Electronics Weekly articles from July 2005

Electronics Weekly archives from July 2005

Electronics design support network must have a united front, says DTI.
July 6, 2005... The DTI says it is up to the electronics industry to present a united proposal if it is to be included in the Government's knowledge transfer network (KTN) scheme, effectively throwing the ball back in the industry's court. Last week industry...

Automotive OEM market to hit $124bn.
July 6, 2005... Worldwide demand for automotive electronics for OEM use is predicted to increase by 7.5 per cent a year to $124bn in 2009, according to US research firm The Freedonia Group. The research found in the developed markets of North America, Western...

Approvals test profile brings 14Mbit/s 3G mobiles nearer.
July 6, 2005... Aeroflex has submitted for approval the all-important mobile phone conformance test case required for approvals testing of 3G mobile phones supporting the high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA) standard for 14Mbit/s data downloads. In the...

Cell processor moves games technology to radar boards.
July 6, 2005... The Cell processor being developed by IBM, Sony and Toshiba is to be used in number-crunching applications such as radar boards and X-ray image processors. This is seen as a surprising industrial design-in for the high performance 4GHz...

Qinetiq wins DTI fund to print complete ICs.
July 6, 2005... Qinetiq has received [pounds sterling]200,000 from the DTI to develop technologies to enable complete ICs to be built using printing processes. It is already investigating similar technology as part of a three-year, [pounds sterling]750,000...

Kodak opens research centre ?at Cambridge Science Park.
July 6, 2005... Kodak is to open a research operation in the Cambridge Science Park. "Locating in Cambridge, putting us at the centre of a highly networked environment, will significantly increase our success rate," said Dr Sam Weller, head of Kodak's European...

Simulation tool has bit error analysis.
July 6, 2005... The MathWorks has a third version of its Communications Blockset model-based tool for design and simulation of the physical layer of communication systems and components. Features include channel visualisation and bit error rate analysis. Users...

Europe moves in favour of UWB exclusion from 3.1-5GHz.
July 6, 2005... Ultra wideband (UWB) radios deployed in Europe are likely to be excluded from the bottom section of the 3.1-10.6GHz FCC mask, leaving the spectrum from 3.1-5GHz free for future mobile services. A vote at the European standards committee saw the...

Heading here.
July 6, 2005... Radamec Group is proposing to wind up the company following its full year results. The firm intends to hand back money to shareholders and is proposing 30p a share from [pounds sterling]7.6m cash and net assets of around [pounds sterling]7m....

Heading here.
July 6, 2005... Volex shares were up over 20 per cent to 98.5p after it said there had been a 73 per cent uptake of its new ordinary share offer, which intends to raise [pounds sterling]19m for the firm.

Inward investment figures show slow growth.
July 6, 2005... The number of inward investment projects in the electronics sector rose by just 1.4 per cent compared to an overall increase of inward investment projects of 31 per cent in the UK. The figures, released by the DTI, were announced in the same...

Heading here.
July 6, 2005... Radio circuits designed on standard CMOS processes will be used to drive down the cost of 3G mobile phones. CMOS RF front end circuits are only starting to make an impact in GSM mobile phones, which predominately uses BiCMOS and gallium...

Optical IP gets second outsource lease of life.
July 6, 2005... The intellectual property (IP) behind optical components manufacturer Kamelian, which was wound up last year, is being used again in products. Craig Tombling, formerly v-p of engineering and development at the Oxfordshire firm, is now COO of...

Ofcom increases licence-exempt spectrum and shifts control to market.
July 6, 2005... Ofcom has issued plans for the future control of frequency spectrum which will mean an increase in the amount of licence-exempt spectrum and a move to "market mechanism" control for the majority of spectrum. The regulator plans to control only...

MPs call on Government to research mobile risks.
July 6, 2005... MPs have called for further research into the possible health risks of mobile phones, during a House of Commons debate on planning permission for telecoms masts. "I should like the Government to do more research into the health aspect," said...

Anti-jitter start-up to tape out chips in August.
July 6, 2005... Toric, the start-up commercialising anti-jitter circuit (AJC) technology developed at the University of Surrey, expects to tape out two designs in August. The first is a customer chip, the other is a trial chip with a development lab. Roger...

Zilog packages services for infrared developers.
July 6, 2005... Zilog has put together a collection of technologies and services to help developers build universal infrared remote applications. The service includes silicon, a codeset database, development tools, custom firmware and software, and engineering...

