Here are some of my collection of newest trends and predictions for year 2018. I have not invented those ideas what will happen next year completely myself. I have gone through many articles that have given predictions for year 2018. Then I have picked and mixed here the best part from those articles (sources listed on the end of posting) with some of my own additions to make this posting.This article contains very many quotations from those source articles (hopefully all acknowledged with link to source).
The general trend in electronics industry is that the industry growth have been driven by mobile industry. Silicon content in smartphones and other mobile devices is increasing as vendors add greater functionality. Layering on top of that are several emerging trends such as IoT, big data, AI and smart vehicles that are creating demand for greater computing power and expanding storage capacity.
Manufacturing trends
According to Foundry Challenges in 2018 article the silicon foundry business is expected to see steady growth in 2018. The growth in semiconductor manufacturing will remain steady, but there will be challenges in the manufacturing capacity and expenses to move to the next nodes. For most applications, unless you must have highest levels of performance, there may not be as compelling a business case to focus on the bleeding-edge nodes. Over the last two years, the IC industry has experienced an acute shortage of 200mm fab capacity (legacy MCU, power, sensors, 6-micron to 65nm). In 2018, 200mm capacity will remain tight. An explosion in 200mm demand has set off a frenzied search for used semiconductor manufacturing equipment that can be used at older process nodes. The problem is there is not enough used equipment available. The profit margins in manufacturing are so thin in markets served by those fabs that it’s hard to justify paying current rising equipment prices, and newcomers may have a tough time making inroads. Foundries with fully depreciated 200mm equipment and capacity already are seeing increased revenues in their 200mm business.The specialty foundry business is undergoing a renaissance, thanks to the emergence of 5G and automotive.
300mm is expected to follow a similar path for lack of capacity because 300mm fabs already produce leading-edge chips and more mainstream 300mm demand is driven by MCUs, wireless communications and storage applications. Early predictions are for solid growth in 2018, fueled by demand for memory and logic at advanced 10/7nm.
In 2017, marking the first time that the semiconductor equipment market has exceeded the previous market high of US$47.7 billion set in 2000. Fab tool vendors found themselves in the midst of an unexpected boom cycle in 2017, thanks to enormous demand for equipment in 3D NAND and, to a lesser degree, DRAM. In 2018, equipment demand looks robust, although the industry will be hard-pressed to surpass the record growth figures in 2017. In 2018, 7.5 percent growth is expected to result in sales of US$60.1 billion for the global semiconductor equipment market – another record-breaking year. Demand looks solid across the three main growth drivers for fab tool vendors—DRAM, NAND and foundry/logic.
Rising demand for chips is hitting the IC packaging supply chain, causing shortages of select manufacturing capacity, various package types, leadframes and even some equipment. Spot shortages for some IC packages began showing up in 2017, but the problem has been growing and spreading since then, so packaging customers may encounter select shortages well into 2018. Apple Watch 3 shipment growth to benefit Taiwan IC packagers in 2018.
Market for advanced packaging begins to diverge based on performance and price. Advanced Packaging is now viewed as the best way to handle large amounts of data at blazing speeds.
Moore’s law
Many recent publications say Moore’s Law is dead. Though Moore’s Law is dead may be experiencing some health challenges, it’s not time to start digging the grave for the semiconductor and electronics market yet.
Even smaller nodes are still being taken to use in high end chips. The node names are confusing. Intel’s 10nm technology is roughly equivalent to the foundry 7nm node.In 2018, Intel is expected to finally ramp up 10nm finally in the first half of 2018. In addition, GlobalFoundries, Samsung and TSMC will begin to ship their respective 7nm finFET processes. On the leading edge, GlobalFoundries, Intel, Samsung and TSMC start migrating from the 16nm/14nm to the 10nm/7nm logic nodes. It is expected that some chip-makers face some challenges on the road. Time will tell if GlobalFoundries, Samsung and TSMC will struggle at 7nm. Early predictions are for solid growth in 2018, fueled by demand for memory and logic at advanced 10/7nm. 7nm is projected to generate sales from $2.5 billion to $3.0 billion in 2018. Over time 10nm/7nm is expected to be a big and long-running node. Suppliers of FPGAs and processors are expected to jump on 10nm/7nm.
