Electronics Weekly articles from October 2003

Electronics Weekly archives from October 2003

Crisis management: How to take charge.
October 1, 2003... Some say it is only in a crisis that true leaders show their mettle. But GENE KLANN believes this is a myth and that the best leaders under ordinary circumstances are also the best in a crisis, and the methods used are the same for both ...

LeCroy outsources digital scope in bid to cut prices.
October 1, 2003... melanie Reynolds LeCroy has outsourced the manufacturing of its latest family of digital oscilloscopes to help bring about the price reduction it needed to target the lower end of the market which it has not previously addressed. Its...

Scope to cut cost.
October 1, 2003... For anyone on a sensible R&D budget, there is a staggering array of PC-based analogue and digital scopes available from around [pounds sterling]500 and under. A leading supplier in the low cost PC scope market is Pico Technology. Its core...

Dielectric antennas set to be key for future of wireless.
October 1, 2003... Harry Yeates Dielectric antennas could be an enabling technology for the next generation of wireless systems with increased range and higher user densities per basestation, according to two of the UK's foremost antenna innovators. ...

Government investigates chemicals for lithography.
October 1, 2003... Harry Yeates Chemicals labelled "highly persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic", and deemed essential for sub-157nm lithography, are being investigated by the Government to reduce their impact on the environment. The Department of the...

Staying at home.
October 1, 2003... A number of UK manufacturers have decided moving to lower cost areas like China is not the best option for them. Once you take cost out of the equation you have to look at the other issues it throws up, writes RICHARD WILSON When one...

Moore's Law turns business headaches into migraines.
October 1, 2003... Once it defined the complexity of chips, now Moore's Law applies to business itself, says ED SPERLING The cost of selling is going up and the average selling price is going down. Welcome to the new economy for the electronics industry....

EW sees the light at ST.
October 1, 2003... Last week STMicroelectronics showed off its light emitting silicon technology (see EW, 24/09/03), claiming higher quantum efficiency than GaAs. Electronics Weekly viewed the light emitting silicon in action, and although not yet as bright...

ST lab to extend gene analysis automation.
October 1, 2003... Steve Bush in Sicily STMicroelectronics is looking to add further automation to gene analysis and has set up a DNA lab to learn the ropes. "We are doing it in a careful way, starting slowly. We want to understand everything," said ST...

Super fast op-amp is as quiet as a mouse.
October 1, 2003... Analog Devices has developed an fast voltage-feedback op-amp which it claims has unprecedently low noise. The AD8099 offers a slew-rate of 1,600V/[micro]s and a 5GHz gain-bandwidth product, while maintaining 0.95nV/AHz) and distortion of...

Bookham buys two US firms in bid to broaden markets.
October 1, 2003... Ian Broatch Bookham Technology has significantly diversified its strategy with the acquisition of two US companies in the past two weeks. The acquisitions of New Focus and, last week, Ignis Optics are Bookham's first significant steps...

Novel 'paper' display supports video and is brighter than LCDs.
October 1, 2003... Harry Yeates Philips has demonstrated a novel type of paper-like display with switching speeds fast enough to support video. Although still in development, the company said low power, low voltage devices based on the technology could...

Printable electronic polymers are key to one cent RFID tags - ideal for groceries.
October 1, 2003... Harry Yeates Printable electronic polymers could hold the key to making RFID tags available at one cent each, cheap enough to enable the use of the technology in the packaging of low-cost products such as groceries. Gail Barnes, a...

Tanner EDA unveils chip editing software range.
October 1, 2003... Chip editing software for mixed signal, MEMS and optical circuits has been unveiled by Tanner EDA. The firm is known for its low cost editing, simulation and verification tools. L-Edit Pro has been redesigned with better links to design...

Award winners say the UK can take on the world.
October 1, 2003... f the UK electronics industry is in need of a confidence boost, then no one told the companies attending last week's European Electronics Industry Awards in London. The array of suppliers, distributors and manufacturers attending the...

Antenova signs first volume contract for internal antenna.
October 1, 2003... IPWireless will use Antenova products in its modems. Antenna developer Antenova has signed its first volume supply agreement for its an internal, surface mount antenna. IPWireless will use Antenova's products in its modems, which...

Can China join the EU?
October 1, 2003... When is China considered to be part of Europe? When it is located using satellite navigation technology. This is not a comment on the accuracy of said navigation technology, it is the result of a political move by the EU to invite China to join...

