NovAtel Navigates to Paperless Assembly Instructions

Imagine a world without dependable global navigation satellite systems (GNSS). Air and sea transportation would stop, and militaries would be blinded.

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Rocket Failure Underscores Dangers of Spaceflight

Getting into space is risky business, as witnessed by the explosion of Antares. This survey of early failures reminds us just how risky.



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London Comms Museum Ticks All the Right Boxes

London's Science Museum communications and IT sectors tick all the right boxes.



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Brazilian Embedded Systems Development Market Study 2014

Even though the Brazilian economy is the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP, few people truly understand the Brazilian embedded market, so this study is very interesting.



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US claims THz transistor speed record

Northrop Grumman is claiming a speed record with “the fastest solid-state amplifier integrated circuit ever measured”.

Developed for US military lab DARPA, the ten-stage common-source amplifier showed 10dB gain at 1.0THz and 9dB at 1.03THz. The transistors are 25nm gate length indium phosphide (InP) HEMTs.

“Gains of six dB or more start to move this research from the laboratory bench to practical applications—nine decibels of gain is unheard of at terahertz frequencies” said DARPA programme manager Dev Palmer, “This opens up new possibilities for building terahertz radio circuits.”

Palmer envisages high-resolution security imaging systems, collision-avoidance radar, comms networks and chemical spectrometers using the technology.

DARPA has several THz programmes including ‘High frequency integrated vacuum electronics’ (HiFIVE), ‘Sub-millimeter wave imaging focal plane technology’ (SWIFT) and ‘Technology for frequency-agile digitally synthesised transmitters’ (TFAST), each building on the previous one.

Under DARPA programmes, Northrop demonstrated an 850GHz receiver in 2012, and 670GHz in 2010.

Northrop also showed THz operation in vacuum devices, when it revealed a micromachined 850GHz travelling wave tube last year. “DARPA-sponsored research has taken tools developed by the semiconductor and MEMS revolution and applied them to vacuum tube technologies,” said Palmer at the time.

“A decade ago, there was no consensus in the scientific community whether an integrated circuit operating at 1THz was technologically possible,” said Northrop THz programme manager William Deal. “An interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers worked together in scaling all facets of our MMIC technology to enable the 1THz result. Now, as a result of DARPA’s investment in high-speed transistor processes, it will become routine to fabricate wafers containing thousands of THz integrated circuits.”

DARPA has plans to put the travelling wave tube in its ‘video synthetic aperture radar’ (ViSAR) – an attempt to create a TV-like 2d imager that can see through clouds using high frequency radio waves.

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O-S-D to grow 9% after two bad years

Sony CMOS imager

The O-S-D (opto, sensors, discretes) sector will grow 9% this year after 1% growth in 2012 and 2013, reports IC Insights. This year sales should reach a record $68.9 billion.

The CAGR between 2013 and 2018 is projected at 6.8% with the market reaching $81.5 billion in 2017, a bit better than the 6.4% CAGR recorded for O-S-D sales in the past five years (2008-2013).

Optoelectronics is expected to continue to be the most consistent growth segment in the O-S-D marketplace during the next several years, primarily do to strong demand for CMOS image sensors in a wide range of embedded applications (such as image recognition, medical, video-surveillance networks, and automotive systems) and climbing sales of laser transmitters for high-speed optical communication networks.

However, optoelectronics growth has been dampened in recent years by price erosion in lamp devices due to the build up of worldwide capacity for high-brightness LEDs, which are becoming cheaper for solid-state lighting applications in homes, businesses, outdoors, and automobiles.

The other two O-S-D segments – sensor/actuator products and discrete semiconductors – are climbing out of their two-year slump.

During the past several years, sensors and actuators have been the fastest growing semiconductor market segment but double-digit percentage sales increases in this category came to a screeching halt in 2012 when high-flying demand for acceleration and yaw-rate sensors slowed and average selling prices (ASPs) fell by 10%.

Accelerometers and gyroscopes (movement-measuring devices) are expected to remain the largest sensor product category through 2018 but faster-growing pressure and magnetic-field sensors are forecast to gain marketshare over the next four years.

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Novel synchronous detector digs signals out of noise

Analog Devices is aiming at low-power signal measurement with a combined synchronous demodulator and filter chip which allows precision magnitude and phase measurements to be made on analogue signals buried in noise.

Called ADA2200, the IC has a digitally-controlled switched-capacitor analogue signal chain, which the firm describes as ‘sampled analogue technology’ (SAT), that Analog acquired when it bought Lyric Semiconductor.

“By processing the signal entirely in the analogue domain, this analogue-in, sampled-analogue-out device reduces A/D converter sample rates, lowering A/D converter power consumption and off-loading computationally heavy tasks from the digital processor or microcontroller,” claimed Analog.

Consumption is 390uA from 3.3V (clocking at 500kHz), suiting the device to battery power. The firm see it being used for impedance measurement, gas detection, air analysis, fluid analysis, strain gauges and proximity measurement; in medical, industrial and communications markets.

Inside (see diagram) it includes a low-pass FIR (finite impulse response) filter, 1/8x decimation filter, configurable IIR (infinite impulse response) filter, a mixer with 0°/90° phase selection, reference clock and A/D converter driver output.

Optimised for input sampling rates up to 1MHz, it can demodulation input bandwidths to 30kHz with 0.009° phase detection sensitivity. Operation is from -40 to +85°C.

Synchronous detection (see diagram) is suite to sensors that have a small output in noisy environments.

Rather than stimulate the sensor with a dc voltage, it is energised by an ac reference signal. Then at the measuring end, that same ac signal is multiplied by the received sensor output. This multiplied output is the desired sensor output at DC (0Hz), plus a bunch of higher frequency rubbish that can be filtered off.

A modification in the case of the ADA2200 is that it has a divide-by-eight ‘decimation’ filter, which reduces the sampling rate needed in a subsequent ADC.

Dividers in the chip provide the ac reference signal from a master clock. In a typical application, said Analog, an 80kHz master results in the chip generating a 1.25kHz reference clock for the sensor. 80kHz clocks the input low-pass filter, and results in a sample rate of 10kHz after the decimation filter. 1.25kHz, locked to the 80kHz, is also the centre frequency of the on-chip IIR filter in its default band-pass configuration.

0 and 90degree options are available at the multiplier input to allow for phase-shifts in external circuits as synchronous detection will not work if there is exactly 90°between the reference and sensor output signals.

As the output of a synchronous detector is dependent on both the amplitude of the input and the relative phases of the reference and received signal, the chip can be used as a phase detector if the input amplitude is kept constant.

By measuring the chip output in both 0 and 90° modes, and squaring those to readings, the phase is proportional to the square root of the sum of the squares.

The 90°phase shift also enables a pair of ADA2200devices to perform in-phase and quadrature demodulation.

The output can either be read by an ADC, or used as an analogue waveform via a low-pass reconstruction filter.

When the demodulation function is disabled, the signal chain acts as a precision filter with a programmable bandwidth and tunable centre frequency. “The filter characteristics are highly stable over temperature, supply, and process variation,” said Analog.

Internal registers are programmed over an serial port, or the chip can boot itself from a serial EEPROM.

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Startups, Robots Drive YC Founder

Trevor Blackwell, co-founder of seminal startup accelerator Y Combinator, shares thoughts on his passion for startups, robotics, and software.



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Radiometrix Launches Dynamically Reprogrammable RF Module

Have you considered how programmable RF devices might enhance the products that you design?