South Korea’s Samsung Electronics said it has commenced production of the second generation of its 10nm-class 8-Gb DDR4 DRAM. Devices labeled 10nm-class have feature sizes as small as 10 to 19 nanometers. With the continued need for shrinking pattern dimensions, semiconductor manufacturers continue to implement more complex patterning techniques, such as advanced multi-patterning, for the 10nm design node and beyond. They also are investing significant development effort in readying EUV lithography for production at the 7/5nm design nodes. Samsung is planning to begin transitioning to EUV for logic chips next year at the 7nm node, although it is unclear when the technology will be put into production for DRAM.
There will be talk on even smaller nodes. FinFETs will get extended to at least to 5nm, and possibly 3nm in next 5 years. The path to 5nm loks pretty clear. FinFETs will get extended at least to 5nm. It’s possible they will get extended to 3nm. EUV will be used at new nodes, followed by High NA Lithography. New smaller nodes challenges the chip design as abstractions become more difficult at 7nm and beyond. Models are becoming more difficult to develop, integrate and utilize effectively at 10/7nm and beyond as design complexity, process variation and physical effects add to the number of variables that need to be taken into account. Materials and basic structures may diverge by supplier, at 7 nm and beyond. Engineering and scientific teams at 3nm and beyond will require completely different mixes of skills than today.
Silicon is still going strong, but the hard fact is that CMOS has been running out of steam for several nodes, and that becomes more obvious at each new node. To extend into new markets and new process nodes Chipmakers Look To New Materials. There are a number of compounds in use already (generally are being confined to specific niche applications), such as gallium arsenide, gallium nitride, and silicon carbide. Silicon will be supplemented by 2D materials to extend Moore’s Law. Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), a class of 2D materials derived from basic elements—principally tellurium, selenium, sulfur, and oxygen—are being widely explored by researchers. TMDCs are functioning as semiconductors in conjunction with graphene. Graphene, the wonder material rediscovered in 2004, and a host of other two-dimensional materials are gaining ground in manufacturing semiconductors as silicon’s usefulness begins to fade. Wide-bandgap semiconductor materials like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are anticipated to be used in many more applications in 2018. Future progress increasingly will require a mix of different materials and disciplines, but silicon will remain a key component.
Interconnect Materials need to to be improved. For decades, aluminum interconnects were the industry standard. In the late 1990s, chipmakers switched to copper. Over the years, transistors have decreased dramatically in size, so interconnects also have had to scale in size leading to roadblock known as the RC challenge. Industry is investing significant effort in developing new approaches to extend copper use and finding new metals. There’s also some investigation into improvements on the dielectric side. The era of all-silicon substrates and copper wires may be coming to an end.
Application markets
Wearables are a question mark. Demand for wearables slowed down in 2017 so much that smart speakers likely outsold wearable devices in 2017 holiday season. eMarketer is estimating that usage of wearable will grow just 11.9 percent in 2018, rising from 44.7 million adult wearable users in 2017 to 50.1 million in 2018. On the other hand market research firm IDC estimates that the shipments of wearable electronics devices are projected to more than double over the next five years as watches displace fitness trackers as the biggest sellers. IDC forecasts that wearables shipments will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 18.4 percent between 2017 and 2021, rising from 113.2 million this year to 222.3 million in 2021. At the same time fitness trackers are expected to become commodity product. Tomorrow’s wearables will become more fully featured and multi-functional.