Windows set for EDA standard.
July 6, 2005... Windows will become the de facto standard OS for EDA applications, in the same way as the PC has superseded dedicated Unix boxes, and EDA firms currently migrating their software to Linux are running up a blind alley. That's the view of John...

Heading here.
July 6, 2005... Mentor Graphics has appointed Paul Hofstadler as v-p of worldwide consulting. He has over 20 years of experience in the electronic design automation sector and has worked for Silicon Metrics, Xynetix Design Systems and Sandia Labs. John...

Europe losing fear of Asian manufacturing.
July 6, 2005... Europe's electronics manufacturing sector is showing signs of stabilising after years when the concern was that most business would move offshore to south east Asia. In particular, mobile phone production in eastern European countries is...

Switchover to digital TV may hit consumer resistance.
July 6, 2005... The switchover from analogue to digital TV could create a consumer backlash as awareness grows of the problem with video recorders and converting multiple TVs in one house. "As the consumer becomes aware of problems we could be in for a huge...

3W dual output DC-DC converter.
July 6, 2005... C&D Technologies has a 3W dual output isolated DC-DC converter in miniature SIP measuring 26.95x9.25x12.45mm. Nominal input voltage options are 24V and 48V, with respective input ranges of 18-36V and 36-72V. Dual output voltage options are 12V...

Active filter for live card plug-in.
July 6, 2005... Vicor claims to have the first system-in-a-package device designed to integrate the hot-swap function with an active EMI filter. The device is designed to enable live insertion of plug-in cards and simultaneous EMI noise suppression for DC-DC...

DACs make figures of eight.
July 6, 2005... is possible to get eight accurate digital-to-analogue converters (DACs) in one tiny surface-mount package. Will we see more? And what else is going on with DACs? "Customers want as many as they can have, so long as it is not causing them to...

Designing 3G in CMOS.
July 6, 2005... luetooth was the proving ground for implementing multi-gigahertz RF transceiver circuits on a cost-effective CMOS process. The success of CMOS RF advocate CSR from Cambridge is testament to that. Yet silicon suppliers have not stopped there....

On a higher strategy.
July 6, 2005... eciding to transition a company from a wireless player to becoming a pure-play high-performance analogue company is quite some challenge. Seeing commoditisation looming in the WiFi business, where his company was the market leader, Rich Beyer,...

Brush up your design skills.
July 6, 2005... reland-based IC Mask Design is offering a range of training courses on IC layout aimed at all levels of expertise which focus on the development of physical design skills. The Master-IC' courses, which are independent of any EDA tool...

Structured Asics broaden horizons into higher performance market.
July 6, 2005... Structured Asics are getting interesting from a technology standpoint. The technology has been around for a while as a lower cost alternative to FPGAs, but now Asic suppliers are getting to grips with pre-configured Asic cells in a way which...

CMOS clicks for phone cameras.
July 6, 2005... Samsung and Cypress Semiconductor have announced CMOS image sensors aimed at mobile phone cameras. Cypress's CYIWOSC3000A, 3.0Mpixel device uses the same optical format as its 2.0Mpixel chips, and employs the firm's three-transistor pixel...

Software tool helps designers take advantage of asynchronous circuits.
July 6, 2005... A software tool for automatically converting synchronous circuit designs into asynchronous equivalents is being developed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh. Asynchronous ICs - which do not use a global clock - consume less power and...

European distribution business will see further acquisitions, says Avnet.
July 13, 2005... A senior executive has indicated that the European distribution industry is ripe for business consolidations and further acquisitions are likely. Axel Hartstang, president of Avnet Electronics Marketing, said the European industry is in a...

O2 to launch joint mobile.
July 13, 2005... TTPCom has seen the first GSM/GPRS mobile phones based on a collaboration with Intel to be launched by operator 02. The handsets use the Cambridge firm's protocol stack with Intel's silicon. According to Richard Walker, director of TTPCom's...

Process technology gives edge to manufacturers with own chip fabs.
July 13, 2005... Process technology has again become a key competitive differentiator for the semiconductor industry as companies with their own fabs take a multi-year lead in process technology over the foundries. "Some of the IDMs [integrated device...