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More notebook brands shifting focus to gaming models, say sources

Notebook brands including Asustek Computer, Lenovo and Acer have been shifting focus to gaming notebook models as strong sales of comparable models rolled out by Micro-Star International (MSI) have encouraged rival companies to follow suit, according to industry sources.



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Digitimes Research: Skylake processor delay to weaken Windows 10 notebook demand

Intel's Skylake-based processors, originally expected to launch in early third-quarter 2015 to support the release of Windows 10-based notebooks, may not become available until the end of the third quarter or early fourth-quarter 2015. The delay is expected to hurt demand for Windows 10 notebooks.



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Worldwide smartphone shipments increase 25.2% in 3Q14, tablet shipments increase 11.5%, says IDC

New smartphone releases and an increased emphasis on emerging markets drove global smartphone shipments above 300 million units for the second consecutive quarter. According to IDC, vendors shipped a total of 327.6 million units during the third quarter of 2014, resulting in 25.2% growth when compared to the 261.7 million units shipped in third-quarter 2013 and 8.7% sequential growth above the 301.3 million units shipped in second-quarter 2014.



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Equipment supplier Scientech sees clear order visibility

Semiconductor equipment supplier Scientech is positive about its business outlook for the fourth quarter of 2014 and for 2015, citing clear order visibility for its wet-process packaging equipment for 8- and 12-inch wafers and front-end wet-process LED equipment, according to company president Ming-chi Hsu.



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EU mulling anti-circumvention measures on Asia solar exports, says report

Following the anti-dumping and countervailing measures imposed by the US on China and Taiwan solar PV makers, the European Union (EU) is now investigating other Asia countries for allegedly helping China violate the terms of a solar-export agreement it has with the EU, said Jason Huang, a research manager at EnergyTrend. The EU and China previously reached an agreement that allows solar panels from China to be sold to Europe in limited volumes at a fixed price, but EU ProSun, a joint initiative of European solar businesses, alleges that other countries are importing unfinished China solar products, putting the finishing touches on them and then exporting the products to Europe, he said, adding that South Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan are currently being investigated.



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Ultra HD TV shipments to reach 30 million in 2015, says Innolux

Innolux expects global Ultra HD TV shipments to reach 30 million units in 2015, driven by demand for larger-size, higher resolution models, according to company president JC Wang.



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Hermes Microvision posts January-September net EPS of NT$25.13

E-beam inspection solution provider Hermes Microvision (HMI) has reported net profits of NT$598 million (US$19.66 million) for the third quarter of 2014, decreasing 0.71% from the previous quarter.



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Innolux to continue to invest in a-Si and IGZO technologies, says chairman

Innolux will continue to invest in a-Si and IGZO panel technologies aimed at the handset market, according to company chairman Tuan Hsing-chien.



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Walton, Powertech to see slight drops in 4Q14 revenues

Memory backend service providers Powertech Technology (PTI) and Walton Advanced Engineering are expected to see their consolidated revenues for the fourth quarter of 2014 decrease slightly sequentially due to inventory adjustments at consumer electronics clients, according to industry sources.

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Contrel invests in PSS production using soft mask photolithography

Contrel Technology, which makes TFT-LCD, PV and LED inspection and testing equipment, will invest in production of PSS (patterned sapphire substrate) using soft mask photolithography technology developed by a R&D team under National Cheng Kung University.



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Taiwan market: BenQ aims to sell 20,000 curved Full HD WCG TVs in 2015; Ultra HD TV penetration to reach 5%

BenQ aims to release new curved wide-color gamut (WCG) Full HD TVs in 2015 and expects related sales to reach between 10,000-20,000 units.



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LCD TV sales expected to reach 5 million during holiday period in North America

LCD TV sales are expected to reach around five million during the holiday period in the fourth quarter of 2014 in North America.



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Macronix posts net losses of NT$1.1 billion for 3Q14

NOR flash supplier Macronix International has reported a net loss of NT$1.1 billion (US$36.16 million) or NT$0.31 per share for the third quarter of 2014 even though its revenues were up 35% sequentially to NT$6.69 billion in the quarter.

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MLS, Unity Opto expand LED lighting capacities

In view of fast growing demand for LED lighting in the US, the largest China-based LED packaging service provider MLS has expanded monthly production capacity of LED light bulbs and tubes to 10 million units, while Taiwan-based Unity Opto Technology will raise its monthly capacity from 2-3 million LED light bulbs currently to over four million units in the first half of 2015, according to the companies.



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LG Display develops 5.3-inch Full HD LCD panel for smartphones with 0.7mm bezel

LG Display has developed a 5.3-inch Full HD LCD panel for smartphones with a 0.7mm bezel. The company achieved the thinness through its Neo Edge module processing technology and Advanced In-Cell Touch (AIT) technology.



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ASE nets NT$1.98 per share for January-September

IC packaging and testing service provider Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASE) posted net EPS of NT$1.98 (US$0.065) for January-September 2014, the company announced at an October 30 investors conference.



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Taiwan ODMs, component makers eye orders from China mid-range, high-end smartphone vendors

Taiwan-based ODMs and component makers have been seeking orders from China-based vendors of mid-range and high-end smartphones, mainly Vivo, Oppo and Meizu, because of their considerable order volumes and relatively high gross margins, according to Taiwan-based handset supply chain makers.



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Friday Quiz: Radiated Emissions

There are many factors that contribute to radiated emissions problems. How well do you know them?



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China Blamed for Microchip Dip

Microchip Technology Inc. reported a decrease in sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 ending Sept. 30, blaming the economic climate in China rather than internal issues.



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Why Xiaomi Is World's 3rd Largest Mobile Co.

Xiaomi's emergence as world's third largest smartphone vendor makes us ask how the rules have changed in global smartphone market.



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EEVblog #678 – What is a PCB Spark Gap?

In this tutorial Dave explains what a PCB spark gap is and how it can be a useful zero cost addition to your PCB layout to help prevent ESD damage.

He shows how to easily design them into your board and calculate the approximate voltage rating.

And of course has some fun applying 5kV to some gaps to show how them at work.

Plugpack teardown

Support the EEVblog through Patreon!

Forum HERE

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Oscilloscope Bandwidth Record Now 100 GHz

Teledyne LeCroy breaks its own record for highest bandwidth real-time oscilloscope with the LabMaster 10-100Zi module.



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Modifying the Center of Balance for Surface-Mount Components

An EETimes community member poses an interesting question -- could the manufacturers of SMD components modify their center of balance?



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Power Week: Idle Computers Waste More Energy Than Thought

Computers are not going into sleep mode or automatically being turned off as often as users think, leaving room to save more energy with improved power management features.



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Analog Faceplate Design Decisions: Art or Science?

Creating industrial designs, like new faceplates for use in antique analog meters, is part art and part science.



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Smart meter hacking risk

Auditing firm KPMG warned of smart meter security risks at the Westminster Energy, Environment and Transport Forum.

Its cyber security specialist Alejandro Rivas-Vásquez was discussing UK’s smart meter implementation programme in the light of flaws found during the equivalent Spanish programme.

“Spanish researchers recently found fundamental security flaws in the design of smart metering devices deployed across the Channel,” he said. “Arguably, these flaws should have been identified by the Spanish deployment team, long before the meters were fitted in households. In the UK, whilst CESG has issued security specifications for smart metering vendors to prevent this type of issue, a need for overseeing compliance should not be underestimated by Ofgem and DECC.”

CESG is the UK government’s national technical authority for information assurance.

He went on to say: “Not long ago, we saw similar technologies being hacked for fraudulent activities here in the UK, when prepaid metering top-up keys with false credit information were cloned and sold to customers. The Spanish research shows smart meters could be hacked to under-report consumption and this should act as warning to the GB programme.”

