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 equipment. Tin 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 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.
Frost and Sullivan forecast that “PXI to disrupt automated test” between 2015 and 2018. They predict PXI to achieve $1.75B in annual sales by 2020, up from $563M in 2013. That’s an aggregate growth rate of over 17%. Not bad for an industry that has an overall secular growth rate of 3 percent.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Stanford Develops Fast-Charging, Stable Aluminum Battery
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/04/06/2321217/stanford-develops-fast-charging-stable-aluminum-battery
Stanford researchers have announced the creation of an aluminum-ion battery that they say will charge quicker, last longer, and be generally safer than common lithium-ion batteries
Aluminum battery from Stanford offers safe alternative to conventional batteries
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2015/march/aluminum-ion-battery-033115.html
The new aluminum-ion battery could replace many of the lithium-ion and alkaline batteries in wide use today.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build Your Own Satellite For Less Than $30K
http://news.slashdot.org/story/15/04/06/2011250/build-your-own-satellite-for-less-than-30k
An industry of new cubesat builders can now build satellites for anyone for any reason for very little money.
The innovators: build and launch your own satellite … for £20,000
http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/apr/05/build-and-launch-your-own-satellite-for-20000-pounds
Technology used in mobile phones and laptops can now be used to track planes, follow tankers seized by pirates and even spot people flouting planning laws
The 25-year-old founder of the PocketQube Shop, a Glasgow-based company which provides the components for making tiny 5cm³ PocketQube satellites, is taking advantage of a new generation of space technology that allows small businesses to join an industry previously the preserve of governments and well-funded private companies.
Dubbed ‘NewSpace’, this fresh market is based around technology which would have previously been prohibitive in cost. Now it can be bought off the shelf and small satellites like those sold by Walkinshaw can be launched into orbit at a price unthinkable in previous decades.
Corentin Guillo, the head of missions at the Satellite Applications Catapult – one of the UK government’s centres for fostering innovation – said technology used in mobile phones and laptops can now be used in small satellites. This in turn makes them more disposable than their predecessors, which were typically large and lasted for more than five years. The new generation of satellites – like the PocketQube and the 10cm³ CubeSat – also offers a common platform.
“Almost nobody builds their own satellite standard anymore – it doesn’t make sense to re-invent the wheel when there are several incredibly powerful, commoditised open source options,” said Guillo.
Where problems can arise is when the satellites are launched into space, typically as secondary cargo on rockets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony Licenses Bonding Technology from Ziptronix
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326230&
Ziptronix Inc., a developer and provider of low-temperature direct bonding interconnect (DBI) technology for 3D integration, has announced a patent licensing agreement with Sony Corp. for the application of its technology to image sensors.
Sony is the world’s leading supplier of CMOS image sensors and it is spending strongly to increase its production of stacked sensors in support of demand for them in smartphones and tablet computers.
DBI is an extension of Ziptronix’ ZiBond technology that allows an interconnect pitch of less than 10-microns, and accommodates 1.5 million connections per square centimeter. The process uses standard fab tools to planarize the wafer surface and introduce a thin layer of silicon dioxide that then allows hermetic bonding at low temperatures.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ARM Injected with Low Power API
Silicon Labs Cortex-M MCU is focus of effort
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326223&
ilicon Labs will develop a power management application programming interface (API) for ARM’s mbed device software that targets the Internet of Things. The API will be rolled out this month with Silicon Lab’s 32-bit EFM32 Gecko microcontroller, which runs mbed on an ARM Cortex-M.
Silicon Labs did not provide specific power consumption goals, but pointed to several features enabled by its API that could reduce power. For example, it automatically enables an optimal sleep mode based on the MCU peripherals in use.
“The new power management APIs for ARM mbed make it possible for developers to create applications that take advantage of the low-power features of ARM Cortex-M based microcontrollers,” ARM’s Zach Shelby, vice president, IoT business marketing, said in a release. “This is an important step toward enabling full energy-awareness in IoT devices.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xpedition Package Integrator spans IC chip to package to PCB
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4439068/Xpedition-Package-Integrator-spans-IC-chip-to-package-to-PCB?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20150406&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_productsandtools_20150406&elq=537f8394bb004ec1ad2d517d78d40d10&elqCampaignId=22415&elqaid=25195&elqat=1&elqTrackId=c1dae9dd1f16401db577d1b955471bfa
Xpedition Package Integrator (XPI) enables top-tier companies to eliminate the brick walls between departments, allowing engineers to see how decisions made at the die level will interact with package and PCB design.
Though optimized for Xpedition, XPI is EDA-neutral. SI, PI, simulation, and thermal modelling hooks are also provided. Claimed benefits include higher design success, fewer PCB & package interposer layers, and improved performance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
CoolZorb 400 Series – Hybrid Absorbing Product
http://www.lairdtech.com/products/coolzorb
CoolZorb is a thermally conductive microwave absorber that assists design engineers simultaneously solve EMI compliance and thermal management issues that originate from a specific component or board.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Particle accelerator counts on RapidIO bus
Swiss particle accelerator located at CERN is currently being started in a further experiment.
LHC particle accelerator is a gigantic project, in which the sub-projects is enough for hundreds of companies. IDT’s project is interesting, though, because it is related to the particle accelerator collected data storage.
At present, the IDT RapidIO-bridge circuits are capable of 20 gigabits per second data transfer. They are used in the CERN project in the first phase. In the future, the transmission of data to transfer to the IDT’s 10×40-circuits in which the data rate will increase to 40 Gbps.