Tighter tolerance in Allegro switch.
July 13, 2005... Allegro MicroSystems has introduced the BiCMOS A120x family of ultra-sensitive' bipolar Hall-effect switches as tighter-tolerance replacements for its A313x line. The devices power-on in under 4[micro]s and, to avoid sliver pulses, have a...

Dual-save added to data grabber.
July 13, 2005... Yokogawa has added a dual-save feature and software called Mxlogger to its MX100 Daqmaster PC-based data-acquisition system. Dual-save transfers all acquired data onto a Compact Flash card as soon as the system starts recording, ensuring all is...

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... NXT's shares have reached their highest point since February. The firm had a boost in June when Vodafone in Japan announced it would be selling a phone with the firm's flat panel speaker technology incorporated in its display. The EW Index also...

Japan to miss out on 2005 chip market growth.
July 13, 2005... Japan will not share in the "healthy" growth of the global chip market predicted by World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS). At the same time NEC Electronics expects the silicon cycle to hit bottom in July, following the 2.7 per cent...

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... ARC International saw its shares slip after it said revenues will be below expectations for the first half of the years as contract have been delayed. The firm added that its licensing activity has returned to expected levels in recent months.

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... BAE Systems' Insyte division, which is based in Dorset, has been named as preferred bidder for the [pounds sterling]180m contract for Project Falcon, an air-portable communications network for the Army. "Falcon will underpin British Industry's...

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... 13jul05RER_cem.jpg Manufacturers in the UK will benefit from a predicted expansion of the European contract manufacturing market. Following a period of restructuring the west European contract manufacturing industry is predicted to expand...

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... His Royal Highness, the Duke of Kent, has been visiting E2v Technologies in Chelmsford. Since 1968 E2v has won 11 Queen's Awards for Enterprise.

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... US fabless semiconductor firm Broadcom has filed a lawsuit against Qualcomm alleging "illegal and anticompetitive conduct" over the licensing of W-CDMA technology and chipsets. Broadcom alleges that Qualcomm's licensing arrangements for...

Set-top developer plans Welsh expansion.
July 13, 2005... Set-top box developer TVonics is planning an expansion of its engineering team in South Wales, and predicts turnover of [pounds sterling]1m. To continue development of its range of digital set-top boxes, the company plans to increase staff from...

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... Oxfordshire-based Applied Microengineering (AML) is about to offer more capacity at its DTI-sponsored wafer bonding Bondcentre. "We are ramping up over the next six to nine months starting in a month's time," Rob Santilli, marketing and...

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... Jul 25-27: IEE conference on advanced A/D and D/A conversion techniques, University of Limerick, Ireland. http://conferences.iee.org/ADDA/ Jul 26: International semiconductor forecast seminar, London. www.futurehorizons.com Sep 5: Silicon chip...

Dual-layer technology takes CDROM discs up to 100Gbyte.
July 13, 2005... Capacity of CDROM discs has been increased to 100Gbyte by Sharp using a dual-layer technology that uses a transparent "super-resolution" functional film. This allows a disc to hold about nine hours of high definition video with an average data...

UK mobile phone operator to test liquid fuel cells.
July 13, 2005... Fuel cells for mobile phones are to be market tested by a mobile network operator in the UK following an agreement with US firm Medis Technologies. The mobile operator, believed to be 3, will work with Medis towards the introduction of direct...

UK firm develops rechargeable battery with greater capacity than lithium ion.
July 13, 2005... Oxfordshire-based Oxis Energy is developing a rechargeable battery with more capacity than lithium ion, it claims. "It has a very high gravimetric density, twice the energy density per unit weight of Li-ion, and not just on the first...

Heading here.
July 13, 2005... Dear Sir The article Windows set for EDA standard' in the 06 July 2005 edition of Electronics Weekly expresses an interesting point of view. Linux has for some time offered support for up to 64 (or more) CPUs in a single computer, 64-bit...

Anglia adds FPGAs to product list.
July 13, 2005... Electronic components distributor Anglia is continuing its move into the semiconductor market and has won a distribution agreement for FPGAS with Lattice Semiconductor. The agreement covers the distribution of Lattice's FPGAs in the UK and...

Oxford firm puts code into FPGAs for atomic clock space project.
July 13, 2005... This board is a qualification model of a frequency control and distribution package which will connect several atomic clocks for use in space. German space systems firms Kayser Threde and TZR used Oxford-based Celoxica's DK Design Suite and...