TSMC to start 90nm with copper and low-k this year.
October 1, 2003... Richard Ball TSMC will begin production on a 90nm process, with copper on all metal layers and using a low-k dielectric, during 2003. "Where we are on 90nm is we will definitely enter initial production before the end of the year,"...

Plastic Logic developing cheap printable backplane for displays.
October 1, 2003... Cambridge organic electronics company Plastic Logic, which is developing techniques to deposit polymeric materials with sub-micron resolution to enable printable, flexible circuits, is focusing on providing a low-cost printable backplane for...

Non-silicon cell research to cut solar power costs.
October 1, 2003... Steve Bush STMicroelectronics is to research non-silicon solar cells in an attempt to cut the cost of solar power generation. "Although there is much support around the world for the principle of generating electricity from solar...

news bulletin.
October 1, 2003... l Welsh firms get SMART support Companies located in Wales may be eligible for financial support for R&D through a scheme called SMARTCymru - a service from the Welsh Development Agency. Depending on project costs, up to [pounds...

TV set-top box sales push Amstrad back into black.
October 1, 2003... Amstrad moved back into profit in the past 12 months, buoyed by strong sales of its digital TV set-top box receivers. "The sales of digital decoders were higher in volume terms than last year and we have orders in place for the whole of the...

UK-led project on EU shortlist.
October 1, 2003... A pan-European research project coordinated by Professor Richard Friend, the founder of Cambridge Display Technology, has been shortlisted for the EU's E1m Descartes Prize. The prize, first awarded in 2000, rewards outstanding scientific...

Infineon test chip will investigate IC vias linking layers.
October 1, 2003... Infineon Technologies has developed a test chip to investigate failures of vias used to link metal layers in ICs and hence improve production processes. Each chip is 6mm2, yet contains 1.2 billion transistors and a 512 x 512 array of vias....

Gigahertz oscilloscopes due to see falling prices.
October 1, 2003... The cost of gigahertz oscilloscopes is expected to fall as suppliers respond to the reduced R&D budgets of companies. Tektronix has announced a significant repricing of many of its 500MHz to 4GHz oscilloscopes, a move the supplier said was...

Survey to investigate manufacturing future.
October 1, 2003... Discovering the reality behind fears for the future of UK electronics manufacturing is the aim of an initiative by trade association, Intellect. The body believes there is a fundamental lack of knowledge about the size and structure of the...

Mintech spins off packaging arm to meet Euro demand.
October 1, 2003... Norwich die distributor and custom packaging firm Mintech Semiconductors has spun off its packaging arm as a separate company called Mintech Interconnect & Test. The new division will be responsible for silicon packaging offered to...

Biowall display shows self-healing properties.
October 1, 2003... Biowall is an interactive display to demonstrate a self-repairing electronics system. Developed by the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Biowall uses 5,700 Xilinx Spartan FPGAs - one for each pixel of the display. Each FPGA acts...

Investment will grow despite MoD squeeze.
October 1, 2003... MoD spending on several big projects will be squeezed by the UK Defence White Paper but technology investment will grow, predicts market analyst firm Evolution Beeson Gregory "The procurement budget, in particular, is looking...

news bulletin.
October 1, 2003... l Nucleus version for Teak DSP DSP core licenser ParthusCeva and Accelerated Technology, the embedded systems division of Mentor Graphics, have released a version of the Nucleus real-time operating system for ParthusCeva's Teak DSP. The...

DNA analysis now.
October 1, 2003... Currently, glass micro-arrays are used to detect gene sequences in DNA. These are 7x2.5cm strips on which around 10,000 100[micro]m spots of known short DNA strands are attached. Within each spot, all the strands are the same, but...

Share watch.
October 1, 2003... Filtronic's share price shot up after the firm said it had won a deal with an OEM customer to supply initial quantities of an integrated radio frequency head unit to be installed in WCDMA mobile basestations. Spirent gained after positive...

The man for memory.
October 8, 2003... Dr Harald Eggers has been given responsibility for making Infineon Technologies a one-stop-shop for memory. That means growing market share in DRAM to at least 25 per cent. So how will he do it? DAVID MANNERS finds out nfineon...

Li-ion battery saves weight.
October 8, 2003... This is the 'super LIght versION' of tzero, the electric propulsion research vehicle of California-based AC Propulsion. A lithium ion battery has replaced the original lead acid battery saving 230kg and carrying three times more energy. "The...