If the technology could be hacked for fraud, hackers with more nefarious intent may use these flaws for other purposes, and Rivas-Vásquez pointed out that smart meters will be at the heart of critical national infrastructure, and that any interconnected system is only as strong as its weakest link. “That’s why in the UK, the Smart Energy Code makes specific arrangements for independent security and privacy assurance activities to take place, within each of the parties of the programme,” he said.

KPMG advice to government:

• Analyse research data faster


• Take corrective action sooner


• Swifter industry and regulator consultation


• Move away from point-in-time security solutions.

“Cyber criminals and cyber terrorists are improving their capabilities very quickly,” said Rivas-Vásquez.

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Toshiba mosfet package improves cooling dynamics

Toshiba Electronics is now offering its ow-voltage mosfets in DSOP Advance packages which offer dual-sided cooling which it said will significantly improve heat dissipation.



The DSOP Advance package shares the same 5mm x 6mm footprint as a SOP Advance device.

In comparative tests operating temperatures – when used in conjunction with a suitable heatsink – for 30V mosfets were reduced by more than 34% at currents above 30A.

It is possible in some designs that the reduced thermal resistance of a DSOP Advance package may support elimination of a heatsink.

Toshiba will offer DSOP Advance packages with its existing UMOS VIII-H and its new UMOS IX-H families of mosfets. These technologies combine industry-leading on resistance (RDS(ON)) ratings with low output capacitance to deliver ultra-efficient switching performance. DSOP Advance options will be available for a number of mosfets with voltage ratings between 30V and 100V initially.

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Donated Test Equipment Outfits College Labs

Electrical engineering schools wanting modern test equipment will do well to befriend test-equipment companies.



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Commercial and industrial demand response sites expected to surpass 1 million by 2023, says Navigant

In recent years, demand response (DR) in the commercial and industrial segment has matured and is now treated in some electricity markets as a resource equivalent to generation. The changing resource mix in electric grids globally is creating more opportunities for DR to play a pivotal role in balancing loads and ensuring a reliable supply of electricity, particularly during peak demand episodes. According to a new report from Navigant Research, the number of worldwide commercial and industrial DR sites is expected to grow from 92,000 in 2014 to more than one million in 2023.



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Young Optics expects slight sequential growth in 3Q14 shipments

Optical component and module maker Young Optics expects shipments in the fourth quarter of 2014 to slightly increase on quarter, according to the company.



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Majority of Ultra HD panels shipped in 4Q14 to be low-price 50-inch models

Panel makers expect lower-priced units sized around 50-inch will make up the majority of Ultra HD TV panels shipped during the fourth quarter of 2014.



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Commentary: Calculating the cost of GamerGate, many losers, 2 potential big winners

Concerns raised in a previous report that allowing the schism between the gaming press and their core audience to fester could lead to real economic impacts for the gaming industry during the holiday season appear to have had merit. Major advertisers are being dragged into the argument against their will, and some of the major players in the industry have announced conservative outlooks in their financial forecasts corresponding to the final quarter of 2014.

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Inspection service company Sporton reports strong performance for 3Q14

Sporton International, a Taiwan-based testing, inspection and certification service provider for electronics products, has reported all-time high revenues and profits for the third quarter of 2014.



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Larger smartphone displays drive minutes of use in apps and more mobile data consumption, says IHS

Larger smartphone screen sizes strongly correlate with increased app minutes of usage and higher resolution screen smartphones have higher data consumption, according to IHS.



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Equipment supplier Acter sees profits drop 93% on year in January-September

Semiconductor equipment supplier Acter saw its new profits drop 93% on year to NT$25 million (US$822,612) in the first three quarters of 2014 due to a write-off of NT$220 million in losses recognized in the third quarter.



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Innolux reports increased 3Q14 performance

Innolux has announced its combined net sales for the third quarter of 2014 amounted to NT$113.1 billion (US$3.72 billion), an increase of 1.8% over the previous quarter's NT$111.1 billion. The company reported gross profit was NT$14.5 billion, for a gross margin of 12.8%. Operating profit totaled NT$9 billion with an operating margin of 8%. Net profit attributable to shareholders of the parent company amounted to NT$7.4 billion while EPS equaled NT$0.77.

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Project Ara modularized smartphone to enter commercial production in 2015

Project Ara under Google's Advanced Technology and Projects Group (ATAP) is currently working with more than 20 partners and aims to bring its modularized smartphone into commercial production in 2015, according to industry sources.



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Digitimes Research: Taiwan small-to-medium-size panel shipments to grow 2.6% sequentially in 4Q14

The fourth quarter is traditionally a slow season for the small-to-medium-size panel industry, but in the fourth quarter of 2014, Taiwan's related shipments are expected to grow 2.6% sequentially to reach 338 million units, according to Digitimes Research.



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MCU vendor Holtek to post single-digit revenue growth in 4Q14

MCU supplier Holtek Semiconductor expects its sales to grow by a single-digit rate sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2014 amid a significant rebound in MCU orders for household appliance applications.



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Acer starts selling Ultra HD monitors in Taiwan

Acer has unveiled own-brand Ultra HD monitors sized 23.8-, 27-, 28- and 32-inch in Taiwan. Since its Chromebooks will also likely be launched in Taiwan soon, Acer expects its revenues in the fourth quarter to decline a lot less than expected.



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Asia Tech Image poised to start production in Myanmar

Contact image sensor (CIS) module maker Asia Tech Image is installing equipment at a newly constructed factory in Myanmar and expects to start production with an initial annual capacity of three million CIS modules in early 2015, company president Iris Wu disclosed at an October 29 investors conference.



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Nanya profit hits all-time high in 3Q14

Nanya Technology saw its net profit hit an all-time high of NT$7.46 billion (US$245.59 million) in the third quarter of 2014, which translated into an EPS of NT$3.11 for the quarter.



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Coretronic expects 4Q14 BLU shipments to drop slightly

Coretronic expects its fourth-quarter 2014 BLU (backlight unit) shipments to slip slightly on quarter mainly due to decreased shipments to the TV and tablet segments, according to the company.



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Delta Electronics 3Q14 net profit hits record

Power supply maker and energy management solution provider Delta Electronics has posted net profit of NT$5.837 billion (US$193 million) for the third quarter of 2014, hitting a quarterly record.



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Quanta said to be main supplier of Google Project Ara

Project Ara, Google's development plan for modular smartphones, is expected to become available on the market in 2015 with Quanta Computer reportedly being the main hardware supplier. Orders are expected to boost the Taiwan-based ODM's non-notebook revenues, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.

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TSMC to trail Samsung by 14pp in FinFET in 2015, says Barclays

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will have a 39% share in the FinFET process segment in 2015 compared to Samsung Electronics' 53%, according to an estimate of Barclays Capital Securities Taiwan.



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Inotera to more than double capex for 2015

Inotera Memories plans to more than double its capex budget to NT$50 billion (US$1.65 billion) in 2015 from NT$22 billion projected for 2014 in order to facilitate its migration to 20nm production.



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UMC posts net profits of NT$2.92 billion for 3Q14

United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) has reported net profits of NT$2.92 billion (US$96.08 million) or NT$0.23 per share on revenues of NT$35.21 billion for the third quarter of 2014.



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Chunghwa Telecom aims to save 10% of 2014 capex budget

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) has set aside a capex budget of NT$40.1 billion (US$1.32 billion) for 2014 but has been making efforts to control actual expenditures to 90% of the budget through more cost-effective spending, company chairman Rick Tsai said at an October 29 investors conference.



