive market with a focus on autonomous driving technologies, in-vehicle entertainment, and satellite navigation, according to a company statement obtained by Reuters.

    The tech company will create a new division to develop the business, and that arm of the company will interact with Samsung’s existing companies to produce the technologies and components.

    Insight: Better late than never? Samsung IT arms push into autos
    http://www.reuters.com/article/samsung-group-autos-insight-idUSKCN0SN2U720151030

    Data compiled by Thomson Reuters IP & Science shows the world’s top smartphone maker and other Samsung Group tech affiliates are ramping up research and development for auto technology, with two-thirds of their combined 1,804 U.S. patent filings related to electric vehicles and electric components for cars coming since 2010.

    They haven’t yet landed significant business, and Samsung Group declined to comment on strategy, but the lure is obvious.

    Automakers already incorporate or are developing technologies to enhance safety and provide better smartphone connectivity and entertainment systems, creating an opening for tech companies to break into a market for software, services and components that is worth around $500 billion, ABI Research analyst Dominique Bonte said.

    “There are two trends: the car becomes a connected software device, and the entire mobile and ICT ecosystem is getting very interested in playing a part in that evolution,” Bonte said.

    That is particularly welcome as demand for smartphones, TVs and computers slows, but Samsung is arriving late at a party where some of the best partners are already taken.

    Cross-town rival LG Electronics Inc announced a major supply agreement with General Motors in October, sending LG’s shares surging, while U.S. chipmaker Nvidia Corp, known for graphics processors that power games consoles and laptops, says its chips will be in more than 30 million cars in the next three to four years.

    Unlike Apple and Google, there is no clear sign yet that Samsung is developing its own autonomous driving technology.

    Its Samsung SDI Co Ltd is now the world’s No. 6 electric car battery maker, counting BMW, Chrysler and Volkswagen among its clients.

    Samsung patent filings show a wide range of technologies

    Product development cycles in the auto industry are far longer than in consumer electronics, and carmakers are cautious about adding suppliers without a track record.

    Samsung Electronics could still catch up by taking the one-stop-shop approach, similar to that of LG Electronics, by working with sister companies to combine offerings such as batteries, chips, sensors and software such as the Tizen operating system into a single package, analysts say.

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Nathan Donato-Weinstein / bizjournals:
    Apple buys 70K-square-foot former chip fab building in North San Jose for $18.2M, likely for R&D instead of production, given the capabilities of the facility — Exclusive: Apple buys former chip fab in North San Jose — Apple Inc. has snapped up a former chip fab in North San Jose …

    Exclusive: Apple buys former chip fab in North San Jose
    http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2015/12/14/exclusive-apple-buys-former-chip-fab-in-north-san.html?page=all

    Apple Inc. has snapped up a former chip fab in North San Jose, the latest real estate play for the Cupertino-based tech juggernaut after a breathtaking year for the company’s expansion in Silicon Valley.

    Apple last week paid $18.2 million for the 70,000 square foot building at 3725 N. First St., public records show. The purchase is notable for the real estate’s former use: It was a manufacturing facility for semiconductor company Maxim Integrated Products, which was also the seller

    Also of interest: The deal makes Apple neighbors with Samsung Semiconductor, which earlier this year opened a huge new campus at North First Street and Tasman Drive. Samsung remains a key Apple supplier, but is also a major competitor and foe in a high-profile patent lawsuit.

    It’s unclear what Apple will use the facility for, but marketing material from the listing agent, ATREG, says: “Well suited for prototype, pilot, and low-volume manufacturing, this facility is capable of producing a wide array of products at multiple technology nodes ranging from 600nm to 90nm, with the bulk of production from 350nm to 180nm.” The facility also “offers a complete tool line consisting of 197 well-maintained front-end tools from such OEMs as AMAT, Hitachi, Novellus, LAM, TEL, KLA, and ASML,” the marketing material states.

    Experts said on Monday that the pickup probably does not signal a big push into production chip manufacturing for Apple, but does suggest the company needs more “heavy R&D” space as it continues to expand into new products and markets.

    Reply
  12. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Apple buys former Maxim chip fab in North San Jose, neighboring Samsung Semiconductor

    By Daniel Eran Dilger
    Monday, December 14, 2015, 05:23 pm PT (08:23 pm ET)
    http://appleinsider.com/articles/15/12/14/apple-buys-former-maxim-chip-fab-in-north-san-jose-neighboring-samsung-semiconductor-

    Apple just paid $18.2 million for a small 70,000 square foot silicon chip fab, formerly owned by Samsung, located in North San Jose, California, about a 20 minute drive from its current Infinite Loop headquarters in Cupertino.

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    World’s fastest serdes switches terabytes speed

    wiss Lausanne Polytechnic removed from school bus Kandou AS is now presented serdes circuit, which is capable of transferring data at terabytes per second between the two circuits.

    Glasswing brand name received serdes-circuit consumes less than one watt of power somewhat. Relationship between performance and power consumption is very good.

    Kandoun bit shift circuits based on the Chord signaling. It correlated signals are transmitted over a plurality of connecting wires: five bits transferred over the six wires to reach 125 Gigabit per second rate. Full speed reached 12 millimeters in length and half the rate achieved even 24 millimeter.
    Kandou sell this high speed serdes interface as IP core.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3742:maailman-nopein-serdes-kytkee-terabitin-nopeudella&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Reply
  14. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Tim Culpan / Bloomberg Business:
    Sources: Apple has a new unit in Taiwan working on display technologies that is staffed by former AU Optronics and Qualcomm display engineers — Apple Opens Secret Laboratory in Taiwan To Develop New Screens — Engineers developing LCD, OLED technologies for devices

    Apple Opens Secret Laboratory in Taiwan to Develop New Screens
    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-15/apple-said-to-open-secret-lab-in-taiwan-to-develop-displays

    Apple Inc. opened a production laboratory in northern Taiwan where engineers are developing new display technologies, according to people with knowledge of the facility.