Integer core reaches 266MHz.
October 8, 2003... SuperH is offering synthesisable core versions of its SH4 family of 32-bit, superscalar processors. The first device in the family, the SH4-500S, is a dual issue integer core with a two-cycle multiply-accumulate unit. The '500' refers to the...

Eliminate state-machine malfunctions.
October 8, 2003... Three types of malfunctions can occur during the execution of state machines. BONNIE BAKER writes hings are running great with your firmware when you suddenly encounter a "freeze" condition. The equipment firmware is going nowhere, fast....

Making waves in ; communications.
October 8, 2003... Will radiowaves makes wires redundant for communications. HARRY YEATES finds antenna makers tuned in ntel has decided to make wires redundant. Beyond badging devices and laptops featuring embedded wireless LAN technology with its nice...

Japan gets high on video system.
October 8, 2003... Taiwanese PC component maker VIA Technologies has announced a size PC motherboard which is likely to become a standard. Called nano-ITX form factor, the boards will be 12x12cm. VIA promoted the mini-ITX size (17x17cm) 18 months ago and this has...

Internet's successor launched.
October 8, 2003... European particle physics lab CERN, birthplace of the World Wide Web, has launched its first segment of the Grid, the proposed successor to the Internet. Called LCG (LHC computing Grid), it covers 12 countries on three continents and is...

R&D NOTES; by harry yeates.
October 8, 2003... The idea of processing information entirely in the optical domain, rather than using slow, noisy electrons, is one of the long-term themes guiding photonics research. However, not only does a light-based processor appear an ambitious aim, but...

IBM thin silicon SiGe bipolar transistor forges a route to multi-GHz BiCMOS.
October 8, 2003... IBM has demonstrated what it claims is the world's first 'thin-silicon' SiGe bipolar transistor which makes multi-GHz BiCMOS possible. "Until now, no one had been able to find a technique to combine CMOS and SiGe bipolar onto one wafer that...

Philips fills in details of paper-like display.
October 8, 2003... Philips has released further details of its paper-like electrowetting display reported in last week's Electronics Weekly. The technique, which involves applying a voltage to alter the shape of an oil-water interface, offers switching speeds...

Wireless chip to chip comms hit 2.7Gbyte/s.
October 8, 2003... Not content with inventing a style of asynchronous logic, Ivan Sutherland of Sun Microsystems has put his name to a technique for wirelessly connecting ICs. Proximity communication uses capacitive coupling for multi-Gbit/s data transmission...

R&D tax credits boost for SMEs.
October 8, 2003... The Government has reduced the minimum annual spend on R&D by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which is required to qualify for the R&D tax credits from [pounds sterling]25,000 to [pounds sterling]10,000. This means more SMEs will be able to...

CSR signs nine deals for cheap Bluetooth headset.
October 8, 2003... Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) has signed 12 month agreements with nine component suppliers which it said will make it possible to create a Bluetooth headset for less than $14 ([pounds sterling]8). The headset would be based on CSR's...

DRAM sales could jump by 27 per cent next year.
October 8, 2003... Worldwide DRAM revenue will rise by 8.3 per cent to reach $16.7bn in 2003 and will increase by nearly 27 per cent to $21.2bn in 2004, according to forecaster iSuppli. Bit shipments will rise by 41 per cent in 2003 and by 50 per cent in 2004....

Test firm seeks distributor.
October 8, 2003... Widespread interest in its JTAG test system has led Cambridge firm XJTAG to search for distributors. "We're looking to set up distribution in mainland Europe," said Simon Payne, the firm's CEO. "We're seeing the sort of success that will lead...

Tyre company doubles capacity as legislation drives monitor demand.
October 8, 2003... Tyre pressure monitoring firm Schrader Electronics has doubled its manufacturing capacity by moving into a site at Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland. The expansion will create 200 jobs in the next two years as the firm sees rising demand for its...

Taiwan govt sells TSMC shares.
October 8, 2003... Taiwan government is said to be planning to sell 640 million shares in TSMC next year of around [pounds sterling]1.4bn. The sale represents a 3 per cent stake in the silicon foundry. The sale would cut the government's stake in TSMC to 4.6 per...

Requirements modelling tool opens DOORS for designers.
October 8, 2003... Swedish firm Telelogic has introduced a requirements modelling tool, part of its DOORS software for project management. DOORS/Analyst allows a project's requirements to be displayed graphically, making it easier for engineers to view the...