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Corning announces 3Q14 financial performance

Corning has announced that its core sales in the third quarter of 2014 reached US$2.6 billion, a 26% increase on year while net sales were $2.5 billion, a 23% increase on year.



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LG Electronics announces 3Q14 performance

LG Electronics has announced third-quarter consolidated revenues of KRW14.92 trillion (US$14.54 billion), an increase of 7.4% on year, and operating profit of KRW461.3 billion (US$449.61 million), more than double the figure from the same period a year ago.

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Digitimes Research: China makers to see sequential growth in touch panel shipments during 3Q14

China makers' shipments of touch panels used in smartphone, tablet and notebook applications are expected to grow 7.1%, 3.6% and 10% respectively on quarter during the third quarter of 2014, according to Digitimes Research.



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Sony seeks cheaper panel solutions as smartphone competition intensifies

Sony Mobile is lowering its smartphone shipment target for 2014 and is now seeking cheaper panel and touch panel solutions in order to reduce costs and increase profitability.



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MOEA conditionally approves Sanan Optoelectronics stake in Epistar

Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) on October 29 approved the conversion of China-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Sanan Optoelectronics' 19.9% stake in Taiwan-based Formosa Epitaxy into a 3.1% stake in Epistar, with the following strings attached: Sanan cannot transfer patents and technologies from Epistar, be involved in operations at Epistar nor recruit Epistar's employees, according to MOEA.



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Japan's MegaChips to Buy MEMS Timing Leader SiTime

MegaChips, Japan's fast-growing fabless, will buy SiTime Corp. for $200 million in cash to leverage SiTime's MEMS timing devices to enhance its own SoCs and ASSPs for wearable and mobile devices.



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UMC Takes Bigger Slice of 28nm Business

UMC, the world's third-largest chip foundry, said that it grabbed a larger piece of the 28 nm business that is dominated by TSMC. UMC reiterated its capital expenditure for this year at about $1.3 billion.



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3D Prints World's Best Inverter

Oak Ridge National Laboratory wants to become the world leader in operational 3D device printing and has already started its patent portfolio.



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Freescale CEO: 'IoT Isn't Just Buzz'

Two factors rejuvenating Freescale are the "explosion of connected devices" and "cars so aware of their surroundings that they can't get into accidents," says its CEO.



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HP Tiptoes Into 3D Printers

Hewlett-Packard sketched out plans for 3D printers coming in 2016 based on its thermal inject technology and announced a novel 3D workstation for advanced consumers.



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Developing a Sales Strategy

sales channel is a living organism. It needs to be adapted and changed as a company evolves, and that's how entrepreneurs should view it.



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Radio Show Nov. 7: EMC Is Every Engineer's Problem

EMC engineer Kenneth Wyatt explains why EMC failures occur and what to do about them in this live radio show on Friday, November 7, at 11:00 a.m. Pacific, 2:00 p.m. Eastern, 1900 GMT.



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RFID antennas go dual-band

Huber+Suhner has a range of dual-band UHF RFID antennas designed for integrated RFID devices.

The Sencity SPOT-L antennas support both European ETSI UHF (865 – 868MHz) and USA/Canadian FCC UHF (902 – 928MHz) RFID bands.

The antennas have a low profile of 11.5 – 15mm, and as a result likely applications may include use as a conveyor portal antenna or as an under-belt antenna in RFID system applications including warehousing, industrial automation, distribution, retailing and logistics.

There are two flat panel antennas in the range which can be placed on the conveyor sides or as a gate. Model 1309.19.0002 measures 773 x 312 x 15mm while 1309.19.0003 measures 480 x 312 x 15mm. The under-belt flat panel antenna, Model 1309.17.0110, measures 1020 x 380 x 11.5mm and can be mounted directly under moving belts.

All three models are left hand circular polarized, DC grounded and come with a cable pigtail. Other key features of interest to system designers include an operating temperature range of -30⁰C to +50⁰C, ingress protection to IP54 and shock and vibration resistance to IEC 60721-3-4.

richard wilson

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ST Q3 sales down 6.3%; forecasts further drop in Q4

ST’s Q3 revenues of $1.89 billion were 6.3% down on Q3 2013 and will fall another 3.5% in Q4 forecast the company.

The company made a $72 million profit in the quarter thanks mainly to a tax benefit worth $42 million.

ST said it would implement $100 million in annualised savings at its loss-making digital business and is “reviewing the implications to our process technology following the recent announcements by our research alliance partners”.

This could refer to the announcements by IBM, which supplies ST with its basic process technology, to get out of microelectronics and sell its factories to Globalfoundries.

Following its June sale of bonds worth $1 billion ST has now got $2.4 billion of cash and $1.97 billion of debt.

Shares have fallen 11% this year and ST’s market cap is now €4.7 billion.

david manners

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Kilopass delivers 16nm finfet NV IP

Kilopass Technology says it has ported its antifuse OTP embedded NVM technology to TSMC’s 16nm finfet process.

“Embedded non-volatile memories are becoming an increasingly important part of SoC designs,” says TSMC’s Suk Lee. “Kilopass’ support for this technology at the 16nm finfet node enables us to offer our mutual customers a complete solution that saves design time, chip area and power consumption.”

Kilopass’ OTP 2T bit cell technology works on a variety of processes including low power, high-voltage, and high-K metal gate.

The Kilopass IP is foundry agnostic and is used by SMIC, Global Foundries, IBM, Samsung, UMC, Dongbu HiTek, Tower and Grace as well as TSMC.

david manners

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MegaChips buys SiTime

Internet of Things – IoT

MegaChips of Osaka, the 24-year-old IC design house, is to buy Bosch-backed SiTime of Sunnyvale, the MEMS timing specialist, for $200 million in cash.

The companies say they are complementary in that they both address the wearables, mobile and internet of things (IoT) markets.

“MegaChips has an aggressive growth strategy with a vision to become one of the top ten fabless semiconductor companies through both organic growth and strategic acquisitions,” said Akira Takata, CEO of MegaChips.

“MEMS components are fuelling the growth of the semiconductor industry. Through the acquisition of SiTime, MegaChips becomes a leader in MEMS. SiTime will help us expand our portfolio and diversify our customer base,” said Takata.

“SiTime technology is the perfect match for MegaChips’ solutions that target wearables, mobile and IoT markets such as ‘Frizz’, our ultra-low-power smart phone Sensor Hub LSI and BlueChip Wireless, a sub-GHz RF LSI,” he added.

MegaChips has revenues of over $600 million and its expansive strategy saw it buying Kawasaki Microelectronics in 2012.

david manners

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Clouds Gather in Cellular Nets

Carriers say cloud radio access networks will be important for the future of cellular nets, but they still face real-time and software challenges.



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Global semiconductor revenues to reach over US$400 billion in 2017, says GSA

The global semiconductor industry was responsible for generating US$290 billion in annual revenues in 2012 with expectations that this number will exceed US$400 billion in 2017, according to the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA).

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Elitegroup Computer Systems nets NT$1.67 per share for January-September

Motherboard, desktop, notebook and tablet maker Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) on October 28 released its financial report for the third quarter of 2014, with consolidated revenues of NT$41.78 billion (US$1.39 billion), net operating profit of NT$1.26 billion, net profit of NT$1.17 billion and net EPS of NT$1.67 for January-September.



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Asustek launches ZenFone 5 in Japan

Asustek Computer on October 28 announced its ZenFone 5, a 4G-enabled smartphone, in Japan for launch on November 8 and will additionally launch a smartwatch, the ZenWatch, in late November. Asustek aims to ship 7.5-8 million smartphones in 2014.