IDT RadidIO interface circuits are widely used, for example, in cellular base stations to connect the ends of the radio base stations to processors.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2639:hiukkaskiihdytin-luottaa-rapidio-vaylaan&catid=13&Itemid=101
RapidIO
http://www.rapidio.org/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scientists develop aluminium battery that can charge a smartphone in one minute
It’s also cheaper and more durable than lithium-ion batteries
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2402927/scientists-develop-aluminium-battery-that-can-charge-a-smartphone-in-one-minute
SCIENTISTS at Stanford University have developed an aluminium-ion battery that could see smartphones charging in less than a minute.
The university claims that its scientists have invented the first high-performance aluminium-ion battery that is fast-charging, long-lasting, inexpensive and flexible, giving it the potential for use in flexible electronic devices.
The scientists said that researchers have tried unsuccessfully for decades to develop a commercially viable aluminium-ion battery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Altera, TSMC Announce First UBM-Free Packaging for MAX 10 FPGAs
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326280&
Altera Corp. and foundry supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) today announced the first UBM-free (under-bump metallization-free) WLCSP (wafer-level chip scale package) technology that provides enhanced quality, reliability and integration for Altera’s MAX10 FPGA products.
The advantages of the technology include an extremely thin package height of less than 0.5mm (including solder ball), the companies said in a press release. The packaging technology is aimed at applications where space is at a premium, such as sensor applications, small form-factor industrial equipment, and portable electronics.
“Altera’s work with TSMC has produced a very advanced and integrated packaging solution for MAX 10 devices,”
Intel and Altera became foundry partners in March 2013 on the 14nm node and extended the relationship to packaging and design in February last year.
Other benefits of the UBM-free technology developed by Altera and TSMC include a better-than 200% improvement in board-level reliability compared with standard WLCSP
MAX 10 FPGA devices are built on TSMC’s 55nm embedded NOR flash technology that enables instant-on functionality.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IC Insights Halves Sensor Growth Forecast
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326283&
Market research firm IC Insights Inc. has more than halved the growth it expects to see in the sensors and actuators semiconductor category during 2015 and 2016.
A year ago the firm was forecasting annual growth for the sensor and actuator market of 14, 16 and 17 percent in 2014, 2015 and 2016, respectively. It has now reported that the market grew by 6 percent in 2014 and has cut its forecast for 2015 and 2016 to 7 and 9 percent respectively. The optoelectronics semiconductor market has also been cut although only by one or two percentage points.
Nonetheless worldwide sales of optoelectronics, sensors, actuators, and discrete semiconductors regained strength in 2014 and collectively increased 9 percent on an annual basis to reach an all-time high of $63.8 billion after rising just 1 percent in 2012 and 2013.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Omnivision Loses Ground in CMOS Image Sensor Ranking
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326279&
Sony has pulled out a lead over its nearest competitors in the CMOS image sensor market in 2014 winning more than a quarter of the global market, according to according to market research company Yole Developpement.
Yole expects the CMOS image sensor market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.6 percent from 2014 to 2020 and reach an annual market value of US$16.2 billion in 2020. This implies a market value of about $8.85 billion in 2014 and $9.8 billion in 2015. The market was worth
In second position was Samsung with 19 percent as it climbed above Omnivision, which fell to third ranked position.
In 2014 Sony, Samsung and Omnivision commanded 63 percent of the market
Canon, Aptina – now On Semi – and Toshiba each lost 2 percent market share over two years
Tomi Engdahl says:
Automating IP Handling in a Multi-Source World
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326278&
The key is to be able to easily import IP content and constraints in a way that delivers both the best timing and area QoR with P&R compatibility downstream and optimum automation.
Companies designing new FPGA-based products are subject to ongoing market pressure to do more with less and achieve higher returns. The result is engineering teams having to deliver more with fewer resources, reduced design tool budgets, and shortened time-lines to get new products to market. This has led companies designing complex FPGAs to move increasingly toward licensing IP cores for the majority of the building blocks comprising their designs instead of building their own custom versions in-house. Selecting the right IP cores is the fundamental challenge of this developing paradigm, and the process of evaluating and presenting it is as important to the purchaser as it is to the developer.
There are many sources of IP cores — third-party, FPGA vendors, and internally developed — and being able to import and synthesize these cores is a key requirement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
48-layer 3-D NAND flash hones SSD performance
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4439115/48-layer-3-D-NAND-flash-hones-SSD-performance?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150407&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150407&elq=ea517b2801cb43c1a74076aae4858cb8&elqCampaignId=22429&elqaid=25209&elqat=1&elqTrackId=9d9fc5cccd474a5884243fdbce084920
Continuing to promote the migration to 3-D NAND flash memory, Toshiba has begun sampling its BiCS (Bit Cost Scalable) 48-layer 3-D vertically stacked cell structure flash, which enhances the reliability of write-erase endurance and boosts write speed compared to planar NAND flash. This second-generation BiCS offering is a 2-bit/cell 128-Gbit (16-Gbyte) device well-suited for high-capacity solid-state drives (SSDs), as well as a wide range of diverse applications.
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_20150407&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150407&elq=ea517b2801cb43c1a74076aae4858cb8&elqCampaignId=22429&elqaid=25209&elqat=1&elqTrackId=12695126d26f45c484f150ece239ea57
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nanotube Circuits Learn Functions
Evolutionary self-wiring logic results in novelty
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326288&
Learning is usually associated with software — as in “deep learning.” Now U.K. researchers have found a way to teach nanotube circuitry to learn its proper functions without changing its random pattern. Next they plan to “evolve” polymer-nanotube composite circuits with the help of a liquid crystal that allows them to change their underlying patterns. Separately, U.S. researchers have found a way to build the random patterned base automatically.