    The Apple building in Longtan has at least 50 engineers and other workers creating new screens for devices including iPhones and iPads, the people said, asking not to be identified because the details aren’t public. Apple has recruited from local display maker AU Optronics Corp. and Qualcomm Inc., which used to own the building, the people said.

    Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple in Cupertino, California, declined to comment.

    Making its iPhones and iPads slimmer and longer-lasting with each generation has been a hallmark of Apple, helping drive $178 billion in annual sales from the two product categories.

    By working directly on the development of display technologies, Apple can reduce reliance on the technology developed by suppliers such as Samsung Electronics Co., LG Display Co., Sharp Corp. and Japan Display Inc.

    Apple moved into the factory in April and that Qualcomm Panel Manufacturing Ltd. had occupied the site from 2008.

    Reply
  15. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Software turns oscilloscopes into VSAs
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/rowe-s-and-columns/4441021/Software-turns-oscilloscopes-into-VSAs?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151215&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151215&elq=14d9a088347e4a65963d695cac746f9d&elqCampaignId=26171&elqaid=29923&elqat=1&elqTrackId=a2be7be366cc45a8989d5ed919cb704f

    VectorLinQ software from Teledyne LeCroy turns the company’s higher-end oscilloscopes into vector signal analyzers. Designed for RF engineers, optical engineers, and signal-integrity engineers who develop systems with digital modulation, VectorLinQ can demodulate modulated RF down to baseband where you can see parameters such as eye diagrams and constellation diagrams.

    For optical and signal-integrity engineers, VectorLinQ receives signals from optical modulator and lets you see and digitally process them. Signal processing takes place through Matlab scripts that you can load into VectorLinQ. RF engineers can use VectorLinQ by first demodulating the incoming signals down to baseband. The image below (click to enlarge) gives an example of a PAM4 signal

    VectorLinQ supports PSK, QAM, Circular QAM, ASK, FSK, and custom modulation forms.

    Reply
  16. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Boost both compute and power density by designing in the negative space
    http://www.edn.com/design/systems-design/4440971/Boost-both-compute-and-power-density-by-designing-in-the-negative-space?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151215&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151215&elq=14d9a088347e4a65963d695cac746f9d&elqCampaignId=26171&elqaid=29923&elqat=1&elqTrackId=f1c724a91a184e16b58787d9041cfb31

    While power-hungry computer and network processing components are getting smaller, packing more of them onto a board is raising system power demands and thus the space that power modules consume. While some power solutions offer incremental size reductions, constraints against substantially shrinking the size of power conversion modules create the ultimate “compute versus power” paradox. By Designing in the Negative Space power can be located in previously “unusable” space on printed circuit boards (PCBs) and even server cabinets, giving back precious space for increasing computing and networking capacity.

    One way to harness unused space is to consolidate power component functions or features into single packages. This consolidation helps eliminate the wasted space between components previously required for either mechanical or thermal management.

    Reply
  17. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Ecosystem speeds MCU firmware development
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4441010/Ecosystem-speeds-MCU-firmware-development?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151214&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151214&elq=de550d8a51b040df8e8729ce609593e5&elqCampaignId=26138&elqaid=29893&elqat=1&elqTrackId=ff57707e80f44cb5a2a82a357a49e22c

    Microchip has launched the MPLAB Harmony Ecosystem Program for developers of middleware and operating systems for the PIC32 32-bit microcontroller. Ecosystem partners not only gain early access to the complete and current set of MPLAB Harmony tools, but also the opportunity to market to thousands of PIC32 MPLAB Harmony users.

    Reply
  18. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Software-defined power brings to bear critical need in modern power systems
    http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4440927/Software-defined-power-brings-to-bear-critical-need-in-modern-power-systems?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151214&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151214&elq=de550d8a51b040df8e8729ce609593e5&elqCampaignId=26138&elqaid=29893&elqat=1&elqTrackId=baa4e5c846314e5a8ff25f8993ccb0f9

    A major contributor to data center outages is due to power problems. Our grid infrastructure needs to be re-vamped as power demands increase. Software-defined power will implement adaptive control and management of data center needs both within the data center and outside on the power grid.

    Connectivity is the key to success for software-defined power and the PMBus will enable the efficient communication and connection between all power devices within the system so that the controlling processor can orchestrate the most efficient and reliable power system possible.
    Sponsor video, mouseover for sound

    Digital Power was the beginning of software-defined power using a microcontroller or a DSP. Software-defined power takes this to another level. In conjunction with software-defined networking, we can now make serious efforts to bring to bear a critical need in modern power systems like data centers, telecom centers and the power grid—that is, a secure and intelligent communication infrastructure for these systems.

    The coming explosion of the Internet of Things (IoT) will also need more efficient data centers that will be taxed to their limits. People are demanding to be always-connected, especially with social media growing as it is. Adaptive power management will be essential to meet these growing demands.

    Such things as adaptive voltage scaling (AVS) supported by the AVSBus is contained in the newest PMBus standard V 1.3 are essential to today’s modern and powerful processors.

    Reply
  19. Tomi Engdahl says:

    TSMC Work on 5nm Process Leaves EUV Undecided
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328492&

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest foundry, said it has started work on a 5nm process to push ahead its most advanced technology, yet the company remains undecided on the adoption of extreme ultraviolet lithography at that node.

    TSMC Co-CEO Mark Liu made the comments about the company’s 5nm work at a supply chain management conference in Hsinchu, Taiwan earlier this month. The company, which hasn’t yet put 5nm on its product roadmap, is still evaluating whether to use extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography as part of the process.