The automotive market for semiconductors is shifting into high gear in 2018. Right now the average car has about $350 worth of semiconductor content, but that is projected to grow another 50% by 2023 as the overall automotive market for semiconductors grows from $35 billion to $54 billion. The explosion of drive-by-wire technology, combined with government mandates toward fully electric powertrains, has changed this paradigm—and it impacts more than just the automotive industry. Consider implications beyond the increasingly complex vehicle itself, including new demands on supporting infrastructure. The average car today contains up to 100 million lines of code. Self-driving car will have considerably more code in it. Software controls everything from safety critical systems like brakes and power steering, to basic vehicle controls like doors and windows. Meeting ISO 26262 Software Standards is needed but it will not make the code bug free. It’s quickly becoming common practice for embedded system developers to isolate both safety and security features on the same SoC. The shift to autonomous vehicles marks a major shift in the supply chain—and a major opportunity.
Many applications have need for a long service life — for example those deployed within industrial, scientific and military industries. In these applications, the service life may exceed that of component availability. Replacing an advanced, obsolete components in a design can be very costly, potentially requiring an entire redesign of the electronic hardware and software. The use of programmable devices helps designers not only to address component obsolescence, but also to reduce the cost and complexity of the solution. Programmable logic devices are provided in a range of devices of different types, capabilities and sizes, from FPGAs to System on Chips (SoC) and Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLD). The obsolete function can be emulated within the device, whether it is a logic function implemented in programmable logic in a CPLD, FPGA or SoC, or a processor system implemented in an FPGA or SoC.
Become familiar with USB type C connector. USB type C connector is becoming quickly more commonplace than any other earlier interface. In the end of 2016 there were 300 million devices using a USBC connection – a big part was smartphones, but the interface was also widespread on laptops. With growth, the USBC becomes soon the most common PC and peripheral interface. Thunderbolt™ 3 on USBC connector promises to fulfill the promise of USB-C for single-cable docking and so much more.
Power electronics
The power electronics market continues to grow and gain more presence across a variety of markets. 2017 was a good year for electric vehicles and the future of this market looks very promising. In 2017, we saw also how wireless charging technology has been adopted by many consumer electronic devices- including Apple smart phones. Today’s power supplies do more than deliver clean and stable dc power on daily basis—they provide advanced capabilities that can save you time and money.
Wide-bandgap semiconductor materials like gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon carbide (SiC) are anticipated to be used in many more applications in 2018. At the moment, the number of applications for those materials is steadily increasing in the automotive and military industry. Expect to see more adoption of SiC and GaN materials in automotive market.
According to Battery Market Goes Bigger and Better in 2018 article advances in battery technologies hold the keys to continuing progress in portable electronics, robotics, military, and telecommunication applications, as well as distributed power grids. It is difficult to see lithium-ion based batteries being replaced anytime soon, so the advances in battery technology are primarily through the application of lithium-ion battery chemistries. New battery protection for portable electronics cuts manufacturing steps and costs for Lithium-ion.
Transparency Market Research analysts predict that the global lithium-ion battery market is poised to rise from $29.67 billion in 2015 to $77.42 billion in 2024 with a compound annual growth rate of 11.6 %. That growth has already spread from the now ubiquitous consumer electronics segment to automotive, grid energy, and industrial applications. Dramatic increase is expected for battery power for the transportation, consumer electronic, and stationary segments. According to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF), the global energy-storage market will double six times between 2016 and 2030, rising to a total of 125 G/305 gigawatt-hours. In 2018, energy-storage systems will continue proliferating to provide backup power to the electric grid.
Memory
Memory business boomed in 2017 for both NAND and DRAM. The drivers for DRAM are smartphones and servers. Solid-state drives (SSDs) and smartphones are fueling the demand for NAND. Both the DRAM and NAND content in smartphones continues to grow, so memory business will do well in 2018.Fab tool vendors found themselves in the midst of an unexpected boom cycle in 2017, thanks to enormous demand for equipment in 3D NAND and, to a lesser degree, DRAM. In 2018, equipment demand looks robust, although the industry will be hard-pressed to surpass the record growth figures in 2017.
NAND Market Expected to Cool in Q1 from the crazy year 2017, but it is still growing well because there is increasing demand. The average NAND content in smartphones has been growing by roughly 50% recently, going from approximately 24 gigabytes in 2016 to approximately 38 gigabytes today.3D NAND will do the heavy memory lifting that smartphone users demand. Contract prices for NAND flash memory chips are expected to decline in during the first quarter of 2018 as a traditional lull in demand following the year-end quarter.
