文章资讯
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- 2014-11-14 LEDs on silicon can reduce production costs
- A new manufacturing technology is expected to greatly reduce the cost of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in the future. For the first time ever, researchers at the Siemens subsidiary Osram Opto Semiconductors were able to successfully produce gallium nitride LED chips on a silicon substrate instead of the much more expensive sapphire backing. Silicon is a standard material in the semiconductor industry and is therefore an inexpensive and easily obtainable alternative. This development goes a long way toward making it possible for Osram to produce LED components at a much lower cost while maintaining the same level of quality and performance.
LEDs are an efficient and, above all, energy-conserving alternative to traditional types of room lighting. However, until now the manufacturing costs for LEDs have been higher than those of other more established types of lighting, so they have not been widely adopted for everyday use.
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- 2014-11-14 Researchers prove new circuit pattern-design process, see promise for 14 nanometer design with directed self-assembly
- Researchers sponsored by Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) announced that they have successfully created contact hole patterns for a wide variety of practical logic and memory devices using a next-generation directed self-assembly (DSA) process. Applying a relatively simple combination of chemical and thermal processes to create their DSA method for making circuits at 22 nanometers (nm), the research team at Stanford University projects that the nanofabrication technique will enable pattern etching for next-generation chips down to 14nm.
In contrast to the current state-of-art lithography methods that rely on increasingly less-accurate steps to shrink transistor and circuit sizes, the achievement at Stanford provides both a more affordable and more environmentally friendly path to fabricating smaller semiconductor devices. The advancement can be utilized for enhancements not only to the electronics industry, but possibly for other nanoscale devices as well.
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- 2014-11-13 Japan's Renesas ups chip outsourcing to Taiwan giant
- Japan's Renesas Electronics said Monday it will boost the outsourcing of its chip production to Taiwan's TSMC, but it declined comment on reports it would cut about 30 percent of its staff.
In a statement, the firms said Renesas would unload more of its output of microcontrollers -- key components in vehicles and home appliances -- to the Taiwanese firm as part of an ongoing "technology collaboration" agreement.
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- 2014-11-13 Unique approach to materials allows temperature-stable circuits
- Sandia National Laboratories researcher Steve Dai jokes that his approach to creating materials whose properties won’t degenerate during temperature swings is a lot like cooking — mixing ingredients and fusing them together in an oven.
Sandia has developed a unique materials approach to multilayered, ceramic-based, 3-D microelectronics circuits, such as those used in cell phones. The approach compensates for how changes due to temperature fluctuations affect something called the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency, a critical property of materials used in radio and microwave frequency applications. Sandia filed a patent for its new approach last fall. - See Details
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- 2014-11-13 New IGZO oxide semiconductor technology may revolutionize displays
Sharp Corporation and Semiconductor Energy Laboratory have jointly developed a new oxide semiconductor (IGZO) technology with high crystallinity. This material will enable even higher resolutions, lower power consumption, and higher performance touch screens, as well as narrower bezel widths for LCD display panels used in mobile devices such as smartphones. Details of this new development will be presented at the 2012 SID Display Week Symposium to be held in Boston, USA, on June 5 as part of the annual international conference of the Society for Information Display.
The new IGZO technology imparts crystallinity in an oxide semiconductor composed of indium (In), gallium (Ga) and zinc (Zn). Compared to current amorphous IGZO semiconductors, it enables even smaller thin-film transistors to be achieved and provides higher performance. This new material is expected to be adopted for use in LCD displays for mobile devices such as smartphones where the trend toward higher screen resolutions is growing increasingly strong.- See Details
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- 2014-11-13 Recyclable printed circuit boards
The National Physical Laboratory (NPL), along with partners In2Tec Ltd (UK) and Gwent Electronic Materials Ltd, have developed a printed circuit board (PCB) whose components can be easily separated by immersion in hot water.
The work was part of the ReUSE project, funded by the UK government’s Technology Strategy Board.
The ReUSE disassembly process is demonstrated in the video below.
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- 2014-11-13 Imec evaluates replacement metal gate options for further transistor scaling
Imec is successfully testing and evaluating various options for further transistor scaling using high-k dielectrics and metal gates in a replacement metal gate (RMG) integration schema. Although RMG technology is inherently more complex than gate-first integration, it has a number of advantages that allow increasing the device performance and that widen the choices in terms of high-k and metal gate materials. Testifying to its progress with RMG, imec presented a number of noted papers at the 2012 VLSI Technology Symposium (June 12-15, 2012, Honolulu, USA).