“We have already shown the optimization of simple logic gates (including a half adder circuit) within the polymer/nanotube composite. In the future we are expanding the search for other functions,” Mark Massey, Research Associate at Durham University (U.K.) told EE Times. “One of particular interest is the evolution of a neuron within the material. Another interesting application is that of classifying sets of data — another problem that we are working on.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Altera, TSMC Announce First UBM-Free Packaging for MAX 10 FPGAs
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326280&
Altera Corp. and foundry supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) today announced the first UBM-free (under-bump metallization-free) WLCSP (wafer-level chip scale package) technology that provides enhanced quality, reliability and integration for Altera’s MAX10 FPGA products.
The advantages of the technology include an extremely thin package height of less than 0.5mm (including solder ball), the companies said in a press release.
Tomi Engdahl says:
TSMC Outlines 16nm, 10nm Plans
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326286&
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) announced plans to roll out a compact, low-power version of its 16nm FinFET process and revealed its road map for smaller process nodes. The company will begin volume production of its 16nm FinFET Plus (16FF+) in the middle of this year and break ground on a new 10nm fab next year.
A year after volume production of 20nm chips, TSMC announced it will begin volume production of its 16FF+ in the middle of 2015. TSMC claims the chips made using FinFET Plus have 10% better performance than competing silicon, consume 50% less power than a 20nm SoC, and have a cycle time twice that of 20nm chips.
The foundry will have more than 50 tape-outs by year’s end, covering applications processors, GPUs, automotive, and network processors, said TSMC President and Co-CEO Mark Liu said at the TSMC 2015 Technology Symposium Tuesday.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Test platform scans IC surfaces for emissions
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4439118/Test-platform-scans-IC-surfaces-for-emissions?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150408&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150408&elq=091c12cb25e74461980bee614f8aa636&elqCampaignId=22453&elqaid=25241&elqat=1&elqTrackId=49326e8d6f614ad881487eb4b36e6e03
Small enough to sit on a desktop, the ICS 105 IC scanner from Langer EMV-Technik teams with ICR series near-field probes to measure high-frequency magnetic or electric fields up to 6 GHz with a measurement resolution of 50 µm. Together, they scan at or near the surface of an integrated circuit in accordance with IEC 61967-3 to pinpoint and analyze emission sources. The setup can also be used to perform volume scans and pin scans.
Magnetic and electric fields are measured in an area of 50×50×50 mm, depending on the near-field microprobe used, and displayed on a computer for analysis with ChipScan software.
Tomi Engdahl says:
7 data-acquisition systems attach directly to sensors
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4439113/7-data-acquisition-systems-that-attach-directly-to-sensors?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150408&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150408&elq=091c12cb25e74461980bee614f8aa636&elqCampaignId=22453&elqaid=25241&elqat=1&elqTrackId=9c1c2b1ed8d44008a8354b7eeaddf909
When making physical measurements such as temperature, strain, or pressure, you need a sensor to convert the physical property into an electrical signal, usually voltage. Then, the signal must be converted to the proper amplitude and filtered for noise before being digitized, displayed, stored, or used to make a decision. Data-acquisition systems use ADCs (analog-to-digital converters) to digitize the signals. Because sensors often produce low-level signals they need some kind of signal conditioning to bring the voltage into the range of the ADC. That’s where signal conditioning comes in. Today, many data-acquisition systems include signal conditioning, often for many types of sensors.
This article compares seven data-acquisition systems that let you connect numerous types of sensors directly to their inputs. Many other products are available that measure one parameter such as voltage only, yet few directly let you attach to many different types of sensors such as thermocouples, RTDs, strain gages, or others. Versatility adds cost, and is therefore not suited to all applications. Systems with universal inputs are best suited to applications that require more than one type of sensor.
Tomi Engdahl says:
eBay Sales Patterns Show That the Maker Movement is Still Growing (Video)
http://build.slashdot.org/story/15/04/08/1939233/ebay-sales-patterns-show-that-the-maker-movement-is-still-growing-video
Meet Aron Hsaio. He works for Terapeak, a company that tracks sales through online venues such as eBay and Amazon in order to help merchants decide what to sell — and how. The five ‘maker’ categories Terapeak tracks (drones, robotics, Arduino, Raspberry Pi and 3D printing) outsold Star Trek-related merchandise by a huge amount, namely $33 million to $4.3 million, during a recent 90 day study period.
Drones are the hottest hobbyist thing going right now, Aron says, but all five of the hobbyist/tinkerer’ categories Terapeak tracks are growing steadily at a rate of up to 70% year over year, with drones leading the way and robotics trailing (but still growing). It’s good to see people taking an interest in making things for themselves.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FPGA Prototyping of System-on-Chip (SoC) Designs
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326289&
The need for a complete prototyping platform for any design size at any design stage with enterprise-wide access, anytime, anywhere.
Today’s off-the-shelf FPGA prototyping systems have established their value in every stage of the system-on-chip (SoC) design flow. Moving beyond traditional applications such as in-circuit testing and early software development, this technology has expanded to encompass functional design and verification
FPGA-based prototypes work with electronic system level (ESL) design environments to refine, validate, and implement the chip’s architecture, and with simulation tools to achieve an order of magnitude (or more) increase in verification speed.