Lots of 3D NAND will go to solid state drives in 2018. IDC forecasts strong growth for the solid-state drive (SSD) industry as it transitions to 3D NAND. SSD industry revenue is expected to reach $33.6 billion in 2021, growing at a CAGR of 14.8%. Sizes of memory chips increase as number of layer in 3D NAND are added. We’ve already scaled up to 48 layers. Does this just keep scaling up, or are there physical limits here? Maybe we could see a path to 256 layers in few years.
Memory — particular DRAM — was largely considered a commodity business. Though that it’s really not true in 2017. DRAM memory marked had boomed in 2017 at the highest rate of expansion in 23 years, according to IC Insights. Skyrocketing prices drove the DRAM market to generate a record $72 billion in revenue, and it drove total revenue for the IC market up 22%. Though the outlook for the immediate future appears strong, a downturn in DRAM more than likely looms in the not-too-distant future. It will be seen when there are new players on the market. It is a largely unchallenged assertion that Chinese firms will in the not so distant future become a force in semiconductor memory market. Chinese government is committed to pumping more than $160 billion into the industry over a decade, with much of that ticketed for memory startups.
There is search for faster memory because modern computers, especially data-center servers that skew heavily toward in-memory databases, data-intensive analytics, and increasingly toward machine-learning and deep-neural-network training functions, depend on large amounts of high-speed, high capacity memory to keep the wheels turning. The memory speed has not increased as fast as the capacity. The access bandwidth of DRAM-based computer memory has improved by a factor of 20x over the past two decades. Capacity increased 128x during the same period. For year 2018 DRAM remains a near-universal choice when performance is the priority. There has been some attempts to very fast memory interfaces. Intel the company has introduced the market’s first FPGA chip with integrated high-speed EMBED (Embedded Multi-Die Interconnect Bridge): The Stratix 10 MX interfaces to HMB2 memory (High Memory Bandwidth) that offers about 10 times faster speed than standard DDR-type DIMM.
There is search going on for a viable replacement for DRAM. Whether it’s STT-RAM or phase-change memory or resistive RAM, none of them can match the speed or endurance of DRAM. Necessity is the mother of invention, and we see at least two more generations after 1x. XPoint is also coming up as another viable memory solution that could be inserted into the current memory architecture. It will be interesting to see how that plays out versus DRAM.
5G and IoT
5G something in it for everyone. 5G is big. 5G New Radio (NR) wireless technology will ultimately impact everyone in the electronics and telecommunications industries. Most estimates say 2020 is when we will ultimately see some real 5G deployments on a scale. In the meantime, companies are firming up their plans for whatever 5G products and services they will offer. Though test and measurement solutions will be key in the commercialization cycle. 5G is set to disrupt test processes. If 5G takes off, the technology will propel the development of new chips in both the infrastructure and the handset. Data centers require specialty semiconductors from power management to high-speed optical fiber front-ends. 5G systems will drive more complexity in RF front-ends .5G will offer increased capacity and decreased latency for some critical applications such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and self-driving vehicles. The big question is whether 5G will disrupt the landscape or fall short of its promises.
Electronics manufacturers expect a lot from Internet of Thing. The evolution of intelligent electronic sensors is creating a revolution for IoT and Industrial IoT as companies bring new sensor-based, intelligent systems to market. The business promise is that the proliferation of smart and connected “things” in the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) provides tremendous opportunities for increased performance and lower costs. Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) has a market forecast approaching $100 billion by 2020. Turning volumes of factory data into actionable information that has value is essential. Predictive maintenance and asset tracking are two big IoT markets to watch in 2018 because they will provide real efficiencies and improved safety. It will be about instrumenting our existing infrastructures with sensors that improve their reliability and help predict failures. It will be about tracking important assets through their lifecycles.