Verilog upgraded for version 2005.
October 8, 2003... Jeda Technologies is offering part of its verification technology to the IEEE as part of the upgrade of the IEEE1364, or Verilog, standards. Verilog 2005 will add more verification to the hardware description language including object oriented...

No signature smartcards to revolutionise UK spending.
October 8, 2003... UK consumers will begin the switch to secure smartcards instead of magnetic swipecards this month, as the Chip and PIN programme rolls out across the country. UK banks are paying around [pounds sterling]1.25bn for the system, which could save...

Cadence in car safety venture.
October 8, 2003... Cadence Design Systems is working with dSpace to combine electronic design tools with those for mechatronic control systems. The two firms hope to develop tool flows for the design of distributed safety critical control in car electronics.

Polymer work snags on software.
October 8, 2003... The lack of standard, organic semiconductor materials with high carrier mobilities is hampering the development of software tools to aid device and circuit design using both small molecules and polymers. Researchers using popular materials such...

Sharp expands UK team to support camera phones.
October 8, 2003... Sharp is expanding its Bracknell-based mobile phone development team to support its growing camera phone partnership with mobile operator Vodafone. According to Stephen Bold, European managing director of Sharp Tele-communications, there is an...

Electronics firms grow fast.
October 8, 2003... Electronics companies have achieved 16 places in the third annual league table listing the 100 fastest growing unquoted technology companies in the UK between 2000 and 2002. The highest placed electronics company listed in the Sunday Times ARM...

UK start-up's displays to be mass produced next year.
October 8, 2003... Displays using the intellectual property of Malvern-based start-up ZBD will be mass produced next year. "ZBD will have its zenithal bi-stable display available for commercial supply during the first half of 2004 as a result of its collaborative...

Firms compete for genome chip.
October 8, 2003... US companies are competing with each other to be first with a genome on a chip which will reduce the cost and increase the speed of tissue testing. The idea is that a chip made of silicon, glass, or nylon, which stores all 30,000 known human...

Keeping UK manufacturing jobs.
October 8, 2003... I firmly believe that certain types of high-skill manufacturing jobs can be retained in the UK, but only with the appropriate support. With this in mind, in 2002 Intellect approached the DTI to discuss and develop a roadmap for the industry's...

Chipless model in trouble, says analyst report.
October 8, 2003... The chipless business model - companies which develop and sell semiconductor IP - may have run out of steam, according to a report from analysts Future Horizons. "Supplying a core is not big news anymore. At the system-on-chip level, we are now...

Education system is failing to support UK electronics.
October 8, 2003... The education system is failing electronics companies by not providing science and engineering graduates with the necessary skills, according to a number of industry executives. "The Government is not doing enough. I have not seen a single...

University plans to spin out fuel cell IP firm.
October 8, 2003... The University of St Andrews aims to spin out a company to exploit fuel cell intellectual property. "We are just on the edge of spinning out," said Professor John Irvine, "requesting [pounds sterling]2m from the funding community." The initial...

Government supports IEE merger.
October 8, 2003... The Government has come out strongly in favour of merging the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) with the institutes of mechanical and incorporated engineers, the IMechE and IIE. Lord Sainsbury, minister for science, described the...

Seiko increases FRAM reliability.
October 8, 2003... Seiko Epson has developed a new ferroelectric material for FRAMs - the long-pursued technology which has never delivered on its promise of providing a fast to read, fast to write, long-lasting, non-volatile memory. Seiko Epson has found a way...

2.4GHz band is not full, says comms agency.
October 8, 2003... The 2.4GHz spectrum band has plenty of room for more use according to a report commissioned by the Radio-communications Agency which examines the extent of the frequency's use. "It appears that the band could currently accommodate more activity...

UK PCB companies voice concerns over selective government grants.
October 8, 2003... A group of UK PCB firms have lobbied trade and industry minister Patricia Hewitt to complain that government regional assistance has undermined the position of established firms in the sector. The focus of the complaint is a grant paid to...

Anadigm secures $15m to commercialise technology.
October 8, 2003... Programmable analogue company Anadigm has secured $15m of third round funding which it intends to use to commercialise its technology. "We've reached a position where the capital is required to build the business now," said Fred Worth, chief...

