EDN Asia articles from November 2007

EDN Asia archives from November 2007

Homes still search for HD-capable video network.(ednasia comment)
November 1, 2007... I have obsessed over the need for a relatively low-cost-networking technology that can carry HDTV streams around a home. I continue to believe that the video-networking application will drive big dollars for everyone from IC vendors to service...

Flexible 3.3, 2.5 and 1.8V clock generators.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Texas Instruments has introduced a family of highly programmable, one to four phase-lock loop (PLL) clock generator devices with the ability to generate up to nine output clock sources from a single input frequency....

Quad instrumentation amplifier with low offset voltage.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... Intersil Corporation has released a family of rail-to-rail input/output instrumentation amplifiers that includes the ISL28470, said to be the industry's first quad instrumentation amplifier. This device features a very low offset voltage, good...

PXI RF switching solutions.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... Pickering Interfaces has expanded its range of PXI RF switching solutions. The four RF switching modules introduced each have switching characteristics to 3GHz, and are usable to 3.5GHz. The 40-870 provides up to 6 off SPDT switches in a...

200V audio power amplifier eliminates more than 25 discrete components.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... National Semiconductor Corporation has introduced an addition to its family of 200V power amplifier output stage drivers. The LME49810 is a single-chip 200V driver with integrated Baker Clamp that replaces more than 25 discrete components in...

Next-gen 300mm FT-IR metrology tool.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... Thermo Fisher's recently launched FT-IR metrology system, the Thermo Scientific ECO 3500, is a complete lab-to-FAB solution. An enhanced software interface provides full SEMI E95 compliant access for process engineering, research, and...

Full-compliance support for JEDEC DDR3 SDRAM standard.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... Altera Corporation has the FPGA industry's full-compliance support for high-performance DDR3 memory interfaces. Under the ratified JESD79-3 JEDEC DDR3 SDRAM Standard, Altera's Stratix III family of FPGAs provides designers with the...

Bi-directional authentication and tamper-proof data storage.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... Maxim Integrated Products' DS28CN01 is a highly integrated secure memory device that provides bi-directional challenge-and-response authentication protection by using the internationally recognized SHA-1 (Secure Hash Algorithm) cryptographic...

High density and high speed in a small package.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... The Quad Small Form-factor Pluggable (QSFP) interconnect system from Tyco Electronics offers three times the density of traditional SFP ports, and supports speeds up to 10Gb/s per channel. This four-channel package is ideal for switches,...

Ultra mobile broadband base station reference design.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... Qualcomm Incorporated has launched its infrastructure reference design for Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) networks. Based on the company's OFDMA Cell Site Modem CSM8900, and technologies from leading component and software providers, the base...

Surface mount LDO easily paralleled for high [I.sub.OUT] without hot spots.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... LinearTechnology's LT3080 is a 1.1A 3-terminal LDO that may be easily paralleled for heat spreading, and is adjustable with a single resistor. This architecture regulator uses a current reference to allow sharing between multiple regulators...

Low power consumption oscillator for portable apps.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... Fox Electronics has introduced a 3.3V, HCMOS ceramic surface mount oscillator that features a small form factor and low power consumption. The F230 is designed for use in portable and space-constrained devices including laptop computers, PDAs,...

Quad-voltage microprocessor supervisory circuit.(INNOVATIONS AND INNOVATORS)
November 1, 2007... The quad voltage microprocessor supervisory IC from austriamicrosystems is designed to monitor up to four system supply voltages without the need for external components. It asserts a single reset if any of the monitored supply voltages drops...

A digital picture frame is worth 1000 words.(prying eyes)
November 1, 2007... The explosive growth of digital cameras has created a problem: What do you do with all those photos? To deal with this problem, many camera owners are adopting a DPF (digital picture frame) to sequentially display a large number of images and...

Recognizing gestures: interface design beyond point-and-click: gesture interfaces are evolving in complexity and capability, adding new dimensions to the control of electronic devices from game systems to mobile phones to industrial systems.(Cover story)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The most basic and simplest gesture is pointing, and it is an effective method for most people to communicate with each other, even in the presence of language barriers. However, pointing quickly fails as a way to...

Printed electronics: ink on the brink: with new ink technology in hand, designers are investigating high-speed presses to print millions of throwaway electronic components at a fraction of the cost of silicon-based circuitry.(design feature)
November 1, 2007... Printed electronics may be the next big thing in our technological future and promises extremely low-cost, flexible, and disposable circuitry that you can manufacture with custom ink-jet printers or high-speed presses. Leading-edge companies...

Single-chip radios pose perplexities for SOC architects: integrating wireless capability into an SOC requires careful attention to partitioning and architectural decisions that often have no clear-cut answers.(design feature)
November 1, 2007... Wireless links are becoming ubiquitous in electronic systems. At high data rates demanding wireless connections, WiMax and 3G cellular dominate, whereas, at the other extreme, standards such as ZigBee and Wibree move data at far lower rates and...

Electric power steering for emerging markets: electric systems are more economical, lighter, and easier to install than conventional hydraulics.(Automotive Supplement)
November 1, 2007... The automotive industry is facing a revolution in steering technology. The strong growth in electric steering, as opposed to hydraulics, is due to the fact that electric systems are more economical to run, lighter, recyclable, and easier to...