One of the current challenges to enable further device scaling is the choice of gate dielectric and gate electrode. For the selection of the gate electrode, the key parameters to consider are the work function, resistivity and compatibility with CMOS technology.- See Details
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- 2014-11-13 Imec presents breakthrough results in resistive-switching (R)RAM
- At this week’s VLSI Technology Symposium (Honolulu, Hawaii), Imec presents significant improvements in performance and reliability of RRAM cells by process improvements and clever stack-engineering, and imec introduces a new modeling approach increasing the fundamental understanding of RRAM process technology. These achievements pave the way towards scalability and manufacturability of RRAM technology.
RRAM is a promising concept for future non-volatile memories because of its high speed, low energy operation, superior scalability, and compatibility with CMOS technology. Its operation relies on the voltage controlled resistance change of a conductive filament in the dielectric of a Metal/Insulator/Metal (MIM) stack. - See Details
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- 2014-11-13 New paths to scaling advanced gatestack and channel material for next-generation CMOS
In the effort to enhance the advanced metal-high-k gate stack for next-generation logic devices, imec successfully demonstrated higher-k dielectric with Replacement Metal Gate (Metal-Gate-Last) transistors that achieved 200x-1000x reduction in gate leakage relative to leading-edge logic devices in the industry with HfO2 high-k gate dielectric. To address the process control and scalability of the replacement metal gate for nano-scale devices, imec achieved tight electrical distribution down to 20nm gate length through detailed process optimizations. By providing fundamental insights into work-function influences due to metal intermixing in aggressively-scaled metal gates, imec’s research addresses an important source of variability in advanced transistors.
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- 2014-11-13 NXP introduces first 2-mm x 2-mm MOSFETs with tin-plated solderable side pads
- NXP Semiconductors today introduced the industry’s first MOSFETs in a 2-mm x 2-mm low-profile DFN (discrete flat no-leads) package with tin-plated, solderable side pads. These unique side pads offer the advantage of optical soldering inspection, as well as a better quality of solder connection compared to conventional leadless packages.
Available immediately, the new PMPB11EN and PMPB20EN 30V N-Channel MOSFETs are the first of more than 20 devices housed in the DFN2020MD-6 (SOT1220) package from NXP. Both MOSFETs have a maximum drain current (ID) of >10 A, and very low Rds(on) values of 12 mOhm typ and 16.5 mOhm typ at 10V respectively for reduced conduction losses, which enable lower power consumption and longer battery life.
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- 2014-11-13 Toshiba develops many-core SoC for embedded applications
- Toshiba Corporation today announced the development of an innovative low-power, many-core System-on-a-Chip (SoC) for embedded applications in such areas as automotive products and digital consumer products. The prototype SoC integrates 64 cores, eight times more than its multi-core predecessor and operates 14 times faster.
Details of the SoC and its development will be presented at the 2012 IEEE Symposia on VLSI Technology and Circuits in Honolulu, Hawaii on June 15.
Recent advances in multimedia processing, including video encoding and decoding and image recognition, have relied on multi-core processors that combine high performance with low power consumption. Many-core processors go a step further; by increasing the number of cores they boost SoC performance to much higher levels. - See Details
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- 2014-11-13 Ultralow power high quality EEG system for ambulatory monitoring
Today at the VLSI circuits symposium (June 12-15, Honolulu), Imec presents a complete 700µW 8-channel active-electrode (AE)-based EEG monitoring system. The system, developed in collaboration with Panasonic, delivers high quality EEG signals and facilitates ambulatory use and patient comfort.
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- 2014-11-12 Chip foundry has trouble meeting 28nm demand
- The next big things in mobile devices are being hammered by the next big headache for device makers—the chips at the foundation of their supply chain. High demand for devices is trickling down to the fact that chip factories cannot keep up with demand. Especially rattling nerves has been news that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) continues to report 28nm chip supply issues, which are expected to continue until the end of the year. Speaking at the annual general meeting, the TSMC chief said chip supplies will not be able to satisfy market demand until 2013.