European CII software legislation collapses under Parliament vote.
July 13, 2005... The European Computer Implemented Invention (CII) Directive, also known as the software directive', has completely collapsed following a vote in the European Parliament. "On Wednesday, the European Parliament rejected, by 648 votes to 14 with...

Flash memory wars.
July 13, 2005... urmoil in the soaring flash memory market is making manufacturers question their involvement. While demand rockets ever upwards, supply veers from feast to famine and prices verge on the unprofitable. "In NOR we've given up. We don't fight for...

Exploiting parallelism.
July 13, 2005... he news last month that PicoChip has secured $20.5m in third round funding, with Intel featuring amongst the investors, suggests that processor array-based devices are beginning to make their mark. ClearSpeed also had a successful June with its...

Out-of-the-box thinking for embedded design.
July 13, 2005... esign of embedded control systems has been greatly simplified with the availability of out-of-the-box development kits which contain hardware and software which will dramatically speed early system development. Suppliers are queuing up to offer...

Methanol fuel cell capacity tripled by concentration.
July 13, 2005... Fujitsu claims to have tripled the capacity of passive direct methanol fuel cells by allowing them to run on undiluted fuel. "For the prototype micro fuel cell device, the concentration of the methanol fuel used was raised from 30 per cent to a...

Magma, IBM in Bonn deal.
July 13, 2005... EDA tool supplier Magma Design Automation has entered a three-way agreement with IBM and the University of Bonn to develop technologies for physical synthesis and routing in deep sub-micron designs, including lithography-aware routing. Magma,...

Fet switches supercurrents.
July 13, 2005... Dutch researchers have demonstrated a transistor in which a superconducting current is carried by a semiconductor channel. The device could be used to develop systems that take advantage of loss-less transport, although they would have to...

White LEDs get even coating.
July 13, 2005... California's Lumileds claims to have "perfected" a coating technique for LED die which means phosphors are evenly deposited in white LEDs. This eliminates, said the firm, colour variation across focused beams from white LEDs in torches and...

15,000hr lifetime for OLED material.
July 13, 2005... New Jersey's Universal Display Corporation is claiming 15,000 hours of operation from its sky blue phosphorescent OLED material. "The OLED lifetime exceeds 15,000 hours at 200cd/m2," it said, "with 9.5 per cent external quantum efficiency and...

Solar challenge for university.
July 13, 2005... Solar Miner V is the University of Missouri-Rolla's entrant into the biennial North American Solar Challenge which starts in Texas next week. The 2,500 mile race should end in Calgary, Canada, on July 27.

First continuous-wave violet laser made by molecular beam epitaxy.
July 13, 2005... Sharp Laboratories of Europe, based on the Oxford Science Park, has demonstrated what it claims is the first room-temperature continuous-wave (CW) violet laser diode fabricated by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). "We are the only group who has...

Breakdown of talks puts Eurodis future in doubt.
July 20, 2005... Distributor Eurodis Electron is facing an uncertain future following last week's breakdown in talks with an unnamed potential buyer. The company's shares were suspended from the stock market, raising question marks over the future of the...

Mexico park: a fallback for chip makers.
July 20, 2005... A 15 square mile semiconductor manufacturing park in Mexico called Silicon Border aims to provide a competitive North American-based manufacturing alternative to Asia. Companies at the recent ground-breaking ceremony included BENQ, Conexant...

University is key to 45nm production.
July 20, 2005... Organisations worldwide are looking for ways to bring 45nm chips to production, and the University of Surrey could have an important piece of the jigsaw. Researchers at the University's Ion Beam Centre have resurrected an old semiconductor...

Sequencing 3A power converter.
July 20, 2005... Texas Instruments is offering its first 2.25A and 3A non-isolated power converter modules with an automatic sequencing capability. The POLA pin out standard-compatible modules, the PTH08000W and PTH04000W, support an adjustable output voltage...

Microcontroller development kit.
July 20, 2005... Microchip has added a new PIC microcontroller starter development kit, which connects to a PC via full-speed USB2.0, which allows firmware upgradeability, and requires no additional power supply for the programmer or target application board....

Lithography firm shies away from flat panels.
July 20, 2005... Dutch lithography equipment supplier ASML says it is not going to commit to big investment in flat panel display tool development due to market uncertainties. The firm said in January this year that it was evaluating a move into flat panel...