National Curriculum is key to competitiveness of UK.
October 8, 2003... Science minister Lord Sainsbury accepts that a shortage of technicians as well as falling numbers of students taking physics is having "a serious impact on the UK's innovation and productivity performance". A member of the government is at last...

Basestations can damage health.
October 8, 2003... A link between exposure to 3G UMTS mobile phone basestation electromagnetic radiation and a decline in "well being" has been demonstrated by research carried out in The Netherlands. The tests were carried out on 72 people who were exposed in a...

More than a new look for the industry's technology newspaper.
October 8, 2003... Electronics Weekly is the first place that UK design engineers and managers look for new product stories, technology and industry news, and now the magazine has a new-look news section with more expert analysis and comment. Technology coverage...

Planning for a lead-free future.
October 15, 2003... Stannah Stairlifts and Zirkon put their heads together to prepare for the EU's waste directive. KELVIN PASS reports uropean directives on waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) and reduction of harmful substances (RoHS) come into...

Migrating; SDR to handsets; 08oct03LambdaRouter.jpg.
October 15, 2003... The idea of processing information entirely in the optical domain, rather than using slow, noisy electrons, is one of the long-term themes guiding photonics research. However, not only does a light-based processor appear an ambitious aim, but...

Shampoos and mains wiring.
October 15, 2003... US EDA firm Silvaco has released new tools to help designers simulate the function of devices implemented in organic semiconductors. The oTFT and oLED modules feature new mobility and recombination models for organic materials, and can be used...

Things to consider; if moving to China.
October 15, 2003... The Chinese make things well and make them cheap, but they need a thriving local infrastucture to create an effective economy, says DAVID MANNERS he good things about Chinese products is that they are cheap, and they can be of excellent...

Making technology work.
October 15, 2003... QinetiQ is the largest science and technology organisation in Europe. ALEX MAYHEW-SMITH checks it out inetiQ has a long list of technology breakthroughs to its credit, including liquid crystals, infra-red detector materials, ion-thruster...

The Foresight to invest in technology.
October 15, 2003... Hunting the important technologies of the future is the aim of the Foresight programme, as STEVE BUSH reports oresight is the Government's crystal ball. Operated as part of the Department of Trade and Industry, the Foresight programme aims...

Is the UK cost-effective for product design?
October 15, 2003... Electronics Weekly asked a number of key executives from across the UK industry for their views on the real world issues for UK-based design Martin Kent, CEO Abacus Group There are two issues here. If we talk about machine-based...

Thick metalisation cuts transistors' ; saturation voltage.
October 15, 2003... Improved metalisation is the key to cutting on-resistance in Zetex Gen5 transistors. Oldham-based Zetex has announced its next generation of low-saturation voltage bipolar transistors, aimed at Mosfet replacement in power rail switching....

Chip market sees rise in demand as fabs report 20% over-ordering.
October 15, 2003... Further signs of recovery are apparent in the semiconductor market, with over-ordering reported at the world's largest and second largest silicon foundries, TSMC and UMC of Taiwan. Announcing record September sales revenues, Ms Lora Ho, TSMC's...

DSP firm launches IP and synthesisable core range.
October 15, 2003... StarCore, the DSP company formed by Motorola, Agere Systems and Infineon Technologies to challenge the market dominance of Texas Instruments, has released a range of synthesisable cores and IP blocks designed for wireless devices, networking...

High-res LED road signs display images.
October 15, 2003... Road signs which display pictures as well as text to inform drivers about what is happening on the motorways are being trialled on the M4 in the UK. The [pounds sterling]16m project will provide signs with images of road conditions including...

Welsh Technium incubator challenge.
October 15, 2003... A competition to encourage start-up companies and offer fast-track entry to a Technium incubator in Wales has been launched. The Technium Challenge 2003/04 will hold four regional competitions in Wales, with the winners to have a place in a...

Transmeta takes on Intel with low power processor.
October 15, 2003... Transmeta has unveiled further details of its Efficeon processor, the device it hopes will compete against Intel for low power notebook PCs. Efficeon, or the TM8000 family, has a 256-bit instruction word capable of issuing eight instructions...

ARM shows off upgraded cores.
October 15, 2003... At the Microprocessor Forum this week, ARM has unveiled two cores using the ARM11 architecture, using version three of the AMBA bus and the Thumb2 instructions. The ARM1176JZ is an upgrade to the ARM1136. "It's addressing largely the same...