There are several drivers of this technology: the need to quickly construct high-performance prototypes; the demands of growing design size and complexity
Tomi Engdahl says:
10 Multimeter Makers With Models Under $150
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326292
The handheld DMM (digital multimeter) is a tool that every engineer and technician needs. You probably have at least one on your bench or toolbox, whether at work or at home. At home, you’re likely to use a DMM on a home electronics project or to diagnose problems on your car, electrical wiring, or perhaps a kitchen appliance.
Handheld meters are available online, through electronics distributors, local electronics stores, electrical supply stores, hardware stores, flea markets, Radio Shack (the few that remain), and on eBay. Here is a sampling of the meters you might find for under $150.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aluminum capacitor slideshow: Handling heat issues
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4439149/Aluminum-capacitor-slideshow–Handling-heat-issues?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150409&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20150409&elq=fb4444feb5e44abd9f6c75715c15c8e5&elqCampaignId=22468&elqaid=25263&elqat=1&elqTrackId=7f4dfca5c59e4786855a82eca4c0814a
The lifetime of an aluminum electrolytic capacitor will be shortened as its temperature increases. For every 10 degrees C decrease in temperature at the hottest spot of the capacitor, its lifetime is essentially doubled, so the lifetime varies exponentially with heat.
Let’s delve much more deeply into this issue with Vishay’s educational technical presentation
Your system reliability will strongly depend on keeping the heat down in capacitors.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Delivers Its 14 nm
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326319&
How makers’ marks on Samsung’s Exynos 7420 reveals that Intel’s lead is shrinking.
So here it is, Samsung’s Exynos 7420 fabbed with a 14 nm finFET process. But whose 14 nm process was a question raised a few days ago with the speculation that the “ALB” package marking denoting Albany and perhaps the “G” denoting GlobalFoundries.
We note that the Exynos 7420 has the label “ALB” beneath the processor part number “N8AZ9MP31”.
The 9.2 mm x 9.3 mm (86 mm2) large Exynos 7420
Our initial cross section of the 7420 reveals finFET transistors confirming that Samsung is indeed fabricating the device with its 14 nm finFET process. We measure a contacted gate pitch of about 77 nm, which is about 15% smaller than the 90 nm pitch used in their 20 nm node
The April 2105 release of the Exynos 7420 marks the first foundry to produce a 14 nm finFET product after Intel’s October 2014 release of its 14 nm 5Y70 Broadwell processor. And this just 7 months after their 20 nm node Exynos 5420 release in September of 2014.
Intel’s traditional one year or more lead on TSMC and Samsung has now been shrunk to about a half-year. A remarkable feat for Samsung.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The NXP-Freescale merger—A $4 billion giant
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/the-dashboard-/4439120/The-NXP-Freescale-merger-A–4-billion-giant?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150409&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150409&elq=2543ad91fc844be7a3ba200e59adebf2&elqCampaignId=22471&elqaid=25266&elqat=1&elqTrackId=521cab494bf541b29a67aaa0cfd32f79
When complete, the NXP/Freescale merger will build a $4 billion automotive giant that beats out the competition with its size as well as its multi-segment chip portfolio. Of greatest interest is what will the new company do in the advanced driver assist systems (ADAS), a market estimated to reach $3 billion by 2020 by IHS.
There’s not that much in the way of product overlap between the two companies, and both entities are highly valued by major OEMs. The merger will provide for leadership across many automotive segments including in-vehicle networking, powertrain, chassis and safety, car entertainment, and keyless access. It also sets up the giant with substantial growth for several years in application processors, audio, radar, vision, secure V2X, and complete car security.
According to the IHS ADAS Semiconductor Market Tracker, the combined companies will target approximately 80% of that $3 billion ADAS market. Specifically, it cites Freescale’s processors, MCUs, systems processors (DSPs) and sensors and NXP’s strength in networking ASSPs. The new company will have the technology, size and strength to go after the safety application market, including lane departure warning and pedestrian detection and address automatic emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and other autonomous driving systems solutions.
Freescale announced an ASIL-compliant automotive image SoC (S32V) with sensor fusion capabilities. Renesas, TI and Mobileye are focusing on the same marketplace with similar SoCs as seen in the R-Car from Renesas, TDA from Texas Instruments and EyeQ from Mobileye.
Revenue estimates by IHS for MCUs, DSPs, processors and SoCs used for data fusion, front-view camera functions and radar-sensor functions include fourfold growth, reaching $600 million by 2020. Freescale is a major supplier for silicon-germanium (SiGe) 77GHz-based radar chipsets used in long-range and mid-range ADAS applications. Radar technology is primarily found in collision warning and AEB applications, which are a part of the car safety guidelines from EuroNCAP, NHTSA and other regional bodies. The radar sensor market is also expected to double by 2020.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Switched-capacitor AC-DC/DC-DC converters boost efficiency in power supplies
http://www.edn.com/design/power-management/4439069/Switched-capacitor-AC-DC-DC-DC-converters-boost-efficiency-in-power-supplies?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150409&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150409&elq=2543ad91fc844be7a3ba200e59adebf2&elqCampaignId=22471&elqaid=25266&elqat=1&elqTrackId=d77dcf714b6e4bfe92701ddbc498e5f7
In the power electronics industry, companies celebrate when gaining a fraction of a percent efficiency in their product. In today’s energy market, efficiency is the “Holy Grail” of specifications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Home> Pc-board Design Center > How To Article
Manage EMI in PCB design: EMI sources and solutions
http://www.edn.com/design/pc-board/4439038/Manage-EMI-in-PCB-design–EMI-sources-and-solutions?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150409&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_weekly_20150409&elq=2543ad91fc844be7a3ba200e59adebf2&elqCampaignId=22471&elqaid=25266&elqat=1&elqTrackId=68ebfa916b744bcd8deeed00f59e08f7
With ever-faster interfaces on PC boards, managing electromagnetic interference (EMI) is one of the biggest challenges designers face. There are many possible causes of unwanted emissions. Here are a few examples that can cause EMI issues:
High-speed trace crossing a reference plane gap
High-speed trace routed near a plane edge
Reference plane changes for a high-speed trace
Using design rule checks is a quick way to locate potential sources of EMI. Though rule-based checking is not perfect, it provides many user benefits. 3-D EM simulation is commonly used to simulate EMI phenomena. However, the simulation results do not identify the cause of radiation, they only show you how the EM fields are behaving. The source of the radiation usually cannot be found even through close examination of the simulation results.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel, Samsung Up, Qualcomm, Toshiba Down in Chip Vendor Ranking
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326333&
Gartner Inc. has produced an updated top-ten chip vendor ranking for 2014 based on companies’ final financial results.