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Solar glass price plunge to cease as trade sanctions take effect, says IHS

After falling by about 50% from 2009-2014, pricing for solar glass is set to commence a rebound starting in 2015, as anti-dumping duties levied by the European Union go into effect on China suppliers.



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Microsoft cooperates with Intel to offer subsidies for Windows 8.1 with Bing desktops, AIO PCs, say Taiwan makers

Microsoft will cooperate with Intel to offer subsidies to promote Windows 8.1 with Bing for entry-level desktops starting at retail prices of US$199, and 18.5-inch non-touch-screen all-in-one (AIO) PCs starting at US$349, equipped with Celeron J1900 quad-core processors (Bay Trail-D), according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.



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Taiwan market: Canon to launch new DSLR camera

Canon on October 28 unveiled the EOS 7D Mark II, a DSLR camera equipped with 20.2-megapixel CMOS image sensor, for launch in the Taiwan market on October 30.



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AUO reports a 17-quarter high net profit of NT$7.3 billion for 3Q14

AU Optronics (AUO) has announced that its consolidated revenues in the third quarter of 2014 were NT$106.89 billion (US$3.52 billion), up 4.7% from the previous quarter. Gross profit was NT$15.38 billion, with gross margin of 14.4%. Operating profit was NT$8.78 billion, with operating margin of 8.2%. AUO's net profit for the third quarter was NT$7.30 billion. Net profit attributable to owners of the company was NT$7.33 billion, with a basic EPS of NT$0.76.

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Flip Chip technology expected to be used in more LED TVs released in 2015

Direct-type LED TVs featuring Flip Chip LED technology are becoming more prevalent in the market and many China- and Korea-based TV vendors are expected to start using the technology in units released in 2015 in order to reduce LED costs.



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Taiwan market: Chunghwa Telecom, Elta Technology cooperate to launch hievent

Chunghwa Telecom (CHT) on October 28 announced the launch of hievent, an online video streaming service for enterprise users, through cooperation with Elta Technology, a Taiwan-based integrator and distributor of digital HD content.



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CyberLink reports profit for January-September

Digital multimedia software solution developer CyberLink has posted net earnings per share (EPS) of NT$4.87 (US$0.16) for January-September.



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PTI sees profits up 146% on year in 3Q14

IC backend service company Powertech Technology (PTI) has reported net profits of NT$958 million (US$31.52 million) for the third quarter of 2014, up 6.6% from the previous quarter and 146.3% from a year earlier.



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China September polysilicon imports hit record, says CNIA

China imported 9,942 tons of polysilicon in September, the highest-ever monthly level with on-month growth of 18.7%, according to the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA).



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Lite-On, Delta win New Taipei LED streetlamp contracts

New Taipei has adopted a PFI (private finance initiative) scheme to replace streetlamps with LED models in the northern Taiwanese city. Lite-On Technology and Delta Electronics have both won the city's PFI contracts to install 120,000 and 100,000 LED streetlamps, respectively, according to the companies.



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Taiwan market: FET leads in 4G users as of September, says president

Far EasTone Telecommunications (FET) had 410,000 4G subscribers as of September, the highest among all 4G telecom carriers in Taiwan with a market share of 35%, according to company president Yvonne Li.



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China software January-September revenues total nearly CNY2.7 trillion, says MIIT

China's software industry generated revenues of CNY2.682 trillion (US$435 billion) in January-September 2014, growing 20.6% on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).



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Japan TV vendors considering less aggressive stance in low-priced TV market

Japan-based TV vendors are considering taking a less aggressive stance in the low-priced TV market as competition is intensifying and instead will focus mainly on high-end TVs such as Ultra HD units.



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Chip suppliers asking downstream vendors, OEMs to place long-term orders

Chipset suppliers are asking downstream vendors and OEMs to place long-term chip orders of up to 6-12 months on concerns that wafer production will remain tight in fourth-quarter 2014 and first-quarter 2015, which may affect chip production, according to industry sources.

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Digitimes Research: Taiwan shipments of large-size TFT LCD panels increase in 3Q14

Taiwan makers' shipments of large-size TFT LCD panels sized 9-inch and above reached 67.92 million in the third quarter of 2014, up 0.6% on quarter and up 5.3% on year, according to Digitimes Research.



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GET, Motech form strategic alliance

Solar-grade crystalline silicon wafer maker Green Energy Technology (GET) and crystalline silicon solar cell maker Motech Industries on October 28 jointly announced a strategic alliance to hike efficiency and decrease cost for both companies' solar-grade wafer production.



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Mentor Enhances Multi-Board PCB System Design Capabilities

xSD Systems Designer supports systemwide partitioning and repartitioning of functions to different boards.



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Fake Chip Furor Challenges Counterfeiters

It's not often that a driver upgrade creates a social media storm, particularly with USB chips. But the Glasgow chip designer FTDI faced a storm of criticism after a new driver was released for its FT232R USB-to-UART bridge chip.



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Turn Out Those Lights!

The whole point of Akasaki, Amano, and Nakamura’s blue LEDs is that you can turn them OFF and on again fast. It’s nice that they have high luminous efficacy. However, regardless of the few watts it takes to squeeze out a lumen, white LEDs are doing their best for the environment when they’re dark.

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Sweden's Self-Driving Cars for Sustainable Mobility

Volvo has launched its Drive Me project in normal driving conditions on public roads in Gothenburg, Sweden. The automaker plans to have 100 autonomous vehicles on public roads by 2017.



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Free Circuit Maker PCB Tool From Altium

Circuit Maker from Altium is targeted at hobbyists and makers, or people who are just starting to get into PCB design.



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Where Are the Ceramic Vacuum Tube Holders of Yesteryear?

One of the problems Max has left on the 'back-burner' is how he's going to attach his giant vacuum tubes to the top of his Ultra-Macho Prognostication Engine.



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Some Memories Never Die

When a major memory producer decides a product has hit end of life, there are often customers who still have long-term use for it and there are companies willing to step up to keep those memories alive.



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Why Executives Are Banking On Cloud PLM To Save Money

Sponsored by: Arena Solutions

What solution helped a lighting manufacturer reduce engineering change order (ECO) cycle times by 75%, a networking company improve ECO cycle times by 70%, and a digital processing business accelerate time to market by 20%?

read more

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Turn Disruputive Change Into High Tech’s “Next Big Thing”

Sponsored by: Arena Solutions

When a change to a component occurs there's a rapid engineering effort to incorporate, source and purchase the component. Manufacturing line/tooling, cut-ins, as well as the production floor are impacted and then there's dealing with scrap and rework, marketing and servicing.

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Manufacturing Outsourcing: Are You Making the Right Decisions?

Sponsored by: Arena Solutions

This eBook identifies business considerations that may impact your decision-making process, the risks and benefits for each choice, and tips for making your chosen strategy work for you. With the tips and advice in this eBook, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) will be equipped for long-term success in manufacturing outsourcing.

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The ARM Cortex-M7: An Abundance of Memory, or Not Enough?

Whether the Cortex M7 meets requirements depends on who you ask; the myriad answers point to the hairball of decisions and trade-offs in hardware, software, and systems today's developers are confronted with.



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Symtavision, Renesas develop MCU verification tool

Symtavision SymTAS tool

Symtavision, the timing analysis specialist for verifying embedded systems, has developed an integrated, model- and trace-based methodology for Renesas RH850 multi-core MCUs.

The Symtavision/Renesas approach uses Symtavision’s SymTA/S tool suite for model-based timing analysis, optimisation and synthesis, and Symtavision’s powerful TraceAnalyzer for visualising and analysing timing from measurements and simulations.