    TSMC’s initial development work at 5nm may be yet another indication that EUV has been set back as an eventual replacement for immersion lithography. ASML Holding has been a key proponent of EUV, while competitor Nikon is backing 193i immersion technology.

    Tests continue to indicate that a combination of 193-immersion and EUV may be the best solution for the 5nm node as the semiconductor industry pushes the limits of Moore’s Law. TSMC has noted details of its 10nm process that will require triple patterning.

    A 193i-only approach is potentially the most expensive, requiring quad patterning for metal layers and triple patterning for vias. An all-EUV approach needs fewer layers and supported better area, power and performance but it is not practical given the still immature state of EUV systems.

    The extension of 193nm immersion to 7nm and beyond is possible, yet it would require octuple patterning and other steps that would increase production costs.

    IBM Research earlier this year beat Intel to the 7nm node by perfecting EUV lithography and using silicon-germanium channels for its finned field-effect transistors (FinFETs). That helps IBM development partner Samsung in a race to catch up with Intel by 2018 when the first 7nm products are expected.

    Reply
  20. Tomi Engdahl says:

    First Biologically Powered Integrated Circuit
    http://www.medicaldesignbriefs.com/component/content/article/1104-mdb/news/23577

    Columbia University Engineering Department researchers have, for the first time, harnessed living systems to power an integrated circuit using adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the energy currency of life. The team integrated a conventional solid-state complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) circuit with an artificial lipid bilayer membrane containing ATP-powered ion pumps. The combination supports the possibility of entirely new artificial systems that contain both biological and solid-state components.

    The integrated device may additionally be used to recognize specific molecules, giving chips the potential to taste and smell.

    Living systems achieve taste and smell functionality with their own version of electronics based on lipid membranes, ion channels, and pumps, which act as a kind of “biological transistor.”

    To build a prototype of their hybrid system, the Columbia engineers packaged a CMOS integrated circuit (IC) with an ATP-harvesting “biocell.” In the presence of ATP, the system pumped ions across the membrane, producing an electrical potential harvested by the IC.

    Reply
  21. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Qualcomm is not going to be broken into two

    American Qualcomm has completed its own internal assessment, which was to find out which company structure would best serve its shareholders. On the table was, for example, parts of the company’s cleavage, but the assessment concluded that the best structure to seek growth is to continue at the current corporate structure.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3758:qualcommia-ei-pilkota&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Reply
  22. Tomi Engdahl says:

    he rapid creation of prototypes high speed data systems is faced with many challenges, but the configuration of circuits should not be like that. The modular approach to test the design concept and the creation of prototypes gives designers the rapid results and increase confidence in the approach and quickly produce valuable real-world solutions. The combination of high speed Data Converters and programmable circuits offers significant benefits in design and engineering team to meet target market requirements.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3719:prototyyppeja-pikaisesti-nopeista-datajarjestelmista&catid=26&Itemid=140

    Reply
  23. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Extremely Low Distortion Audio Op Amp
    http://www.eeweb.com/news/extremely-low-distortion-audio-op-amp

    Texas Instruments (TI) announced the availability of an audio operational amplifier (op amp) that sets the latest standard in audio performance. The OPA1622 is the newest addition to the company’s Burr-Brown™ Audio line and is the next generation of the widely adopted OPA1612. The new OPA1622 delivers high output power of up to 150 mW and extremely low distortion of -135 dB at 10 mW, enabling the highest performance for professional audio equipment. The OPA1622’s small size, low power consumption and low distortion can deliver high-fidelity audio in portable devices such as headphone amplifiers, smartphones, tablets and USB audio digital-to-analog converters (DACs). TI will demonstrate the OPA1622 at CES 2016.

    Reply
  24. Tomi Engdahl says:

    2D semiconductors take aim at optical communications
    http://www.edn.com/design/wireless-networking/4440929/2D-semiconductors-take-aim-at-optical-communications?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151216&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151216&elq=a47d10684b0649cf95da537367395602&elqCampaignId=26180&elqaid=29934&elqat=1&elqTrackId=439ba714e0f744589b71307abc241edc

    As R&D departments at major corporations push to extend the lifetime of current technologies, there are many new contenders on the horizon for the true “next-generation” of optical communications with promising technologies in development in labs and research departments around the world. One of the latest to surface is two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), which may enable engineers to exceed the properties of silicon in terms of energy efficiency and speed, moving researchers toward 2D on-chip optoelectronics for high-performance applications in optical communications and computing.

    To be useful in photonics, a material needs to have a bandgap. In the case of graphene, another promising material for next-generation optoelectronics, a bandgap has to be introduced. Unlike graphene, monolayer TMDCs have a natural bandgap, which enables their electrical conductance to be switched on and off. This partly explains the interest in pursuing them for optoelectronics.

    In the work completed by Ye et. al., the team created a 2D excitonic laser by embedding monolayer tungsten disulfide in a microdisk resonator

    “First of all, this is an exciting technology, and, if it can deliver on its promises, it will change the optoelectronic world,” he said, cautioning that this work is in its earliest stages and there are many things to consider before it can move into development.

    Monolayer excitonic laser
    http://www.nature.com/nphoton/journal/v9/n11/full/nphoton.2015.197.html

    Two-dimensional van der Waals materials have opened a new paradigm for fundamental physics exploration and device applications because of their emerging physical properties. Unlike gapless graphene, monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are two-dimensional semiconductors that undergo an indirect-to-direct bandgap transition1, 2, 3, 4, 5, creating new optical functionalities for next-generation ultra-compact photonics and optoelectronics

    Reply
  25. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Chewing Gum Plus Carbon Nanotubes
    http://hackaday.com/2015/12/16/chewing-gum-plus-carbon-nanotubes/

    Normally, strain sensors are limited in their flexibility by the underlying substrate. This lead researchers at the University of Manitoba to an off-the-wall solution: mixing carbon nanotubes into a chewing-gum base.