The top 25 semiconductor vendors’ combined revenue increased 11.7 percent, which was more than the overall industry’s growth and accounted for 72.4 percent of total market revenue, up from 69.9 percent in 2013.
“2014 saw all device categories post positive growth, unlike in 2013, when application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC), discretes and microcomponents all declined. The memory market was the best performer for the second year in a row, growing 16.6 percent, meaning the rest of the market only achieved 4.9 percent growth,” said Andrew Norwood, research vice president at Gartner, in a statement. “As a group, DRAM vendors performed best, lifted by the booming DRAM market, which saw revenue increase 32 percent to $46.1 billion, surpassing the all-time high of $41.8 billion set in 1995.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel, Altera End Acquisition Talks
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326322&
A rumored deal between Intel and FPGA maker Altera is now dead, following reports of a price disagreement.
The deal would help Intel diversify beyond the slumping PC market, EE Times reported last week. Intel is already Altera’s 14nm supplier, and analysts questioned whether the latter’s FPGA volumes — and $2 billion in annual revenue — were enough to justify a $13 billion price tag.
“We never thought it would happen because the impact on Intel’s revenues wasn’t big enough to justify the price premium,” International Business Strategies President Handel Jones told EE Times.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taiwan Chipmakers Prepare to Transport Water as Drought Worsens
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326328&
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), the world’s largest chip foundry, and other chipmakers on the island say they are prepared to ship water supplies to their fabs here if drought conditions worsen.
TSMC, a supplier to major electronics companies including Apple, Qualcomm, Nvidia and MediaTek, said it will use as many as 180 trucks, each with a capacity of about three metric tons, for water delivery to maintain operations at fab sites in Hsinchu, Taichung and Tainan in the event that the government tightens rationing.
“It all depends on the government,” TSMC Director of Corporate Communications Elizabeth Sun said today to EE Times. If the government shuts off water supplies two days per week at TSMC’s manufacturing sites, the chipmaker will start supplementing water supplies through truck delivery, she said.
To be sure, TSMC has implemented recycling measures following a drought more than a decade ago that forced the company to resort to costly truck deliveries. TSMC’s fabs today operate at an 87% recycling rate for the 90,000 metric tons of water used daily at its sites in Taiwan.
United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) says it is similarly prepared.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Delivers Its 14 nm
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326319&
How makers’ marks on Samsung’s Exynos 7420 reveals that Intel’s lead is shrinking.
So here it is, Samsung’s Exynos 7420 fabbed with a 14 nm finFET process.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Aluminum Battery Recharges in 1sec
Flexibility enables wrap-around smartphones
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326321
A flexible battery made from cheap, plentiful materials and which can recharge instantly is the Holy Grail of energy storage technology. Now Stanford University claims to achieved this goal. Called simply the “aluminum battery” it uses a flexible aluminum foil anode, a graphite foam cathode, liquid salt as an electrolyte and can be recharged in one second.
“People have worked on aluminum ion batteries, but they all had low voltages and poor cycle lifetimes. The aluminum/graphite battery was actually discovered by accident, but we were able to improve the performance once we knew that graphite was a good cathode candidate,” Ming Gong, a doctoral candidate working in professor Hongjie Dai’s labratory at Stanford University, told EE Times.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM Sets Memory Density Record
Doubling tape capacity every 2 years
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326311&
IBM Research claims to have set the world’s record in storage density on magnetic tape, 123 billion bits of uncompressed data per square inch on low cost, particulate magnetic tape made especially for the project by FujiFilm. This will allow today 6-Gbyte cartridges to up their capacity to a 220 terabyte when the technology is commercialized.
“This ensures that we can continue scaling — doubling capacity every two years — for at least the next 10 years. Also, because of the explosion in the rate at which data is being created, there is a huge demand for cost-effective storage solutions both on premises and in the cloud. And because tape has the lowest total cost of ownership, that’s creating all kinds of new applications for tape,” Mark Lantz, manager of exploratory tape, IBM Research told EE Times.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
Activist investor with over $2B stake urges Qualcomm to spin off chip unit from its more profitable patent-licensing business, cut costs, accelerate buyback
Activist Puts Pressure on Qualcomm
Jana Partners urges chip maker to consider breakup, other steps to improve stock price
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/activist-puts-pressure-on-qualcomm-1428898147-lMyQjAxMTI1NjE4MzAxMjMzWj
Qualcomm Inc. is under pressure from activist investor Jana Partners LLC to consider a breakup and other options to boost the giant chip maker’s sagging stock price.