Both SymTA/S and TraceAnalyzer are used by the automotive industry for developing ECUs, networks and distributed systems.

The methodology involves target tracing to gather fundamental timing data in a realistic environment on the target platform (or one that is predictably related).

Tracing tools from Green Hills Software, Gliwa, iSYSTEM or Lauterbach can be used.

Symtavision’s TraceAnalyzer then processes this data to visualise and validate the internal scheduling of the device and derive metrics such as memory access times, runnable execution times and patterns of sporadic interrupts

This creates RH850 virtual performance models in SymTA/S which allow an early assessment of design alternatives to ensure that all software can execute in real-time and can provide a basis for the continuous validation of model assumptions versus actual implementation.

The RH850 models ensure that key multicore-related design challenges such as optimal software and task partitioning, as well as data allocation and arbitration, are systematically addressed.

The models can be extended seamlessly to analysis of distributed functions over CAN, Ethernet, FlexRay or LIN.

david manners

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Kili Unveils 1-Stop Fix for Chip-Card Mandate

While US retailers struggle to keep up with the transition of mobile payment systems to new technologies like NFC, they face an even bigger challenge as US card issuers drag them into the new world of chip cards.



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EEVblog #677 – Mailbag

Mailbag Monday

Dave opens his mail.

Spoilers & Links:

iPod Blood pressure monitor

Old computer hardware

Intel 1Mb Bubble Memory

PICop development board

TEM Products SMD IC and LED thermal products

PowerPeg

Stepper Motor Controller

TSL1401CL LineScan Camera

Forum HERE

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Wearbles Ready for Work, Survey Says

A new survey finds that the majority of adults want wearables in their workplace, though the US remains behind in overall wearable acceptance.



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ITRI eyes flexible display development as wearables market estimated to reach 100 million in 2017

Following the development of the Internet of Things (IoT) in smart home, vehicle and automation applications, coupled with expected growth in the wearables market, FlexUP Technologies is continuing to expand production and development of flexible displays.



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LG ships 674,000 Ultra HD TV panels in September, says report

LG Display reached 674,000 in shipments for Ultra HD TV panels in September 2014, according to a report from MoneyDJ that cited statistics from the Yonhap News Agency.



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Global commercial telematics subscribers will reach nearly 25 million in 2014, says ABI Research

According to ABI Research, from 2014 onward, total global commercial telematics subscriptions will ramp up at an accelerated rate. In fact, in 2019 total global subscriptions will increase by three times from the 25 million expected in 2014. Much of this growth will come from Asia and Latin America markets, and subscription numbers in the Middle East and Africa will even reach significant proportions by 2019.

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Acer fund raiser may start in early 2015, says founder

Acer recently announced it will hold a fund raiser before the end of 2014, be may postpone the plans to early 2015 due to the recent weak performance of the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) and mayor elections in Taiwan at the end of November, according to Acer founder Stan Shih.



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Taiwan HDI makers may benefit from production woes at Japan- and Korea-based rivals

Taiwan-based HDI board suppliers may land more orders at the expense of production issues at Japan- and Korea-based rivals, according to sources in Taiwan's HDI supply chain.



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Huawei to be strong competitor in cloud computing industry, says CCAT executive

Commenting on recent cloud computing developments, Tzi-Cker Chiueh, secretary general of the Cloud Computing Association in Taiwan (CCAT), has pointed out that business opportunities have become more solid, especially for cloud computing data centers and currently only Taiwan has accumulated sufficient experience for the industry.



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LED penetration rate expected to reach between 60-70% over the next 5 years

The LED penetration rate is expected to reach between 60-70% over the next five years due to decreasing prices and energy-saving capabilities, according to Everlight chairman Robert Yeh.



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LED packaging market to expand 3.2% in 2015

The LED packaging industry's value is anticipated to only rise 3.2% on year from US$14.6 billion in 2014 to US$15 billion in 2015, according to LEDinside.



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Will OLED become the new standard in TV technology?

Despite increasing popularity for Ultra HD TVs, Korea panel makers still anticipate growth for OLED TVs over the next few years, with shipments expected to see some of the biggest increases as of 2017 when OLED TV panel material costs are expected to decrease and yields increase.



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Digitimes Research: Top-3 Japan-based telecom operators promoting smartphones differently for winter season

The top-three Japan-based telecom operators, NTT DoCoMo, KDDI au and SoftBank Mobile, have adopted different approaches to promote smartphones for the winter season, according to Digitimes Research.



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Samsung to quit LED lighting business in overseas markets, says paper

Samsung Electronics on October 26 announced the stoppage of its LED lighting business operations in all overseas markets due to low-price competition, but it will continue production of LED components, according to the South Korea-based East Asia Daily.

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Digitimes Research: Global notebook shipments to drop 1.7% in 2015

Global notebook shipments, which are expected to decline 2.1% on year in 2014, will further drop 1.7% in 2015 to reach 168 million units, despite Microsoft's attempts to stimulate demand in the PC market.



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Dell, Asustek and Lenovo eye Chromebook market

Seeing that Chromebooks are enjoying demand from the education sector, brand vendors such as Dell, Asustek Computer and Lenovo have started becoming aggressive about the market, while Acer, Hewlett-Packard (HP) and Samsung Electronics will also launch new products to defend their market shares, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.



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AMD CEO to visit Lenovo, Asustek, TSMC and Acer

AMD CEO Lisa Su is planning to visit Lenovo in China and Asustek Computer, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and Acer in Taiwan in the near future to tighten its relationships and explain its latest product roadmap, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.



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China September mobile phone users grow to 1.273 billion, says MIIT

There were 1.273 billion subscribers of mobile communication services in China as of September 2014, growing 0.44% on month and 5.47% on year, with 482.43 million (37.91%) of them being 3G users and 871.27 million (68.46%) being mobile Internet-access users, according to China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).



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GlobalWafers debuts on Taiwan emerging stock market

GlobalWafers started trading on Taiwan's emerging stock market on October 28 at an intial price of NT$60 (US$1.98) per share, according to the company.

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Kinsus sees profits decline sequentially in 3Q14

IC substrate maker Kinsus Interconnect Technology has reported net profits of NT$994 million (US$32.7 million) for the third quarter of 2014, down 19.3% sequentially but up 17.2% on year.



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Taiwan solar cell maker reportedly to relocate factory to Thailand

To avert the impact of US anti-dumping tariffs, a Taiwan-based crystalline silicon solar cell maker will relocate production lines with an initial annual capacity of 500MWp from Taiwan to Thailand, according to industry sources. However, the sources did not identify the company.



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China LED makers cut prices, Taiwan makers to follow suit

China-based LED makers' production capacity expansion in the first half of 2014 has since resulted in oversupply, forcing them to reduce quotes to compete for orders in the fourth quarter. Taiwan-based competitors will follow suit in cutting prices, with quotes for backlighting products used in hand-held devices to drop by about 10%, according to industry sources.



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Delta Electronics to set up PV power station in Japan

Power supply maker and energy management solution provider Delta Electronics has acquired land totaling 260,000 square meters in Ako City, western Japan, for establishment of a PV power-generating station with total investment of JPY1.2 billion (US$11.1 million), according to Chinese-language newspaper Economic Daily News (EDN).



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Foundry houses in Taiwan and China ramping 8-inch wafer capacity for IoT applications

Major wafer foundry houses in Taiwan and China are ramping up the capacity of their 8-inch fabs in order to grasp opportunities in the growing business opportunities derived from the expanding Internet of Things (IoT) applications, according to industry sources.