    The procedure, documented with good scientific rigor, is to have a graduate student chew a couple sticks of Doublemint for half an hour, and then wash the gum in ethanol and dry it out overnight. Carbon nanotubes are then added, and the gum is repeatedly stretched and folded, like you would with pizza dough, to align the ‘tubes. After that, just hook up electrodes and measure the resistance as you bend it.

    Gum Sensor: A Stretchable, Wearable, and Foldable Sensor Based on Carbon Nanotube/Chewing Gum Membrane
    http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsami.5b08276

    Reply
  26. Tomi Engdahl says:

    BrainChip Provides Details of Neural Network Architecture
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328503&

    Peter van der Made, CTO and interim CEO of BrainChip Inc. (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) has provided more details of his company’s spiking neural network architecture, SNAP64.

    The company’s business model was discussed by last month (Startup wants to be the ARM of neuromorphic cores). The company’s technology is known as SNAP standing for Spiking Neuron Adaptive Processor.

    One of the main differences between BrainChip’s implementations and some other neuromorphic processors implemented in both hardware and software is that Peter van der Made has attempted a closer modelling of biological neural networks; including the spike train method of data transfer and modelling of multiple modulations of signals at the synaptic connection.

    “The number of neurons and synapses is configurable in the RTL. We could put as many as 10,000 neurons and 5 million synapses on a single die. These are neurons that behave like biological neurons with multiple spiking modes and dynamic, temporal integrating synapses,”

    “The neurons and synapses are not multiplexed — unlike other designs like IBM’s TrueNorth which are multiplexed 256x and do not learn.”

    Reply
  27. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Microchip Named as Atmel Bidder
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328514&

    Microcontroller vendor Microchip Technology Inc. (Chandler, Ariz.) is the company that has made a $3.8 billion unsolicited offer for Atmel Corp. (San Jose, Calif.), according to a Reuters report that referenced an unnamed source.

    Atmel has already agreed a deal to be acquired by Dialog Semiconductor plc (London, England) but Atmel said it would look at the counter offer (see Dialog waits as Atmel considers counter bid).

    Reply
  28. Tomi Engdahl says:

    TDK Grasps at Micronas
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328515&

    Magnet sensors apparently are about to assume a key role for industrial and automotive electronics applications: Electronics components manufacturer TDK has submitted a takeover bid for Swiss semiconductor Micronas who possesses significant expertise in this technology.

    The Japanese giant does not act as a bargain hunter

    From TDK’s perspective, the move is intended to increase sales and profitability its activities in automotive, industrial and information and communications technology. The company said it sees increasing demand for such sensors, rating Micronas as a leading manufacturer for Hall-effect sensors with major customers in the automotive industry.

    Reply
  29. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Apple Buys Wafer Fab in San Jose
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328505&

    Apple Inc. has bought a wafer fab in North First Street, San Jose, Calif. from analog and mixed-signal chip vendor Maxim Integrated Products Inc., according to a Silicon Valley Business Journal report.

    Apple paid $18.2 million for the 70,000 square foot building at 3725 N. First St. the report said, referencing public records.

    In May 2015 ATREG Inc. (Seattle, Washington) announced it had been retained by Maxim to help with the sale of its 200mm R&D fab there. ATREG described the fab as being suitable for prototype, pilot, and low-volume manufacturing and as a platform to strengthen U.S. based customers with strategic partners.

    Apple is unlikely to use the fab for production of its main chips, for which it uses foundries TSMC and Samsung, but could use the facility for R&D in other components such as mixed-signal devices, MEMS and image sensors and for work on packaging.

    What’s Apple Want With an Old Maxim Fab?
    http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1328517&

    200mm R&D fab likely to be used for prototyping, building MEMS or mix-signal devices.

    But, of course, Apple certainly has no intention of building A-series processors in this facility, which is a 200mm fab that uses 90nm lithography and is capable of about 7,000 wafer starts per month. This is not the place to build some of the most advanced chips in the world, and 84,000 wafers per year won’t satisfy Apple’s needs. The fab is also located in San Jose, Calif., where as we all know nobody builds chips anymore, for good reason.

    Apple, being Apple, is not saying what it plans to use the R&D fab for (unsurprisingly, Apple did not respond to request for comment for this story). So we are left to speculate.

    There are dozens of things that Apple may be planning to do with this 70,000-square-foot fab, which it bought for $18.2 million, including stripping it down, selling off the equipment and turning it into an office building. But, most likely, Apple plans to use the fab to build MEMS sensors or mixed-signal devices that can be built with more mature process technology, or just to do some prototyping.

    “For them to go into production at the leading-edge, I just don’t see it happening,” said Dean Freeman, a research vice president at Gartner Inc. “They may have a device that they can’t get built to their specifications or maybe they have a new MEMS device that is going to revolutionize the next iPhone.”

    Freeman noted that the fab is located right next door to Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.’s new Silicon Valley facility and less than two miles from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC)’s San Jose facility. Samsung and TSMC are Apple’s two main foundry partners. That proximity would make it easier for Apple designers to sit down face to face with their representatives from their foundries, Freeman noted.

    “We can speculate for hours on what [Apple] might be doing with this fab,” Freeman said. “We won’t know until we know, if we ever find out.”

    Reply
  30. Tomi Engdahl says:

    New Material Could Dramatically Reduce The Cost Of Smartphones
    http://www.iflscience.com/technology/new-material-could-dramatically-reduce-cost-buying-smartphone

    When it comes to smartphones, tablet computers and television displays, one construction material dominates them all: Indium tin oxide (ITO). It has been used for the last 60 years, and is a key component for more than 90 percent of all such displays. But a potential competitor to ITO has just been discovered, one that is both highly transparent and extremely conductive. Its workings are detailed in the journal Nature Materials.