Jana is asking Qualcomm to consider spinning off its chip unit from its patent-licensing business, which accounts for most of the company’s profit, according to a quarterly letter to Jana investors reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Qualcomm itself proposed the idea 15 years ago but later called it off.
Jana—which has purchased a stake of more than $2 billion, making it one of Qualcomm’s largest shareholders—also is calling on the company to cut costs, accelerate stock buybacks and make changes to its executive-pay structure, financial reporting and board of directors, according to the New York hedge fund’s letter, which was slated to be sent to Jana investors Monday.
“Qualcomm welcomes input from our investors and has a track record of active engagement with stockholders,” a spokeswoman for the chip company. “The board and management team will continue to consider actions that are in the best interests of all stockholders.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nick Statt / CNET:
Growth of hardware accelerators and consultants in last two years making hardware startups easier
For hardware startups, it’s getting less hard
http://www.cnet.com/news/for-hardware-startups-its-getting-less-hard/
The secrets to making and selling consumer electronics are spilling — on purpose — and that’s helping hardware startups succeed.
When most people think of a Silicon Valley startup trying to make a hardware product — a real, physical object instead of just an app or a website — a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for some new gizmo might be the first scenario that comes to mind.
That’s not always a good thing.
For years, hardware startups throughout the tech industry struggled in part because the industry shoehorned them into a one-size-fits-all business model. The hardest hurdle was often the first: Any company hoping to manufacture hardware had to be well known, established and have a lot of money.
That’s no longer the case today. In the past two years, hardware experts, ranging from accelerators to supply chain experts and consultants, have come out of the woodwork. And they’re all focused on helping small companies bring their gadgets to store shelves.
“The flexibility is amazing,” said David Austin, who heads up PCH Access, a startup-focused arm of design and manufacturing firm PCH International. “In today’s world, startups can create extremely beautiful products that are highly capable.”
Hardware horror stories
It wasn’t always this way. A common refrain within the tech industry is “hardware is hard” — and for good reason. A few high-profile companies have failed in the past several years, in part because they weren’t able to navigate the complex world of manufacturing and supply chain management.
“With software, you can push out a new update,” said Scott Miller, CEO of Dragon Innovation, which helps companies, including Pebble, manage and scale their manufacturing. “With hardware, because you actually have atoms and they don’t change quickly, when you ship it, it has to perform and not burn down somebody’s house.” That means it takes time to make sure everything works.
It still ain’t easy
While a growing army of consultants, along with affordable software, rapid-prototyping tools and other technologies, have made it simpler to create hardware products, it’s still not easy to bring a device from a sketch on a notepad to a customer’s front door.
Experts say part of the reason is that startups often forget that it’s difficult to mass manufacture in a timely and inexpensive manner. And manufacturing, while improved from 10 years ago, hasn’t undergone the rapid evolution that prototyping has.
“It’s relatively easy to make one of something,” said Robert Brunner, CEO of design firm Ammunition and the former head of industrial design at Apple. What’s Brunner’s common refrain to clients he doesn’t think are ready? “You have a fantastic idea, but that’s just the beginning.”
“You can build this amazing prototype that works and demonstrates a product and everyone gets excited — that’s about 10 percent,” he said. The rest requires refinement to a very high degree, because small imperfections made during mass manufacturing can ultimately ruin the device.
“The way I look at it is there’s expertise, and you have to have it in-house or buy it.”
David Austin, vice president of PCH Access
Take Drop, a startup that makes a $100 iPad-connected kitchen scale and software app so even inexperienced cooks can pull off complex baking and cooking.
The company was founded by two Irish designers in 2012, but instead of launching on Kickstarter, the team refined its prototype and eventually joined PCH’s Highway1 accelerator in 2013. From there, it was able to set a timeline, launch its product, take preorders and eventually meet its deadlines.
Now you can buy the Drop scale in Apple Stores around the country or from the iPhone maker’s website.
“That tells you what a startup can do,” Austin said, “with the tools right now.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Engineering correct-by-design PCBs
http://www.edn.com/design/pc-board/4439023/Engineering-correct-by-design-PCBs?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20150413&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20150413&elq=c47003227b084580a263dd26c290d601&elqCampaignId=22509&elqaid=25307&elqat=1&elqTrackId=d51a48eb43fb4ef68b81b4b829410dd3
As both chip and board complexities continue to spiral upwards, so do the number of challenges faced by designers. The proliferation of multi-Gbps differential signals, for example, brings with it the need for tightly length-matched routing and restrictions on the use of vias. Extensive simulation to characterize these busses, including long bit streams to validate performance down to very low bit error rate (BER levels), is necessary to ensure adequate system margins. This requirement is no longer unique to high-speed serial links, but has now spread to single-ended, parallel links like DDR4. PCBs have to be tested for signal integrity, power integrity, and radiated emissions, in order to ensure that the design works correctly before the first prototype is even built.