TSMC is the world’s largest contract chip maker, producing SoCs for chip vendor Qualcomm, Nvidia, and others. TSMC is also regarded as the world's largest foundry and technological leader in 28nm chip production, but its 28nm yields are not high enough to satisfy demand.
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- 2014-11-12 NXP releases smallest, toughest power MOSFETs
- NXP Semiconductors today released its new LFPAK33 portfolio – a range of high switching performance MOSFETs available in an ultra-reliable 3.3-mm x 3.3-mm power package. Unlike many MOSFET packages of this size, LFPAK33 has been designed from the ground up to be a tough power solution. Incorporating copper clip and solder die attach technologies, it features a market-leading junction temperature of 175 degrees Celsius. Nine LFPAK33 power MOSFET types are available immediately.
As electronic devices become ever smaller, components need to shrink to fit the available space and MOSFETs are expected to work under extreme thermal and mechanical conditions. Continuously switching many tens of amps at high temperatures can cause solder joint failure or crack the package case, as the device expands at a different rate to the PCB. - See Details
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- 2014-11-12 Fujitsu develops world's first compact, high-output, single-chip 10 GHz transceiver using GaN HEMT
Fujitsu Laboratories today announced that it has successfully developed the world's first single-chip transceiver using gallium nitride (GaN) high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) technology that features an output of 6.3 W and that operates at a frequency of 10 GHz.
In order to simultaneously handle strong transmission signals and weak incoming signals in the same chip, it is necessary to efficiently switch between outgoing and incoming signals, while reducing the impact that outgoing signals have on incoming signals. However, until now, it has been technologically difficult to accomplish both of these objectives in tandem.
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- 2014-11-12 New design reduces the areal footprint of nanowire transistors by a factor of two
Semiconductor chip makers first began the production of three-dimensional (3D) transistors in 2011. Engineers can pack more 3D transistors onto a single chip because they are much more compact than traditional transistors.
For future generations of semiconductor chips, however, there is a need to shrink these 3D transistors further and the use of verticalnanowires in the transistor design is one of the promising approaches. Moreover, the area taken up by a nanowire-based transistor is typically half that of a planar transistor — or even less if considering more complicated components, like inverters. Xiang Li at the A*STAR Institute of Microelectronics and co-workers have now integrated two transistors onto a single vertical silicon nanowire, pushing the areal density limit of nanowire transistors even further.
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- 2014-11-12 NXP ships LPC11U30 USB microcontrollers with 128 KB flash
- NXP Semiconductors today announced the LPC11U30 series of easy-to-use, very low-power USB microcontrollers based on the ARM® Cortex-M0 processor. Available immediately from major distributors worldwide, the LPC11U30 extends memory options for the award-winning LPC11U00 family with up to 4 KB of EEPROM, 12 KB of SRAM and 128 KB of NXP’s embedded flash with 256 bytes of erase sector. With extra-low active power consumption as low as 110 uA/MHz, the LPC11U30 microcontrollers are ideal for USB 2.0 applications requiring large memory sizes for local storage such as gaming mice and keyboards, glucose meters, and remote-controlled toys.
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- 2014-11-12 Epson develops new low-power-consumption real-time clock modules
Seiko Epson Corporation today announced development of the RX-4035SA/LC and RX-8035SA/LC real-time clock modules - units designed to be compatible with primary batteries, secondary batteries, capacitors (one type of storage cell) and various other power sources. The company plans to begin accepting orders for these new products from the end of July. Volume production is slated to commence for the RX-8035SA from August, and for the RX-4035SA/LC and RX-8035LC from October.
Alongside growing public awareness of the need to conserve energy, manufacturers have made rapid moves to ensure lower power consumption in electronic devices. This trend has sparked increased use of real-time clocks for retaining the current time in electronic devices in place of microcontrollers (which effectively internalize clock function), due to the ability of such clocks to retain the current time with extremely low power consumption.
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- 2014-11-12 Using bad chips to build energy efficient smartphones
- Is the hardware powering the current generation of smartphones and computers "too good" for what it has been designed to do? This is the question addressed by Andreas Burg, director of the Telecommunications Circuits Lab (TCL) at EPFL.
After all, smartphones and laptops are resilient to a certain level of distortions of the signal they process, so why shouldn't they be similarly resilient to a certain proportion of not-fully-reliable silicon chips in their circuits?
