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01 August 2007

News & Analysis | Technical Features | Opinion | Interview
News & Analysis
Flash price fall shakes HDD market
In the face of falling flash memory prices, HDD makers are retreating from what they thought would be new growth markets in mobile consumer systems.

Roads diverge on the way to thinner PCs
Engineers are forging ahead on two fronts to define lower-power, lower-cost devices that deliver the full capabilities of a desktop PC.

New techs raise bar for camera size, sensitivity
Technology developments announced by Tessera Inc. and Eastman Kodak Co. promise to satisfy consumers' insatiable appetite for smaller-form-factor and higher-performance cameras.

ATCA takes backseat to MicroTCA
Board and subsystem developers feel that full-sized ATCA may end up being a highly customized boutique business while high-volume manufacturing moves to the smaller MicroTCA standard.

Wired, wireless both seen in future home nets
Recognizing that tomorrow's home networks will be a mix of wired and wireless options, the WiMedia Alliance has set up a group to explore whether it should draft a standard for UWB networking over coax cable.

High-k, metal gates clear way for new chips
From an industrywide perspective, high-k and metal-gate technologies allow a restart of chip scaling with reduced leakage, higher initial product costs, performance hits and tool changes in the process flow.


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Ultracapacitors extend reach to handsets
The TPL/TPLS series, used for pulse and hold-up power in handheld and portable devices with MPUs, may be specified for energy storage in a broad range of space-constrained applications.

Kit preps PowerQuicc II for industrial comms
Freescale Semiconductor Inc. has launched the Com Express development kit to bring PowerQuicc II integrated communications processors into the industrial control space.

Fujitsu adds ROADM to net platform
The company is moving add-drop multiplexer customers to the optical packet world with a new member of its Flashwave family that combines elements of Sonet, Ethernet and reconfigurable optical ADM.

Tiny MEMS mic increases handset options
Akustica Inc. has unveiled a microphone that measures 1mm² and uses a MEMS diaphragm and on-chip complementary CMOS analog circuitry.

IBM jumpstarts ASIC world with 45nm line
IBM Corp. has rolled out its initial ASIC offering based on 45nm technology. The product line is the world's first ASIC that combines embedded DRAM and silicon-on-insulator technologies, according to the company.

Overcome high-speed FPGA design challenges
When using high-speed FPGAs in a design, it is important to consider several design issues both before and during board development.

How to share IP in PCB design
This article discusses the disconnect between the digital design engineer's vision of bus structures on the PCB and the failure of tools to capture and route this vision efficiently.

Follow a balanced DFx flow
The best DFx flow combines the DFM-aware features in today's synthesis, placement and routing solutions with a post-route interconnect optimization step.

Design simplicity: less is often better
'Less is more' is often tossed around to characterize simple CE product designs. While less may not be more, less is indeed better in many cases.

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Technical Features
Set up next-generation points of presence
A consolidated point of presence architecture can make it easier for service providers to create scalable networks that are more highly available, flexible and manageable. (PDF file)

Increase design productivity by leveraging ESL techniques
ESL is changing the way designs are done. With a good understanding of software programming, engineers armed with ESL tools are moving design to the next level of productivity. (PDF file)

Optimize FM transmission using digital PLLs
Digital PLL and DSP-based FM transmitters can overcome the drawbacks one can expect from using conventional architectures by realizing frequency modulation, pre-emphasis, pilot tone and multiplexing in a purely digital domain. (PDF file)

DRAM advancements fuel higher performance
Advancements in DRAM technology have been accompanied by the emergence of multicore processors, new operating systems and increasingly divergent requirements across many different computing platforms and applications. (PDF file)

Employ supply voltage control to save energy
Combining dynamic voltage and frequency scaling with power gating can reduce energy consumption in circuit operations to help prolong battery life in mobile devices. (PDF file)

Use filter capacitors in linear voltage regulators
System design engineers have to use many capacitors to filter digital noise for a clean voltage source for analog circuits. This article discusses the effect of filter capacitors. (PDF file)

Manage mixed voltages in mem card interfaces
With processors and SDIO peripherals now operating at different interface supply voltages, a level translator has to be added to ensure switching compatibility. System designers now have multiple choices of level translation solutions for controlling the bidirectional flow of data and command signals from processor to card. (PDF file)

Do one-stop test with next-gen signal analyzers
A next-gen signal analyzer can improve measurement speed and other factors in the entire product design cycle. Using the same instrument at different stages improves efficiency and hastens time-to-market. (PDF file)

Measure MEMS gyros for image systems
Engineers will run across sensors with characteristics similar to those of a MEMS gyroscope. Here are tips for designing them in an image system with reprogrammable mixed-signal MCUs. (PDF file)

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Opinion
New display technologies: A show of colors
Innovation in display technologies is happening at multiple levels of the product development cycle—and Asian engineers are key stakeholders in these undertakings.

'Work smart' mantra mines innovation
As demands on engineers have gotten tougher, teams must learn that the 'work smarter' approach drives productivity and innovation as opposed to 'work harder.'


Interview
Bosch sees huge potential in tiny MEMS
Bosch sensor engineering VP Horst Münzel and Bosch Sensortec general manager and CEO Frank Melzer recounted the history of MEMS development at Bosch and shared its plans for the technology in a conversation with EE Times.
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Demystifying Vietnam
What does Vietnam offer that a rising number of top-tier semiconductor companies are setting up and expanding operations there?

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