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Huawei Device ships 16.8 million smartphones in 3Q14

China-based vendor Huawei Device shipped 32.03 million handsets in the third quarter of 2014, with 16.8 million units being smartphones, increasing on year by 26%, according to Taiwan-based supply chain makers.



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SPIL plans to set aside 2015 capital expenditure budget of NT$12 billion

IC packaging and testing service provider Siliconware Precision Industries (SPIL) plans to set aside a capital expenditure budget of NT$12 billion (US$396 million) for 2015, decreasing by 22.1% on year, according to company chairman Bough Lin at an October 27 investors conference.

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Lextar showcasing LED light tubes at Hong Kong international lighting fair

Taiwan-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker as well as LED packaging service provider Lextar Electronics is showcasing a complete series of LED lighting tubes with LM-80 certification at the 2014 Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition) taking place during October 27-30, according to the company.



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AMD Hires Dell's Server Chief

The new manager of AMD's server and embedded group, Forest Norrod, is the former manager of Dell's server business where he recently shared skeptical views on ARM-based servers, one of AMD's new target markets.



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Inside a $125 Million Silicon Startup

Soft Machines has come a long way on the persuasiveness of its CEO and the passion of its CTO, but now it must build real commercial products and convince big, established players to license them.



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Building a Pair of Animatronic Robot Eyes

In order to learn about servos, Max decided to build a pair of animatronic robot eyes.



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Military is the New Industrial

In this era of cost consciousness when it comes to military hardware, engineers should consider Q100- or EP-rated devices, which help keep designs in production longer.

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DDR Memory Testing: Worst Practices

Testing dual data-rate memory (DDR) devices and/or modules calls for careful application of some best practices. With that said, there are also some things to watch out for -- call them "worst practices." These can adversely influence measurement accuracy or even wreck your probing setup.



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SRAM-Based Network Search Engine Features Up to 8 Million Flow Entries

The Questflo 98TX1100 from Marvell is a static random access memory (SRAM)-based network search engine that can flexibly manage, deliver, and secure up to 8 million service and virtualized flows.

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How Shall I Verify Thee? Let Me Count the Ways

In this column, Bernard Murphy starts with the "what" and "why" of verification and only then considers the "how."



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When Instant Gratification is a Good Thing

To accelerate time to market, today’s developers often need the instant gratification of short lead times for application-components such as crystal oscillators.

To accelerate time to market, today’s developers often need the instant gratification of short lead times for application-components such as crystal oscillators.

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Firtiva Free Video-on-Demand Website Poised to Go Live

Patented video-on-demand system gives a win-win-win for viewers, sponsors, and content providers.



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Corning adds weight to super-cap development for vehicles

Materials firm Corning has joined Maxwell Technologies to develop better supercapacitors, also known as ultracapacitors, for cars.

Corning brings expertise in materials and analytical capabilities, according to Maxwell.

“Corning has invested significant time and resources to establish this new business initiative because we see great potential in capacitive energy storage. We are excited to work with a company like Maxwell who has such a long history of innovation in the field and strong market presence,” said Corning director of automotive innovations Doug Harshbarger.

Supercapacitors are often promoted as a partner to batteries in automotive traction applications. While they have far lower energy density (Wh/litre or Wh/kg) than electrochemical batteries, they can accept and deliver energy far faster (W/litre and W/kg) making them suitable for load levelling in, for example, regenerative breaking and acceleration. They also work over a wider temperature range: -40 to +65°C, according to Maxwell, and have a far longer cycle life – a million or more charge/discharge cycles. Energy storage alongside electrically-coupled turbo chargers is another potential application.

The firm points out that there are over 1 million Peugeot Citroen cars on the road incorpotating its supercapacitors, in a voltage stabilisation system developed by Continental.

However, improvements to batteries tend to offset the need to add supercapacitors to batteries.

Maxwell offers components from 1 to 3,400F, and modules from 12 to 160V.

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Reference design for single and three phase smart meters

RX21A reference design

Renesas Electronics has introduced a reference design for a smart meter, which incorporates metrology and calibration routines, required for a billing polyphase meter design.

The hardware platform is based on the firm’s RX21A microcontroller with a metrology front end circuit and the application processor in a single chip. The RX21A MCUs incorporate three, four or seven independent 24-bit delta-sigma analogue-digital converters (ΔΣ-ADC).

Designed to accommodate single-phase, split-phase and three-phase plus neutral billing electricity meters respectively, the ΔΣ-ADC channels include a programmable gain amplifier (PGA), which allows the target meter to cover a dynamic range between 10mA and 100A at enhanced temperature range.

By storing calibration data in the flash, the RX21A devices cover applications better than Class 0.2S, thus exceeding the most stringent IEC metering requirement presently available, the IEC62053-22.

Called “Bill It!” Smart Meter RX21A, the design is built and supported entirely in Europe, and fulfils all required Cenelec standards for EMC and safety.

The design includes an intuitive PC graphical user interface (GUI), providing engineers during the design phase with all the information they need to trim and analyse the data measured by the ΔΣ-ADC channels. This covers both graphical feedback from the ADC data as well as prepared data after the calibration steps, frequency analysis and separation of active/reactive energy use.

Each kit contains the Bill It! Polyphase Meter, a CD-ROM including the embedded metrology and calibration software source code, the PC GUI, the board schematics, the bill of materials, Gerber files, user manual, quick start guide and the electrical connection setup needed to use the electricity meter.

The availability of the new RX21A kit implements the next step in Renesas strategy of being a solution provider. It does this by providing all the required components, comprising both hardware and software, to enable designers and engineers to re-use proven solutions for their target application, reduce costs and accelerate their time to market. Renesas will be launching additional kits over the coming months to continue the implementation of this strategy.

The new “Bill It!” solution kit will to be launched by Renesas at Electronica 2014 in November (Hall A6, Stand 243).

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Graphene Flagship recruits ‘associate’ members

Graphene Flagship, the €1 billion EC-funded FET (Future and Emerging Technologies) project which aims to take graphene-based products from lab to market, has recruited its first four associate members: Netzsch (Germany), NetComposites (UK), ABB and Imerys (Switzerland).

Graphene Flagship has 142 partners in 23 countries. ‘Associate’ partners are a new class of member.

The first four associates are:

• ABB – the power and automation company

• NetComposites – a global research, consultancy and online media company focusing on the composite materials industry

• Imerys Graphite & Carbon – previously TimCal, which supplies graphite for energy storage, engineering materials and conductive polymers

• Netzsch– an industrial tool supplier specialising in mechanical grinding, milling, dispersion and de-aeration.

The Graphene Flagship is partnering with the EU-funded PolyGraph project, which oversees the development of graphene production processes within thermosetting polymer resins.

NetComposites, Imerys and Netzsch are affiliates of PolyGraph.

The first four associated members of the Graphene Flagship are the first of many envisaged. New associates are expected to join every few months.

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Semi capex up 11.4% this year and 8.8% next year

Samsung Xian Fab

Worldwide semiconductor capital spending is projected to total $64.5 billion in 2014, an increase of 11.4% from 2013 spending of $57.8 billion, according to Gartner, and will grow another 8.8% to top $70 billion next year.

Capital equipment spending will increase 17.1% in 2014, driven by strong average selling prices (ASPs) and increased demand for consumer products.

“While capital spending outperformed equipment spending in 2013, the reverse will hold true for 2014,” says Gartner’s David Christensen, “capital spending will grow 11.4% in 2014 – result of Samsung increasing its announced spending plans to $14 billion. Equipment spending will increase 17.1%, as manufacturers pull back on new fab construction and concentrate on ramping up new capacity instead.”