Reducing power consumption in battery-powered applications: using the lower power modes of advanced microcontrollers means less battery drain in parked automobiles and longer battery life in portable consumer products.(Automotive Supplement)
November 1, 2007... Automotive-electronics content is expanding at an ever-increasing pace. Today, an average car has 25 to 35 microcontrollers; approximately half of those are 8-bit units. High-end vehicles can easily have 80 or more microcontrollers. With rising...

"It is important for Novellus to be closer to its Asian customers".(interview)(Interview)
November 1, 2007... EDN Asia spoke with Rick Hill, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Novellus Systems, on the opening of company's international headquarters in Singapore. Excerpts: Novellus has opened an International Headquarters in Singapore. In what way...

Automotive FPGAs increase on-chip system level integration.(special report)(field-programmable gate arrays)
November 1, 2007... Automotive manufacturers continue to improve in-vehicle comfort, safety, convenience, productivity, and entertainment which, in turn, drives the use of diverse in-vehicle digital technologies. However, the long development cycles in automotive...

Inverting sample-and-hold amplifier requires no external resistors.(design ideas)
November 1, 2007... Many applications require a sampling circuit whose output is inverted with regard to the respective sample of an input signal. A simple approach is a cascade of a common noninverting sample-and-hold amplifier and an inverting amplifier. A...

Single IC forms inexpensive inductance tester.(design ideas)
November 1, 2007... This Design Idea shows how to build a reliable, low-cost, and simple inductance tester. The basis for the tester is a Pierce buffered CMOS oscillator (Figure 1). Instead of using the usual quartz crystal, you connect the inductor under test....

Dual-channel digital isolators for industrial isolation apps.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
November 1, 2007... The ISO7220 and I507221 improve system performance and reduce cost in high-voltage, noisy applications such as factory automation, process control, computer peripherals, and data acquisition systems. The company's capacitive technology enables...

Warm white power LED for solid-state lighting apps.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
November 1, 2007... This 1W warm white LED is part of the family of Moonstone power LEDs. Available in what's said to be one of the industry's thinnest packages, the ASMT-MY00 LED provides designers of solid-state lighting applications with a competitively robust...

Accurate digital TCXO over wide temperature range.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
November 1, 2007... The DS4026 is a digitally controlled temperature compensated crystal oscillator (DC-TCXO) with high accuracy. It provides frequency accuracy and stability better than [+ or -] 1.0ppm over a wide operating temperature range (-40[degrees] to...

High-brightness LED intelligent lighting designs with EZ-Color controllers.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
November 1, 2007... EZ-Color is a complete design solution for high-brightness LED intelligent lighting systems that offers ease-of-use and performance. It is supported by PSoC Express, the industry's first embedded visual design tool. Engineers can now simply...

DrMOS solution 6 x 6mm MLP package.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
November 1, 2007... The FDMF6700 is a fully optimized and integrated FET plus driver power stage solution in an ultra-compact 6x6mm MLP package. It offers designers a compelling solution for severe space-constrained applications such as small-form-factor desktops,...

Low-voltage/low-threshold MCU supervisory circuits.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
November 1, 2007... The AS1925/AS1926 are single ultra low voltage microprocessor supervisory ICs. The AS1925 features both a push-pull active-high and active-low reset output. The AS1926 offers a push-pull active-high and an open-drain active-low reset output....

800mA, synchronous buck-boost regulator.(SEMICONDUCTORS)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The LTC3538 is a synchronous buck-boost converter that can deliver a regulated output voltage at up to 800mA of continuous current with an input voltage above, below or equal to the output. Its input range of 2.4 to...

HDMI compliance test version 1.3b software.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2007... Tektronix has announced that its TDSHT3 software has been upgraded to support the HDMI compliance test specification version 1.3b. The Tektronix TDSHT3 software now supports all of the HDMI compliance test procedures as per the latest CTS1.3b...

Hardware in loop fault simulation modules.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2007... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The 40-190, 40-195 and 40-196 fault simulation modules are designed for applications where lower density fault simulation, also called Fault Insertion, is required. The 40-190 is designed for automotive applications...

High speed digital I/0 boards for PCI Express.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2007... The UF2e-7010/11/20/21 are said to be the industry's fastest Digital Input/Output boards for PCI Express. With up to 32 channels, recording or replay rates to 125MHz, and the possibility to synchronize up to 127 boards, including digitizers and...

Low-cost, high-resolution data-logging systems.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2007... The NI PXI-4065 is a 61/2-digit multimeter for PXI that offers a new entry point for reliable, high-channel-count data-logging measurement systems. Engineers can combine this multimeter with more than 150 available NI PXI switch configurations...

Improved chip testing procedures.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2007... Three testing procedures for QFN, DFN, CSP, and WLP semiconductor devices have been introduced to provide higher reliability, faster production rates, reduced capital costs for their customers, and lower overall production costs. Their high...

Time-to-digital converter for timing-measurement apps.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2007... The TC890 is a time-to-digital converter (TDC) in the company's Acqiris product line. It features six independent stopwatches for precise timing measurements from a common start event to multiple stop events at a high resolution, and is...

Visual fault locator in rugged pen design.(TEST & MEASUREMENT)
November 1, 2007... This handheld Visual Fault Locator is a rugged, affordable solution for identifying breaks and bending in optical fibers and cabling. Its red 650nm laser glows at the location of faults, in either continuous or pulsed modes. An AA-size battery...

TPS6108x: a boost converter with extreme versatility.
November 1, 2007... Introduction The TPS61080 and TPS61081 are highly integrated boost converters that have adjustable outputs of up to 27 V with input voltages as low as 2.5 V. The difference between the two versions is the current-limit rating of the...