A new breed of designers has arrived that is leveraging inexpensive sensors to build the intelligent systems at the edge of the Internet of Things (IoT). They work in small teams, collaborate online, and they expect affordable design tools that are easy to use in order to quickly produce results. Their goal is to deliver a functioning device or a proof-of-concept to their stakeholders while spending as little money as possible to get there. We need to become multi-functional engineers who can comfortably work in the digital, RF, and system domains.
The Io edge sensor device usually needs to be cheap. Simple mathematical reasoning suggests that the average production cost per node must be small, otherwise the economics of the IoT simply are not viable. Most suppliers to the electronics industry are today working under the assumption that the bill-of-materials (BoM) cost of a node cannot exceed $5 on average. While the sensor market continues to garner billions of dollars, the average selling price of a MEMS sensor, for example, is only 60 cents.
Designing a well working and secure IoT system is still hard. IoT platforms are very complex distributed systems and managing these distributed systems is often an overlooked challenge. When designing for the IoT, security needs to be addressed from the Cloud down to each and every edge device. Protecting data is both a hardware and a software requirement, as more data is being stored and analyzed in edge devices and gateways.
The continued evolution of powerful embedded processors is enabling more functionality to be consolidated into single heterogeneous multicore devices. You will see more mixed criticality designs – those designs which contain both safety-critical and non-safety critical processes running on the same chip. It’s quickly becoming common practice for embedded system developers to isolate both safety and security features on the same SoC.
AI
There is clearly a lot of hype surrounding machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) fields. Over the past few years, machine learning (ML) has evolved from an interesting new approach that allows computers to beat champions at chess and Go, into one that is touted as a panacea for almost everything. Machine learning already has delivered beneficial results in certain niches, but it has potential for a bigger and longer lasting impact because of the demand for broad insights and efficiencies across industries. Also EDA companies have been investing in this technology and some results are expected to be announced.
The Battle of AI Processors Begins in 2018. Machine learning applications have a voracious appetite for compute cycles, consuming as much compute power as they can possibly scrounge up. As a result, they are invariably run on parallel hardware – often parallel heterogeneous hardware—which creates development challenges of its own. 2018 will be the start of what could be a longstanding battle between chipmakers to determine who creates the hardware that artificial intelligence lives on. Main contenders on the field at the moment are CPUs, GPUs, TPUs (tensor processing units), and FPGAs. Analysts at both Research and Markets and TechNavio have predicted the global AI chip market to grow at a compound annual growth rate of about 54% between 2017 and 2021.
Sources:
Battery Market Goes Bigger and Better in 2018
Smart speakers to outsell wearables during U.S. holidays, as demand for wearables slows
Wearables Shipments Expected to Double by 2021
The Week In Review: Manufacturing #186
Five technology trends for 2018
NI Trend Watch 2018 explores trends driving the future faster
Creating Software Separation for Mixed Criticality Systems
Isolating Safety and Security Features on the Xilinx UltraScale+ MPSoC
Meeting ISO 26262 Software Standards
DRAM Growth Projected to be Highest Since ’94
NAND Market Expected to Cool in Q1
Memory Market Forecast 2018 … with Jim Handy
3D NAND Storage Fuels New Age of Smartphone Apps
$55.9 Billion Semiconductor Equipment Forecast – New Record with Korea at Top
Advanced Packaging Is Suddenly Very Cool
Apple Watch 3 shipment growth to benefit Taiwan IC packagers in 2018
Rapid SoC Proof-of-Concept for Zero Cost
EDA Challenges Machine Learning
What Can You Expect from the New Generation of Power Supplies?
Optimizing Machine Learning Applications for Parallel Hardware
FPGA-dataa 10 kertaa nopeammin
Chipmakers Look To New Materials
What the Experts Think: Delivering the next 5 years of semiconductor technology
Programmable Logic Holds the Key to Addressing Device Obsolescence
The Battle of AI Processors Begins in 2018
For China’s Memory Firms, Legal Tests May Loom
Predictions for the New Year in Analog & Power Electronics
Lithium-ion Overcomes Limitations
Will Fab Tool Boom Cycle Last?