The researcher’s reasoning has recently proven to be correct: he and his team have shown at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) in San Francisco that it is possible to use defective chips in smartphones and computers, while still attaining performance levels in line with current commercial products. A discovery which could potentially impact industry: "manufacturers don’t produce chips that can run at very low voltage and be energy efficient, because the production yield would be low-most of the chips, after production, are unusable. - See Details
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- 2014-11-12 Micron Technology buying Elpida for about $750M
Memory-chip maker Micron Technology Inc. has agreed to buy Elpida Memory Inc. for approximately $750 million in cash in a deal that would boost its wafer manufacturing capacity by about 50 percent.
Elpida specializes in dynamic random access memory chips used in mobile phones and computers. It has been developing a plan of reorganization since filing for the largest manufacturing bankruptcy ever in Japan earlier this year.
Elpida wanted to reorganize after years of sliding chip prices amid a glut of supply, punishing competition from South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co. and weaker sales due to last year's flooding in Thailand that disrupted production.
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- 2014-11-12 RF components: High-performance multilayer band pass filter in 1005
TDK Corporation has developed a multilayer band pass filter in size 1005 that is significantly smaller than the existing 1608 types.
With its miniature dimensions of just 1.0 mm x 0.5 mm x 0.37 mm, the insertion height of the new DEA102450BT-1278A1 band pass filter has been reduced by more than a third and its volume by 75 percent. The filters are designed for the 2.4 GHz band, and are thus suitable for Bluetooth and wireless LAN implementation in smartphones, regular cell phones, and other mobile devices. They feature an outstanding insertion loss of just 2.5 dB and a high attenuation of at least 25 dB (at 4.8 GHz to 5.0 GHz). Despite the component’s small form factor it offers a rated power as high as 27 dBm. Mass production has launched in April 2012.
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- 2014-11-12 Samsung samples industry's first 16-gigabyte server modules based on DDR4 memory technology
Samsung Electronics today announced that it has begun sampling the industry’s first 16-gigabyte (GB) double data rate-4 (DDR4), registered dual inline memory modules (RDIMMs), designed for use in enterprise server systems.
“By launching these new high-density DDR4 modules, Samsung is embracing closer technical cooperation with key CPU and server companies for development of next-generation green IT systems,” said Wanhoon Hong, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. “Samsung will also aggressively move to establish the premium memory market for advanced applications including enterprise server systems and maintain the competitive edge for Samsung Green Memory products, while working on providing 20 nanometer (nm) class* based DDR4 DRAM in the future.”
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- 2014-11-11 EMC components: World's smallest common-mode filter for high-speed interfaces
- TDK Corporation has developed the world’s smallest common-mode filter, which measures in at only 0.45 mm x 0.30 mm x 0.23 mm and is 75 percent smaller than current 0806 filters (IEC).
Besides its miniature dimensions, the new TCM0403S-350-2P thin-film common-mode filter offers excellent performance. With a high cutoff frequency of 7.0 GHz the filter suppresses common-mode noise without distorting high-speed differential signals. It is thus compatible with various high-speed interfaces such as MIPI, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0. The excellent common-mode attenuation at 2.4 GHz improves the wireless LAN reception sensitivity in smartphones, conventional mobile phones and other compact portable devices. Mass production will begin in July 2012.
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- 2014-11-11 Imec demonstrates first nanophotonics components on 300mm silicon photonics wafers using optical lithography
- Imec today announces the world-first realization of functional sub-100nm photonics components with optical lithography on 300mm silicon photonics wafer technology. Using 193nm immersion lithography, imec achieved the lowest propagation loss ever reported in silicon wire waveguides, and succeeded in patterning simpler and more efficient fiber couplers. Imec’s achievement is an important step in bringing Si photonics technology in line with CMOS industry standards.
Imec’s industrial affiliation program on optical I/O explores the use of photonics solutions for realizing high-bandwidth I/O in high performance computing systems. The program is developing Si photonics processes, devices and circuits using state-of-the-art CMOS fabrication processes. Until now, many nanophotonics components have only been demonstrated using lab-scale techniques such as e-beam lithography. - See Details
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- 2014-11-11 Intel fights to keep customers from defecting
- Some of chip colossus Intel's biggest customers and partners are exploring a competing microprocessor design, signaling the start of a much-anticipated tech donnybrook that analysts say could trigger a dramatic shift in the computer industry.