    Unlike processing chips and memory storage devices, the cost of manufacturing more touch-sensitive and fracture-proof displays has only increased over time, and ITO has proven to be the most adaptable material in this respect. It is easy to make, easy to shape, conducts electricity very efficiently, and has excellent optical properties. Unfortunately, its price has skyrocketed over the last 10 years, meaning that there’s room for competitors – none, however, have challenged ITO’s market dominance.

    The research team hoped to create a new material that provided the same properties as ITO, but using more readily accessible materials in order to make a cheaper variant.

    The researchers first produced incredibly thin (10 nanometer) films made of two types of unusual metal compounds – strontium vanadate and calcium vanadate.

    Currently, indium costs £500 ($750) per kilogram.

    “Our correlated metals work really well compared to ITO,”

    Correlated metals as transparent conductors
    http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nmat4493.html

    Reply
  31. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Seamless PC-Based Waveform Acquisition
    http://www.eeweb.com/news/seamless-pc-based-waveform-acquisition

    For applications requiring extended electronic waveform acquisition and generation, Spectrum has announced a new storage system that works with their PC-based digitizer and generator cards to dramatically increase possible recording and replay times. The new system can be used with any of Spectrum’s M2i, M3i or M4i series of PCIe digitizer or waveform generator cards and delivers data storage sizes from 1 to 32 TB with full support for continuous data streaming at rates up to 3 GB/s. The combination makes it possible to capture high frequency signals up to the GHz range and continuously store them for hours on end or lower frequency signals for even longer periods of time.

    Each Tera-store system can house up to six digitizer cards making it possible to configure instruments with 1 to 96 fully synchronous acquisition channels. If more channels are required then a 16 slot docking station can be added to expand the system up to 256 channels. A wide selection of digitizers is available offering sampling rates from 100 kS/s up to 5 GS/s with resolutions of 8, 12, 14 and 16 bit. The systems can also be used with AWG cards to create replay systems that can have from 1 to 24 channels. A wide range of AWG cards is available offering output rates from 20 MS/s up to 1.25 GS/s with 8, 14 or 16 bit resolution.

    Reply
  32. Tomi Engdahl says:

    All-in-One USB PD Compliance Tester
    http://www.eeweb.com/news/all-in-one-usb-pd-compliance-tester

    Saelig Company, Inc. introduces the MQP Packet-Master USB-PDT – the world’s first all-in-one comprehensive Power Delivery Compliance Tester, for testing protocol, measuring transmitter signal quality, receiver quality and interference rejection, and power load testing. The USB-PDT has been designed in conjunction with the USB-IF Power Delivery Compliance Plan. It is a complete Compliance Tester and development tool for USB Power Delivery, incorporating Analyzer, Exerciser, Compliance Tester, PD VBUS Generator, PD VBUS Load, VBUS Voltage and Current Monitor functions. The unit performs comprehensive PHY, Protocol and Power Compliance Tests on PD devices, and PHY and Protocol Tests on PD Cable Marker chips.

    Reply
  33. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sony says to have developed a new rechargeable battery that could replace existing smart phones with lithium-ion batteries in the year 2020. A new battery increases the battery capacity by 40 percent.

    Greater capacity is based on Sony’s innovation, where sulfur is used as electrode material.
    Sony plans to commercialize the technology first in smart phones and other devices later.

    Sony is currently developing, as well as lithium-sulfur and magnesium-sulfur based batteries. In the first sulfur compound is used as a positive electrode, and metallic lithium as a negative.
    Sony itself estimates that the energy density of the battery rises more than 1,000 watt-hour per liter.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3776:sonyn-uusi-akku-kestaa-40-prosenttia-pidempaan&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Reply
  34. Tomi Engdahl says:

    A World First in High-Side Current/Power Sensors
    http://www.eeweb.com/company-blog/microchip/a-world-first-in-high-side-currentpower-sensors/

    This video introduces the PAC1621 high-side power/current sensor that gives a configurable analog output for power, current or voltage over a single pin and a simultaneous information output over a two-wire digital bus. While the digital bus is giving you an improved data and diagnostics for prototyping and characterization, the analog output is reducing your data latency for production. The PAC1921 is versatile too since it can adjust analog output to suit microcontroller inputs of 3 V, 2 V, 1.5 V, and 1 V.

    Reply
  35. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Apple uses one-fourth of the DRAM circuit

    The success of Apple’s portable computers, smartphones and tablets will lead next year to the fact that the company will buy as much as 25 per cent of world production of mobile DRAMs. This year, the proportion is 16.5 per cent.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3781:apple-kayttaa-joka-neljannen-dram-piirin&catid=13&Itemid=101

    Reply
  36. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Toshiba predicts record $4.5bn loss
    http://www.bbc.com/news/business-35149520

    Troubled Japanese conglomerate Toshiba has said it will report a record 550bn yen ($4.5bn) annual loss and cut 6,800 jobs as it carries out a restructuring.

    The company, whose activities range from laptops to TVs to nuclear energy, is shedding the jobs in its consumer electronics division.

    News of the predicted losses sent shares in Toshiba down by nearly 10%.

    The restructuring comes after Toshiba admitted earlier this year that it had overstated profits for six years.

    As part of its restructuring, Toshiba will sell its TV and washing machine manufacturing plant in Indonesia to Hong Kong-based TV maker Skyworth for about 3bn yen. It is also looking for investors for its healthcare business.

    The 6,800 job cuts will go in its Lifestyle division, essentially its consumer electronics business, and Toshiba said the cuts would be made by March 2016.