The Next 5 Years Of Chip Technology
Chipmakers Look To New Materials
Process Window Discovery And Control
Sensors are Fundamental to New Intelligent Systems
Industrial IoT (IIoT) – Where is Silicon Valley
Internet of things (IoT) design considerations for embedded connected devices
How efficient memory solutions can help designers of IoT nodes meet tight BoM cost targets
1,325 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip Industry on Edge as Trade War Heats Up
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333396
Semiconductor industry analysts and market watchers expressed concern after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. would impose 25% tariffs on $50 billion of Chinese goods, including many products in the semiconductor supply chain.
U.S. chip firms and their suppliers largely oppose the tariffs and the escalation of a trade war between the world’s two largest economies. The ultimate result, many fear, will be decreased sales of electronic products and components.
The Trump administration has argued that the tariffs are necessary to close a $375 billion trade deficit with China and counter Chinese policies deemed harmful to U.S. industry, including required technology transfers and lax intellectual-property protection.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Federico Faggin: The Real Silicon Man
https://hackaday.com/2018/06/19/federico-faggin-the-real-silicon-man/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Develop Repeatable RF Measurement Methods
http://www.mwrf.com/test-measurement/develop-repeatable-rf-measurement-methods?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180614_MWRF-001_731&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=17929&utm_medium=email&elq2=de9b1105d8d04831b80a278cf9187ae2
A Primer on Pulsed Measurements
http://www.mwrf.com/test-measurement/develop-repeatable-rf-measurement-methods?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180614_MWRF-001_731&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=17929&utm_medium=email&elq2=de9b1105d8d04831b80a278cf9187ae2
Peak power meters and spectrum analyzers are two of most common instruments used to measure RF pulsed signals, which are frequently employed in radar applications.
These practices can lead to consistent results with test equipment, including those routines that help ensure the safety of the equipment as well as those who are at the controls.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Electronics Just Got 25% More Expensive In The US
https://hackaday.com/2018/06/15/making-electronics-just-got-25-more-expensive-in-the-us/
As reported by the BBC, the United States is set to impose a 25% tariff on over 800 categories of Chinese goods. The tariffs are due to come into effect in three weeks, on July 6th. Thousands of different products are covered under this new tariff, and by every account, electronic designers will be hit hard. Your BOM cost just increased by 25%.
Trump puts 25% tariff on Chinese goods
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44498484
Tariffs that affect more than 800 products worth $34bn in annual trade are due to come into effect on 6 July.
The White House said it would consult on tariffs on the other $16bn of products, and would apply these later.
China retaliated, saying it will impose an additional 25% tariff on 659 US goods worth $50bn.
‘Counter-productive’
The US wants China to stop practices that allegedly encourage transfer of intellectual property – design and product ideas – to Chinese companies, such as requirements that foreign firms share ownership with local partners to access the Chinese market.
However many economists and businesses in the US say the tariffs are likely to hurt some of the sectors the administration is trying to protect, which depend on China for parts or assembly.
Farmers are also worried about harm caused by retaliation.
Economists estimate that the tariffs will hurt GDP by less than half of a percentage point. But the measures could also lead to higher prices and job losses in some industries.
The Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association, which represents car parts makers, called the tariffs “taxes that hurt U.S. companies, put jobs at risk, and negatively impact consumers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
It Takes A Village To Get A Design Done
https://semiengineering.com/it-takes-a-village-to-get-a-design-done/
How to keep time-to-market and cost pressures under control, particularly for IoT designs.
No one lacks for brilliant ideas these days. In fact, it’s a golden age of innovation. But where the pace of innovation can slow is getting that idea to market.
Take for example, the case of one of S3 Semiconductors’ customers.. It recently developed a custom chip solution for a company in the oil and gas industry that was creating complex valve controllers that sensed pressure and temperature.
The customer’s existing solution was based on a PCB containing a large variety of off-the-shelf digital and analog parts. But for its next-generation product, the customer decided to replace the many off-the-shelf parts with one integrated solution.
Like most OEMs, the customer had no in-house silicon design expertise. Therefore, they decided to outsource the project to S3.