At the same time, the clash between Intel and its chip challengers could prove a boon for consumers, as it fills stores with a greater array of gadgets and creates added pressure to keep prices low.
Hewlett-Packard and Dell, which account for a third of the Santa Clara, Calif., giant's sales, are considering using chips in some devices based on British firm ARM's energy-efficient design. Intel's longtime collaborator Microsoft just announced it will sell an ARM tablet. And some analysts believe Apple - which already uses the British-designed chips in its iPhone, iPod and iPad - also may use them in its laptops, which now run on Intel circuits.
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- 2014-11-11 Micron announces first high-volume Phase Change Memory modules for mobile devices
Micron Technology, one of the world's leading providers of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced an industry first with high-volume availability of its 45-nanometer (nm) Phase Change Memory (PCM) for mobile devices, featuring 1-gigabit (Gb) PCM plus 512-megabit (Mb) LPDDR2 in a multichip package.
As the first company in the world currently offering PCM solutions in volume production, Micron is providing chipset vendors, enablers, and handset manufacturers with a proven product that meets the expanding needs of today's wireless market and paves the way for enhanced features and capabilities.
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- 2014-11-11 Fujitsu semiconductor launches power management IC MB39C326 for mobile devices
- Fujitsu Semiconductor today announced the release of MB39C326, a DC-DC converter for mobile devices. By automatic step-up/down switching mode, its range of power supply voltage can be expanded. MB39C326 contains an oscillation FET and adopts a small package with 2.15mm x 1.94mm, hence it forms a power supply system with small mounting area and low BOM (bill of materials) cost. This product controls the output voltage by DAC signal supporting APT and ET function.
Due to rapid expansion of mobile device market, customers demand more efficiency in product performance and function. Many suppliers have been making efforts to provide products which achieve outstanding performance and plentiful functions, and at the same time reduce the power consumption, size and costs, so as to extend the battery life and attract more customers.
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- 2014-11-11 ARM and TSMC collaborate to optimize next-generation 64-bit processors for FinFET process technology
- TSMC and ARM today announced a multi-year agreement extending their collaboration beyond 20-nanometer (nm) technology to deliver ARM processors on FinFET transistors, enabling the fabless industry to extend its market leadership in application processors. The collaboration will optimize the next generation of 64-bit ARM processors based on the ARMv8 architecture, ARM Artisan physical intellectual property (IP), and TSMC’s FinFET process technology for use in mobile and enterprise markets that require both high performance and energy efficiency.
The collaboration will enable sharing of technical information and feedback between the two companies, enhancing the development of ARM IP and TSMC process technology. ARM will leverage process information to optimize the power, performance and area (PPA) of the overall solution to reduce risk and encourage early adoption. TSMC will use the latest ARM processors and technology to benchmark and tune advanced FinFET process technologies. - See Details
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- 2014-11-11 Multilayer ceramic chip capacitors: MLCCs with a rated AC withstanding voltage
- TDK Corporation has developed a multilayer ceramic chip capacitor that – in addition to its rated DC voltage of 630 V – can withstand a rated AC voltage of 500 VRMS for 60 s and 600 VRMS for 3 s. Thanks to its optimized internal electrode structure the new TDK C3216 and C3225 types exhibit superior AC withstanding voltage, allowing guaranteed ratings to be given not only for the customary DC voltages but also for AC voltages.
The new MLCC is available in two form factors: 3216 and 3225 (IEC). The C3216 type is available for a capacitance range from 1.0 nF to 15.0 nF, while the C3225 type offers a capacitance value of 22.0 nF. Mass production of the new TDK MLCCs started in July 2012.
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- 2014-11-11 Dutch firm ASML clinches 1.1 bn euro deal with Taiwan's TSMC
Dutch-based ASML, a key global supplier of computer chip-making systems, said Sunday it has clinched an investment deal with Taiwanese semiconductor giant TSMC worth over a billion euros ($1.24 billion).
"ASML Holding announces that TSMC has joined (ASML's) customer co-investment programme for innovation, committing to invest 276 million euros in research and development," the Dutch company said in a statement.
The Taiwanese firm will invest a further "838 million euros in a five percent ASML equity stake," the Dutch firm added.
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