As such, designing a modern, high-speed PCB is a pretty daunting task. It requires high levels of expertise in a number of different areas. Infusing that expertise into the design process, however, can be made more practical through the use of rules-based verification.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Manage EMI in PCB design: EMI sources and solutions
http://www.edn.com/design/pc-board/4439038/Manage-EMI-in-PCB-design–EMI-sources-and-solutions?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20150413&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_pcbdesigncenter_20150413&elq=c47003227b084580a263dd26c290d601&elqCampaignId=22509&elqaid=25307&elqat=1&elqTrackId=698eb385e2b24fc89dc343a5bbf52ae3
With ever-faster interfaces on PC boards, managing electromagnetic interference (EMI) is one of the biggest challenges designers face. There are many possible causes of unwanted emissions. Here are a few examples that can cause EMI issues:
High-speed trace crossing a reference plane gap
High-speed trace routed near a plane edge
Reference plane changes for a high-speed trace
Using design rule checks is a quick way to locate potential sources of EMI. Though rule-based checking is not perfect, it provides many user benefits. 3-D EM simulation is commonly used to simulate EMI phenomena. However, the simulation results do not identify the cause of radiation, they only show you how the EM fields are behaving. The source of the radiation usually cannot be found even through close examination of the simulation results.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Energy Harvesters Power Wearables
Researchers target medical devcies
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326334&
Researchers at North Carolina State University are using nanotechnology to create energy harvesting and storage devices for ultra-low power sensors. The federally-funded research aims to create battery-free, body-powered wearable health monitors.
ASSIST is working with two categories of sensors: non-invasive health sensors for bio-electric, biochemical, and acoustic monitoring; and environmental sensors that measure gasses, particulate matter, and temperature. The goals are to gather more accurate data on how the environment causes changes in physiological signals and to develop a multi-modal harvesters.
These wearable sensors must be small, low power, and often transmit data regularly.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Graphene Spintronics Beats All
Moore’s Law to be extended again
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326339&
Moore’s law may be extended by graphene, whose very high electron mobility plus better-than-metal uniformity makes it a perfect candidate for nanoscale spintronic devices. Spintronic devices encode information on the spin of individual electrons instead of the charge of thousands, which can potentially shrink device sizes into smaller, less power-consuming circuitry than silicon, according to Chalmers University of Technology (U.K.) at its Nanofabrication Laboratory.
Today a few devices use spin encoding, including advanced hard drives and magnetic random access memory (MRAM), but these devices only have to move spin-encoded electrons a few nanometers. Unfortunately, copper and aluminum are not uniform enough to encode spin much longer runs, limiting spintronics capabilities. Chalmers University of Technology’s goal is to extend that distance to millimeters so that any digital circuit can use spintronics.
Tomi Engdahl says:
3D Testing Standardized by SRC
Benefits IBM, Intel, Freescale, TI, AMD, GlobalFoundries Analog Devices, Qualcomm, Mubadala
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1326340
3D chips are being manufactured or are close to being manufactured by every major fab worldwide, but no standardized method of testing them at the fab exists. Using “known good die” would mean testing each die before stacking — a daunting task requiring expensive nanoprobe systems like those offered by Cascade Microtech Inc. (Beaverton, Ore.)
“A challenge to manufacturing test has always been accessibility — how can you get inside the die to be sure you are testing for all the defects,” Chakrabarty told EE Times. “This challenge is exacerbated by 3D, when access to stacked dies becomes harder.” In addition, the through-silicon vias (TSVs) that connect the stacked die also need to be tested for defects. Chakrabarty and his team at Duke recognized this and have developed innovative solutions, guided by SRC’s members, for testing both before and after stacking and bonding.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Software Testing Needs More Automation
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326326&
As software and hackers get more sophisticated, QA testing will gain importance. That will require more software QA engineers and more test automation. Software QA budgets are on the rise.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg Business:
Xiaomi says it lost more than half of its Mi Power Bank sales to counterfeiters last year
Xiaomi Confronts Counterfeits as Fake Products Eat Into Sales
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-09/xiaomi-confronts-counterfeits-as-fake-products-eat-into-sales
Xiaomi Corp., the Chinese smartphone vendor that overtook Apple Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co. in the world’s largest market, now faces another foe: counterfeiters.
Sales of the company’s Mi Power Bank battery pack for smartphones hit 14.6 million units last year, less than half what the total should have been, Chief Executive Officer Lei Jun said at a press conference at the company’s headquarters in Beijing Thursday.
“What is the biggest problem? There are many fakes,” Lei said. “If there were no counterfeits, our sales would be double or triple. The product has been recognized by everyone.”
Five years since its founding in 2010, Xiaomi has grown into China’s top smartphone vendor and — at $45 billion — the world’s most valuable startup. Now, it must handle growing pains from counterfeits to perceptions that investments in smart-device startups risk compromising strategic focus, according to Lei.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
Qualcomm rejects idea of spinning off chip business, says current business model offers most value
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0%2Fac92b8ce-e1fd-11e4-9995-00144feab7de.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sharp Announces 4K Smartphone Display
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/15/04/14/0237214/sharp-announces-4k-smartphone-display
Japanese electronics giant Sharp has announced production of 5.5″ displays with 4K (3840 x 2160) resolution. They’ll hit the market next year. The display will have a pixel density of 806 PPI. It’s not known yet which smartphone makers will build devices with these screens.
Sharp’s 4K Smartphone Display Highlights OEM Tradeoffs
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sharp-4k-display-smartphone-trade-offs,28915.html
Sharp announced today that it’s going to manufacture the world’s sharpest display, a 5.5″ IGZO screen with a 4K/UHD 3840 x 2160 resolution. The display has a pixel density of 806 PPI and will arrive in devices in 2016. [Samsung is another company that promised to smartphones with 4K displays.]
Not long ago, even the prospect of having a Full HD resolution on an ~5″ display seemed quite unbelievable. Now, some are disappointed that new flagship smartphones such as the HTC One M9 come with “only” a 1080p screen (something that HTC fixed in the HTC One M9+, although it won’t be available for sale in the Western markets).