    Reply
  37. Tomi Engdahl says:

    PCB future is lightweight, low-cost, and flexible: Product how-to
    http://www.edn.com/design/pc-board/4439368/Product-how-to–The-future-is-lightweight–low-cost–and-flexible

    In the last ten years, the technology for manufacturing lightweight, flexible PCBs has made huge progress. Lightweight flex circuits are usually associated with materials like Kapton. The use of those materials is typically limited to high-value applications due to price. Fast forward to 2015, and the landscape has changed dramatically.

    Printed electronics makes the news on a regular basis. We hear about breakthroughs in printing semi-conductors, organic photocells, or triboelectric fabric. What often goes unnoticed is that the underlying circuits – manufactured on low-cost flexible substrates with copper traces – have quietly moved from the lab to the production floor. Printed copper flexible circuits are now routinely manufactured by the kilometre in a reel-to-reel process. As production volumes go up, costs come down.

    Printed flexible circuits are a key element in delivering the ultimate goal of complete printed flexible electronics. Today they are used to create hybrid circuits: flexible substrates carrying conventional SMT devices. Because the tracks are copper we can solder SMT devices using low temperature tin-bismuth solder. Components can be hand-soldered or assembled using pick-and-place machines and soldered in a reflow oven. We see these circuits used for everything from RFID and NFC applications to medical sensors and car seat heaters.

    The starting point for this process is inkjet printing onto the substrate. Printing from CAD files means there are no tooling costs, and printing 10 patterns or 10,000 uses the same process and equipment. As the process is reel-to-reel there is no practical limit to the length of the printed circuit.

    We use an inkjet printer to print a catalytic ink rather than a conductive ink. The printed material is then passed through an electroless copper plating solution. The catalytic ink promotes a chemical reaction on its surface which causes copper film to grow by autocatalytic deposition. This produces highly conductive solid plated copper tracks.

    So what does this process deliver today?

    Lightweight, low-cost, flexible, hybrid circuits:

    Lightweight: A 50 micron PET substrate weighs in at under 80 gsm, like typical photocopier paper. Stiffer 125 micron PET is still lighter than business card material. Compare that to a typical 1.6mm FR4 board which is more like an 80 page document; 50 micron PET offers a 97% weight saving.

    Low-cost: Prototype quantities cost just £50 per linear metre. For production volumes, costs fall dramatically.

    Flexible: The printed substrates are flexed, bent, or folded to fit into confined spaces or behind curved surfaces. A printed PET substrate can be folded back on itself.

    Reply
  38. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Engineering salaries: What do engineers get paid?
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/now-hear-this/4439128/Engineering-salaries–What-do-engineers-get-paid-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151221&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20151221&elq=f16edb6937274a16b479901f7f319cdb&elqCampaignId=26236&elqaid=29978&elqat=1&elqTrackId=ba4e8372a0e64dc3bcce9c832179eb7c

    Overall, North American engineers are doing better salary-wise than their international peers, are satisfied with their careers, and are optimistic about the future. But concerns over the workload, job security, and the ever-constant changing landscape of the profession are causing some anxiety.

    Explore the highlights of the 2014 Salary and Opinion Study in the charts and graphs

    Reply
  39. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Software turns oscilloscopes into VSAs
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/rowe-s-and-columns/4441021/Software-turns-oscilloscopes-into-VSAs?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20151221&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20151221&elq=2fda10a4941644a88432da2492174a11&elqCampaignId=26260&elqaid=30003&elqat=1&elqTrackId=04bf5443506f4f538a83fa3e97f983fc

    VectorLinQ VSA software from Teledyne LeCroy turns the company’s higher-end oscilloscopes into vector signal analyzers. Designed for RF engineers, optical engineers, and signal-integrity engineers who develop systems with digital modulation, VectorLinQ can analyze both RF modulated and baseband IQ signals to view parameters such as eye diagrams and constellation diagrams.

    Reply
  40. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Toshiba Reorg Cuts Consumer Unit
    Move highlights decline of notebooks
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328536&

    Toshiba slashed its consumer systems division in a broad reorganization that throws a spotlight on the decline of the consumer notebook business. The corporation will lay off 6,800 people or about 30% of the division designing and making PCs, TVs and appliances.

    The move is part of a restructuring program in the wake of an estimated loss of US$4.53 billion (550 billion yen) for its fiscal year ending in March. The Japanese giant that makes everything from NAND flash chips to washing machines expects 6.2 trillion yen in sales for its current fiscal year, down from 6.65 trillion yen last year when it recorded a loss of 37.8 billion yen.

    Toshiba will focus on its semiconductor and energy units going forward, and seek investors to maintain needed R&D levels in its medical imaging group. The reorg plan will cost Toshiba 260 billion yen this year, including costs for a reorg of its semiconductor unit announced earlier this month.

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  41. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Apple Finds Home At Former Q’comm Display Lab
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328534&

    Apple has started work in a small-scale production facility in Longtan near Taipei, Taiwan on display technologies, according to a Bloomberg report.

    Apple moved into the facility in April 2015 and has at least 50 staff employed there on developing display technology for mobile devices including iPads and iPhones, the report said. The facility had previously been occupied by Qualcomm Panel Manufacturing Ltd. and was one of the places where Qualcomm tried to develop its Mirasol, moving-MEMS display.

    However, the Mirasol display was not a success because, although it was non-volatile and therefore energy efficient and reflective and therefore daylight readable, it was less vivid than backlight LCD or OLED displays.

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  42. Tomi Engdahl says:

    3D printing will revolutionize the MEMS production

    Micro-Electromechanical instruments, namely MEMS circuits were already last year in a $ 12 billion business. Researchers at MIT have developed a technique for years, which, for example, gas sensors could print 3D technology. This would make MEMS are made on instruments up to a hundred times more affordable.