In recent years, the equipment industry has consolidated, as major vendors have acquired complementary and competitive companies. As equipment advancements lead to higher development costs, the trend is expected to continue.

Foundries will continue to outspend the logic IDMs in 2014. Foundry spending is expected to increase by 4.5% in contrast with the 0.3% decrease in total logic spending. However, the longer-term outlook for total foundry spending shows a flat profile, as predicted mobility market saturation will dampen the need for new foundry capacity and creates an environment where existing capacity is upgraded to the latest node.

The memory capex outlook remains strong for 2014 with a 40% increase anticipated in the current forecast, compared with a 25% increase in the previous quarter’s forecast. Memory manufacturers are currently enjoying a strong pricing environment, which sets the stage for renewed spending growth.

The current DRAM undersupply will continue through 2015, moving back into an oversupply in 2016 as new wafer capacity is added to the market.

Samsung has announced that it will be using one floor of its newly completed S3 fab in Suwon, South Korea, for DRAM production.

In late December 2013, Hynix announced that it would invest $1.7 billion at its Icheon, South Korea, complex to build a new fab shell and clean room.

This means both Korean vendors are bringing on new DRAM wafer capacity, pushing bit supply growth to 36% in 2016.

This combined with the mild demand growth in the same period moves the market into oversupply.

david manners

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Lucio Lanza to Receive EDA Honor

The annual Phil Kaufman award for excellence in electronic design automation (EDA) will be awarded to Lucio Lanza at ICCAD 2014 on Nov. 4th.



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Cisco Leads 2.5/5G Ethernet Effort

Aquatina, Cisco Systems, Freescale, and Xilinx have formed the NBASE-T Alliance to develop 2.5 and 5 Gigabit/second Ethernet specifications, plugging a hole between today's 1 and 10G standards for cost-sensitive enterprise uses.



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Netscout Acquires Communications Businesses From Danaher

Does this acquisition make Netscout a one-stop shop for network test?



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Competition from China PC supply chain to remain strong in 2015

Although demand for PCs has started recovering recently and shipments in 2015 are expected to remain at the same level as in 2014, Taiwan's supply chain is still facing fierce competition from China-based component makers, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.



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China lighting e-commerce market to become largest LED distribution channel, says LEDinside

China's e-commerce market scale will reach US$445.1 billion in 2014, and the lighting e-commerce market scale in China has reached US$2.4 billion in 2014, according to LEDinside.

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Intel updates server processor plan; to release Haswell-EX/EP4S in 2Q15

Intel's next-generation server processors for 2015 including new Haswell-EX (Xeon E7 v3 series) and -EP4S (Xeon E5-4600 v3 series), are scheduled to be released in the second quarter of 2015, giving clients more time to transition to the new platform, according to industry sources.



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JDI furthers presence in China handset supply chain

Japan Display (JDI) is seeing increased orders from China vendors as it leverages technology from subsidiary Taiwan Display (TDI), including HD in-cell embedded touch solutions at prices on par with China and Taiwan makers'.



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Digitimes Research: Taiwan ODMs ship 3.503 million digital cameras in 3Q14

Taiwan-based ODMs Ability Enterprise, Altek, Asia Optical and Foxconn Electronics shipped 3.503 million digital cameras in the third quarter of 2014, increasing on quarter by 1% but decreasing 22.4% on year, according to Digitimes Research.



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TV panel shipments to grow 2.7% in 2014

Spurred by recovering growth in North America and Europe and rising demand in emerging economies, flat-screen TV panel shipments are expected to grow 2.7% in 2014 from 217 million units in 2013 followed by 3.5% on-year growth in 2015, according to market observers.



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Digitimes Research: Sales of 4G smartphones to remain sluggish in China in 4Q14

Major China-based handset vendors including Coolpad, Lenovo and Xiaomi Technology are unlikely to reach their shipment goals set for 2014 due to slow sales of 4G models in the third quarter and gloomy prospects for the fourth quarter, according to Digitimes Research.



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MediaTek expected to see sales decline 6-11% sequentially in 4Q14

MediaTek is expected to see its revenues drop 6-11% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2014 due to declining shipments of 3G smartphone solutions and other ICs for consumer electronics, networking communication and optical storage applications, according to industry sources.



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Digitimes Research: Intel to see strong shipment growth for Education Tablets in 2015

Intel, which launched the Classmate PC specifically for emerging countries' education markets in 2007, did not achieve significant results with its StudyBook tablet in 2012. But in 2013, it released the Education Tablets, renewing its efforts for the educational segment. Digitimes Research estimates that the Education Tablets' shipments will break one million units in 2014, replacing some demand for notebook-shaped Classmate PCs. The replacement trend will become stronger in 2015, allowing the Education Tablets to achieve an on-year shipment growth of over 100% and account for 60% of Intel's education product shipments (Classmate PCs plus Education Tablets), up from 35% in 2014.

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Winbond reports strong earnings for 3Q14

Winbond Electronics has reported net profits of NT$962 million (US$31.65 million) for the third quarter of 2014, increasing 18.5% sequentially and representing the highest quarterly earnings in nearly four years.



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You Have to Face It Alone

There is no greater personal challenge for any individual than facing a major quandary.



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EEVblog #676 – RANT: FTDI Bricking Counterfeit Chips!

FTDI have released a windows driver update that bricks any product using counterfeit chips.

A classic case of corporate suicide.

Dave breaks down “FTDIgate”, and rants about FTDI’s official response.

NOTE: The 2nd half of this video includes the original rant video before FTDI responded and withdrew their new driver.

FTDI’s response

The forum thread that’s going crazy!

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DIY Practical Joke Project Idea

DIY Practical Joke Project Idea: Having something like this lying around would certainly break up the monotony of one's visitors' days. Deploying it would almost be a public service when you come to think about it.



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Terrestrial Broadcast TV Down, But Is It Out?

Why are we so down on terrestrial TV broadcast? There seems to be a growing consensus that broadcasting isn't just irrelevant but obsolete. Part of me agrees. But another part of me wonders if it's all true.



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Are Today's Designs Bound by the Constraints of Yesteryear?

Are there instances of the way in which we design things today being bound by constraints of yesteryear that are no longer of any consequence?



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Canceling Noise When Rubber Meets Road

An infotainment system vendor has applied noise cancellation technology, known mostly from headphones, to car interiors. The system, jointly developed with Lotus Engineering, minimizes noise generated when the rubber meets the road.



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National Instruments Joins CROWD for 5G Wireless Networks Research

5G wireless is expected to be a reality by 2020. Now the race is on to develop the technology, because we need higher speeds.



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Microchip aims parallel flash at consumer gear

Microchip has introduced a general-purpose fast parallel flash memory chip.

SST38VF6401B is a 4M x16 CMOS with a split-gate cell design and thick-oxide tunneling injector for better reliability and manufacturability.

Operating is from 2.7 to 3.6V and the memory is partitioned into uniform 32kword and non-uniform 8kword blocks.

Various levels of protection are provided, including Security-ID, hardware boot-block protection, individual block protection, password protection, and irreversible block locking.

This device conforms to JEDEC standard pin assignments for x16 memories and comes in 48pin TSSOP and 48ball TFBGA.

Applications are expected in consumer, automotive and industrial markets, for example: set-top boxes, multi-function printers, digital TVs, audio, video and car infotainment.

At a glance

• Random read 70ns


• Page read access 25 ns


• sectors and block erase down to 18ms


• Chip erase 40ms


• Word-programming 7µs


• Write-buffer programming 1.75µstyp


• 100,000 cycle endurance


• 100 year data retention


• 25mA active read current (typ, 5 MHz)


• 5µA stand-by

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