Although devices that are 1440p or even 4K will look even more stunning, there are indeed diminishing returns benefits-wise as the cost, the power consumption, or the GPU resources required to handle such high resolutions are significantly higher than the previous generations.
For instance, the extra cost to get a 4K display over a 1440p display this year could be used instead towards improving the device’s camera.
Sometimes the competition among OEMs to “one-up” each other causes some monotony in the market. Consumers like to have “better” components every year, but that becomes quite predictable after a while, and consumers can become less interested in upgrading their phones.
Higher-resolution displays will also help lower the cost of lower resolution panels.There’s another angle to the trend of higher-res displays to consider, though: If 4K displays become popular in high-end flagship devices, then 1440p and 1080p panels will be an even more common occurrence at the mid-range, while HD 720p displays should soon become the norm at the low-end — even for devices that are less than $100 unsubsidized. And that’s not a bad thing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Design tools for record sales
EDA Consortium says that the electronics design tools were sold last year in the fourth quarter to 2.1 billion dollars. The reading is 11.9 per cent higher than a year earlier, and at the same time the EDA industry’s new record.
Most of EDA tools group consists of CAE tools. They were sold in October-December, 699.5 million dollars. Growth a year ago was 3.1 percent. The physical design and verification tools were sold 483.7 million dollars, which is as much as a quarter of a year ago more.
PCB design tools were sold 176.2 million dollars. IP blocks EDA houses sold in October-December 642.8 million dollars. IP, sales increased year by one third, and it has become a very important part of the EDA houses in the business.
In addition, the EDA companies selling services – mainly design help – just over one hundred million dollars.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2675:suunnittelun-tyokalut-ennatysmyyntiin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
The growing demand for ultra-low power ICs in the area of connected and mobile devices is driving the adoption of the FinFET technology node at 16-nanometers (nm) and below for system-on-chip (SoC) designs. While a smaller footprint, higher performance and lower leakage are key benefits with FinFETs, reliability in terms of thermal, electromigration (EM) and electrostatic discharge (ESD) are major challenges.
Source: http://www.techonline.com/electrical-engineers/education-training/tech-papers/4437937/Ensuring-Reliability-of-FinFET-Based-Designs?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150414&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150414&elq=fd8fec40ff7849a9b297e0e8abe516b7&elqCampaignId=22532&elqaid=25330&elqat=1&elqTrackId=8e8557dd520b47ec9519256ca552d83c
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simplify complex control problems using disturbance rejection
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/spin-cycle/4439159/Simplify-complex-control-problems-using-disturbance-rejection?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150414&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150414&elq=fd8fec40ff7849a9b297e0e8abe516b7&elqCampaignId=22532&elqaid=25330&elqat=1&elqTrackId=b819db80b18f43629f3dcc38f7753d03
Control systems using the traditional PID approach need either robust system modeling or extensive empirical tuning to achieve optimum results. An alternative approach has become available, however, that can simplify control system tuning to as little as one parameter. Called active disturbance rejection control (ADRC), this approach can compensate for changing system parameters in real time.
PID-based methods can only be statically tuned for single snapshots of an evolving system. Adequate PID tuning for winder applications requires significant time and expertise.
Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC), however, can actively compensate for changing conditions, such as inertia changes and material imperfections.
An implementation of ADRC is available in the LineStream Technologies SpinTAC Motion Control Suite. SpinTAC is featured on Texas Instruments’ microcontrollers (MCUs) with InstaSPIN-MOTION technology.
We used this implementation to demonstrate the difference in results using ADRC and traditional PID control, pitting SpinTAC against PID on an industrial winder demonstration unit. The PID controller was tuned by experts from a company that specializes in industrial winders. SpinTAC was tuned by LineStream’s motion control engineers (who are not application experts).
You can easily try ADRC on your own motion control problem by using the new InstaSPIN-MOTION LaunchPad from TI. The LaunchPad comes with a hardware design package including gerbers, schematics, and a bill of materials. It features example software that has everything needed to get your motor running, and costs only $25.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Reports Q1 2015 Earnings: Lower PC Sales And Higher Data Center Revenues
by Brett Howse on April 14, 2015 11:00 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9159/intel-reports-q1-2015-earnings-lower-pc-sales-and-higher-data-center-revenues
Intel released their Q1 2015 earnings today. The company posted revenues of $12.8 billion USD for the quarter which is down 13% from Q4 2014, and flat year-over-year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Moore from the Archives
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1326342&
Moore’s law at age 50 continues to be viable but for how long? Here’s a look into EE Time’s archives, including a link to what Gordon Moore thought of his own law’s chances for longevity.
Tomi Engdahl says:
PCIe, USB test benches ease simulation-measurement correlation
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/other/4439160/PCIe–USB-test-benches-ease-simulation-measurement-correlation?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150415&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20150415&elq=32e16977841c4c9bb5457852642ca4ab&elqCampaignId=22552&elqaid=25360&elqat=1&elqTrackId=3917a2dbbd6e48b28b01f2ae5d6a9f5d
Aimed at semiconductor companies developing SerDes (serializer/deserializer) I/O blocks and OEMs integrating such chips onto their system pc boards, Keysight’s PCI Express and USB test benches allow engineers to use simulation to ensure a candidate design yields a fabricated prototype compliant with PCI-SIG and USB-IF specifications. Previous tools for this task made it difficult to correlate simulation compliance with hardware-prototype and test-bench compliance.
The two test-bench options are offered as add-ons for the Advanced Design System (ADS 2015.01) channel simulator software from Keysight EEsof EDA.