    In the current MEMS production big problem is that it requires high-quality clean rooms, often with a vacuum chamber and in the process many high reactor temperatures. This makes the circuits very expensive to manufacture.

    3D Printing ie. Preparation of increasing its contrast, occurs at room temperature or at most for’s moderate temperatures, and production farms required to clean the requirement such as a semiconductor manufacturing process.

    MIT’s Laboratory for micro-system technologies, researchers have now suggested that 3D could be produced by printing a very low cost gas sensors. The tests of the thus prepared probe is less strict, and even faster than the corresponding one hundred times more paying semiconductor MEMS sensor.

    Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3783:3d-tulostus-mullistaa-mems-tuotannon&catid=13&Itemid=101

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  43. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Samsung will reportedly start making chips for AMD in 2016
    Firm will produce a CPU and GPU using 14nm technology, reports suggest
    http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2440009/samsung-will-reportedly-start-making-chips-for-amd-in-2016

    SAMSUNG WILL MAKE CHIPS for AMD, if rumours circulating in Seoul are anything to go by.

    A report in South Korea’s Electronic Times, which cited unknown sources, said that Samsung Electronics will start making new chips for AMD sometime next year.

    The paper’s contacts claimed that the deal will see Samsung’s foundry business and California semiconductor foundry GlobalFoundries join forces to start producing a central processing chip as well as a graphics processing chip using 14nm technology.

    Samsung has been busy building up its chip business this year in an attempt to make it stronger in other areas rather than just consumer tech. The firm revealed earlier this year that it will soon begin production of a 10nm FinFET node, and that the chip will be in full production by the end of 2016.

    This is expected to be at around the same time as rival TSMC.

    Reply
  44. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Sketchable, Stretchable Circuits
    http://science.slashdot.org/story/15/12/22/208228/sketchable-stretchable-circuits

    A new, elastic silver ink allows stretchy circuits to be drawn using a regular pen. Unlike previous inks, which have been made with silver nanoparticles and are prone to clog pens over time, this ink begins as a silver salt mixed with adhesive rubber

    Sketchable, Stretchable Circuits
    Electronics: A regular pen can be filled with ink made of silver salt and rubber to make stretchy, conductive traces
    http://cen.acs.org/articles/93/web/2015/12/Sketchable-Stretchable-Circuits.html

    Want to string together some holiday lights? Or test an idea for a circuit? A new elastic silver ink could let users jot down electrical circuits and wiring on walls and paper with a regular ballpoint pen

    The ink, made of silver salt and adhesive rubber, sticks to various surfaces, and the resulting circuits stay conductive despite repeated bending. If the wiring breaks, retracing the lines would fix it. “It’s a very simple method to make hand-drawn stretchable circuits,” says Jun Yang, a professor of mechanical and materials engineering at the University of Western Ontario. “You can easily make wearable electronics,” he says. “Just hand draw a circuit to make a personalized T-shirt.”

    Conductive silver inks have been on the market for a few years and have been used to print flexible circuits. But these inks aren’t suitable for pens because they are made of silver nanoparticles, which tend to aggregate and clog the pen tip, Yang says. Other researchers have reported pen-written circuits that use silver nanoparticle-based inks. But these inks also clog over time or work only on specific substrates. Plus, they don’t produce stretchable wiring.

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  45. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Introducing the world’s first, 28 nm semiconductor for space, part 3
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/out-of-this-world-design/4441020/Introducing-the-World-s-First–28-nm-Semiconductor-for-Space—Part-3?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151224&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151224&elq=ef3d0223d1e44603a871642eccb57fe3&elqCampaignId=26286&elqaid=30037&elqat=1&elqTrackId=36367c7937964e50a9d38be8599c3853

    Altera’s plan to offer the world’s first, 28 nm, COTS FPGA for space applications have generated a lot of interest within our industry

    This month I discuss radiation hardness and SEU mitigation: ultra, deep-submicron semiconductors such as the 5SGSMD5H3F35I4, COTS FPGA for space intrinsically offer higher levels of total-dose immunity as thinner oxides between the gate and the conducting channel trap less positive charge. Additionally, the use of trench isolation prevents charge forming within the insulating field oxide between neighbouring transistors

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  46. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Product-level architectural validation is the missing link of design flow
    http://www.edn.com/design/pc-board/4441059/Product-level-architectural-validation-is-the-missing-link-of-design-flow?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151224&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151224&elq=ef3d0223d1e44603a871642eccb57fe3&elqCampaignId=26286&elqaid=30037&elqat=1&elqTrackId=eaee212b809f41d4bedadb12d8d14351

    Product-level architectural validation bridges the procedural gap between the marketing requirements definition and detailed design work. During this high-level phase, critical decisions are made that affect the product’s functionality, size, cost, and other key parameters. These decisions include the number and shape of the boards, size and shape of the enclosure, size of the display, number and location of connectors, battery configuration, radio frequency (RF) planning, block reuse, etc.

    But the standard authoring tools used today do not support design exploration and productive trade-off discussions required for design optimization. Most design processes leap from marketing requirements to detailed design without architecture validation. Changing key design elements during the detailed design process is expensive and often causes the product to miss its delivery date. The odds of product success can be significantly increased when a multi-domain design team optimizes the product architecture in the early stages of the design process to fully support the product requirements. The architectural validation process is needed to bridge product requirements with detailed design to deliver a cost- and functionality-optimized product.

    Reply
  47. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Calibrate power supplies and improve signal quality
    http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/all-things-measured/4441058/Calibrate-power-supplies-and-improve-signal-quality?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151224&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20151224&elq=ef3d0223d1e44603a871642eccb57fe3&elqCampaignId=26286&elqaid=30037&elqat=1&elqTrackId=92e9521d6707484d9b2762e82391b5c2

    Power supply users occasionally ask, “Why do I need to get my power supplies calibrated?” The typical justification given for calibrating power supplies is output accuracy. In other words, how well does a power supply’s output setting and displayed output values (feedback) compare to its actual voltage and current?