Chip price slip causes concern for IC market.
July 20, 2005... A slip in IC prices in May has led to concerns that the year ahead might not be as rosy as expected, although it has not yet caused analyst Future Horizons to revise its 15 per cent growth forecast for this year. "We were expecting May to show...

Pace Micro sees profits leap 37% as future technology strategy starts to reap rewards.
July 20, 2005... A technology-driven focus has helped Pace Micro Technology to a 37 per cent increase in pre-tax profit. Pace said it has made a move to offer operators the technology they will need in the future, rather than reacting to their requests. "With...

FPGA range fills gap in Lattice portfolio.
July 20, 2005... Lattice Semiconductor has introduced a range of FPGAs to fill the gap between high-end CPLDs and its recently-released XP FPGA family. The Fujitsu-fabbed 130nm MachXO' devices use four input look-up table (LUT) logic, include flash memory and...

Broadband goes home.
July 20, 2005... More UK households have broadband than dial-up Internet connections according to Ofcom's annual Communications Market report, with almost 30 per cent of all UK households and businesses having broadband. More than 60 per cent of households now...

Israeli silicon foundry embeds 0.18[micro]m flash and moves into RFID tag market.
July 20, 2005... Tower Semiconductor, the Israeli silicon foundry, is embedding 0.18[micro]m two-bit-per-transistor flash memory and moving into the RFID tag market. Tower's flash is licensed from NROM pioneer, Saifun Semiconductors. "Apart from TSMC we are the...

Siemens and Airbus to fly mobile plan.
July 20, 2005... Siemens and Airbus have agreed to jointly develop a system which will allow passengers to use their own mobile phones on aircraft during flights. Siemens will provide the GSM technology and Airbus will work on integrating it into aircraft's...

European Commission raids Intel over anti-competitive allegations.
July 20, 2005... European Commission action against Intel last week focused on the company's alleged practice of awarding rebates to customers which use its chips, a practice which the EC regards as potentially anti-competitive. "It's a bit like the case we had...

Heading here.
July 20, 2005... Cambridge-based Screen Technology is planning to float on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM) with the hope of raising [pounds sterling]10m. The firm presented production versions of its ITrans technology, which enables standard LCDs...

Samsung sees Q3 recovery for DRAM prices.
July 20, 2005... Samsung expects the third quarter to show a sharp recovery in DRAM prices and continuing strength in NAND flash demand and pricing especially at the higher densities. A Q2 semiconductor division sales dip of 7 per cent compared to Q2, was...

All-silicon LEDs to light up UK start-up.
July 20, 2005... Surrey start-up Si-Light is awaiting samples of its all-silicon LEDs and has new intellectual property in the pipeline. "We have got the material now and we are just having it packaged," CEO Kevin Arthur told EW. The firm's intellectual...

UK distributor lands flash memory deal.
July 20, 2005... Cardwave Services has become the UK distributor for flash memory duplication products from International Microsystems. "We recognise the enormous potential for low cost duplication equipment in the UK," said Paul Norbury, MD of Cardwave....

Durham polymer device facility to open in 2007.
July 20, 2005... Designers producing proof-of-concept and prototype devices made in polymers will be able to go to a facility in County Durham opening in the first half of 2007. The original process technology for the facility will come from the Cambridge-based...

Display generates two images for viewers on either side of screen.
July 20, 2005... Sharp has announced two display technologies, one with a switchable viewing angle, and one which directs separate images to people sitting side by side. "Both were developed here in Oxford and both will be manufactured by our mobile display...

Skills challenge lies ahead for Europe, says Blunkett.
July 20, 2005... Europe will fail to meet the skills challenge posed by India, China and Indonesia unless it recognises the need to compete in a flexible global economy, according to work and pensions secretary David Blunkett. Speaking at the Skills Summit,...

Deltron makes European connections in Germany.
July 20, 2005... Deltron Electronics has moved towards becoming a major pan-European distributor for connector firm Molex following its decision to acquire a German connector specialist. The electromechanical component firm is already a Molex distributor in the...

Powerline broadband gets boost in US but scepticism from European firms.
July 20, 2005... Broadband over powerline (BPL) technology is gaining traction in the US with IBM and Google announcing agreements with US operators last week, but has yet to gain acceptance in Europe. "In Europe it's nowhere near as prevalent, but there are...