    Users frequently challenge this justification, especially those who actively monitor the outputs of their supplies using a voltmeter and current shunts. Actively monitoring a power supply’s output with a meter would seem to render the need for calibration mute, but this isn’t the case when you consider the integrity of the power supply’s output.

    Power supply signal integrity is basically concerned with the correctness of generated outputs without significant alteration by noise, harmonic distortion, transients, and so on.

    It’s easy to ascertain from the figures how excessive PARD for DC power supplies and excessive THD for AC power supplies can compromise power supply signal integrity, which may adversely affect the operation of the circuits/devices they power.

    Incorporating other test equipment such as an oscilloscope to actively monitor power supply signal integrity against performance specifications adds a resource burden to your work.

    Reply
  48. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Don Clark / Wall Street Journal:
    Intel completes $16.7B Altera deal, its largest acquisition ever

    Intel Completes Acquisition of Altera
    $16.7 billion deal underscores Intel CEO’s plan to expand chip maker’s business
    http://www.wsj.com/article_email/intel-completes-acquisition-of-altera-1451338307-lMyQjAxMTE1NDI3ODAyMTgyWj

    Intel Corp. on Monday completed its biggest-ever acquisition, part of Chief Executive Brian Krzanich’s plan to use new tactics to expand the chip maker’s business.

    The $16.7 billion purchase of Altera Corp. makes Intel, known for microprocessors used in computers, the second-largest maker of chips that can be programmed after they leave the factory. Altera’s chips are used in an array of devices that include networking equipment, a field that Intel recently has targeted.

    But Intel’s more pressing priority is continuing to serve the computing needs of giant Web services such as Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. that rely on the company’s Xeon processors. That is becoming more difficult to do through Intel’s traditional practice of squeezing more transistors on each piece of silicon.

    Microsoft and others, seeking faster performance for tasks like Web searches, have experimented with augmenting Intel’s processors with the kind of chips sold by Altera, known as FPGAs, or field programmable gate arrays. Intel’s first product priority after closing the Altera deal is to extend that concept.

    The Santa Clara, Calif., chip giant, which announced the Altera deal at the end of May, has said it plans in 2016 to begin selling products with a Xeon chip and an Altera FPGA in a single package.

    Reply
  49. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Startup Raises Funds for Battery-Less IoT
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328565&

    PsiKick Inc. (Charlottesville, Virginia), a semiconductor startup formed to work on sub-threshold voltage operation wireless circuits, has raised $16.5 million in Series B financing led by Osage University Partners and joined by existing investors.

    The startup has designed a proof-of-concept wireless sensor node system-chip using conventional EDA tools and a 130nm mixed-signal CMOS that operates with sub-threshold voltages and opening up the prospect of self-powering Internet of Things (IoT) systems. The company has claimed that its proof-of-concept chip design would consume between 100 and 1000 times less than any comparable chip.

    As part of its proof of concept progress PsiKick is working on systems that can scavenge energy from multiple sources including indoor light, RF rectification, thermal gradient and piezoelectric vibration. One such system is a battery-less electrocardiogram (EKG) sensor that supports a 1Mbit per second data rate over 10 meters distance.

    Other companies working on sub- and near-threshold operation of ICs include fabless startup Ambiq Micro Inc. (Austin, Texas) and ARM Holdings plc (Cambridge, England). Ambiq has launched the Apollo line of Cortex-M4F based microcontrollers claiming they offer a 10x reduction compared with other microcontrollers and ARM has been working in R&D on a processor core optimized for operation close to the threshold voltage of CMOS transistors and at clock frequencies of the order of tens of kilohertz.

    Leading foundry TSMC has developed a series of processes characterized down to near threshold voltages, such as 0.6V. The ULP family for ultra low power are processes, introduced at the 55, 45, 28nm planar CMOS and the 16nm FinFET nodes.

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  50. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Google, HP, Oracle Join RISC-V
    Open source processor core gains traction
    http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1328561&

    RISC-V is on the march as an open source alternative to ARM and Mips. Fifteen sponsors, including a handful of high tech giants, are queuing up to be the first members of its new trade group which will host next week its third workshop for the processor core.

    RISC V is the latest evolution of the original RISC core developed more than 25 years ago by Berkeley’s David Patterson and Stanford’s John Hennessey. In August 2014, Patterson and colleagues launched an open source effort around the core as an enabler for a new class of processors and SoCs with small teams and volumes that can’t afford licensed cores or get the attention of their vendors.

    Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Lattice, Microsemi and Oracle – which is hosting next week’s workshop — will be among the first members of RISC-V. Tool vendor Bluespec also is joining the group.

    Users will need to contribute as open source any changes they make to the core.

    Currently RISC-V runs Linux and NetBSD, but not Android, Windows or any major embedded RTOSes. Support for other operating systems is expected in 2016.

    So far, a camera SoC is the only shipping chip said to use the open source core commercially.

    Three papers will describe FPGA-based accelerators using embedded RISC-V cores, a hot area given work by Web giants such as Microsoft and Baidu on FPGA accelerators.

    The RISC-V instruction set supports 32- and 64-bit designs as well as vector and out-of-order extensions.

    Even if it gains significant traction, RISC-V is not likely to have any major impact on ARM and Mips, given those vendors are well established with broad sets of customers and partners. However, the architecture could enable a new class of designs from small teams that would otherwise lack the heft to design their own chips.

    “Open source has worked well in the software community, so there’s a place for this type of effort in CPUs but there’s a lot of practical issues they have to overcome, and I wouldn’t see this competing with ARM anytime soon,”

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