S3 built a low-power chip for them based on a cost-effective process node, 180nm, integrating digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters (DAC and ADC), and many communication interfaces, such as I2C, UART, SPI — all in a low-power design consuming 160uW/MHz. The results were huge improvements in cost, power, and area:
• 80% BOM cost reduction
• 70% power consumption reduction
• 75% smaller PCB size
Tomi Engdahl says:
Report: Trump Told Apple iPhones Would be Exempt From Tariffs
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333401
The Trump Administration has told Apple CEO Tim Cook that it would not levy tariffs against iPhones made in China, according to a New York Times report that cites an anonymous source said to be familiar with the negotiations between the tech giant and the U.S. president.
Such a promise would be significant in light of recent moves by the Trump Administration that move the U.S. and China closer to an all-out trade war.
In China Trade War, Apple Worries It Will Be Collateral Damage
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/18/technology/apple-tim-cook-china.html
Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, may be the leader of the world’s most valuable public company, but lately he has had to act a lot like the tech industry’s top diplomat.
In a trade and technology showdown between the United States and China, Apple and Mr. Cook have a lot to lose. With 41 stores and hundreds of millions of iPhones sold in the country, there is arguably no American company in China as successful, as high-profile and with as big a target on its back.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Inkjet-Printed Graphene Plus Laser Yields Washable Electronics
http://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/inkjet-printed-graphene-plus-laser-yields-washable-electronics?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20180620_ED-003_463&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18051&utm_medium=email&elq2=81c96b494e2440939b9e561b0416b2b6
Printing an ultrathin layer of graphene on a substrate and using direct-pulsed laser writing produced a structure for electronic circuitry that can be worn and even washed.
When Professors Sir Andre Geim and Sir Kostya Novoselov of the University of Manchester (UK) discovered and isolated a single atomic layer of carbon for the first time—now known as graphene—there was both praise and concern. Some comments were similar to those which, decades before, accompanied the first demonstration of the optical laser, heralding it as “a solution looking for problems to solve.”
Among the latest developments is the use of graphene as the basis for washable electronics, from a research team led by Iowa State University. By combining graphene and sophisticated laser-based processing, they have developed circuits that are low-cost, flexible, highly conductive, and water-repellent.
“We’re taking low-cost, inkjet-printed graphene and tuning it with a laser to make functional materials,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Readers Tense Up Over Consolidation and Component Obsolescence
http://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/readers-tense-over-consolidation-and-component-obsolescence?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20180620_ED-003_463&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18051&utm_medium=email&elq2=81c96b494e2440939b9e561b0416b2b6
Component obsolescence was flagged as a supply chain threat by roughly three-quarters of respondents to an Electronic Design and Source Today survey, representing an almost seven percent jump over the last year. The results of the 2018 Distribution Study reflect a growing concern within procurement, engineering and executive roles toward unexpected changes to the global electronics supply chain.
Managing obsolete and end-of-life electronics is a persistent concern in manufacturing and other industries that generally support products for long periods of time. When components are discontinued, companies often have to put money into redesigning products around other parts. Most respondents say they are looking to avoid that at all costs, with roughly a third trying to cut supply chain expenses over the next year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Not All Emulators Are Created Equal
http://www.electronicdesign.com/test-measurement/not-all-emulators-are-created-equal
Speed, throughput, and latency are the key parameters in determining hardware-emulation performance.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Memories Seek Embedded Use
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333398
Emerging memories likely will find high-volume markets in embedded applications replacing NOR flash for storing code in MCUs and ASICs.
“At some point the door is going to close on NOR because of scaling issues, and all MCU and ASIC makers and their logic foundries will need a new non-volatile memory technology for code storage–whether it will be at 40nm or 14nm may depend on the foundry’s logic process,” said Jim Handy, analyst at Objective Analysis, who will give a market overview in the emerging memory program at Semicon West.
The challenge is that until the new memory technologies reach volume production, they will be more expensive. MRAM has an advantage because Everspin has been selling standalone chips for temporary immediate storage, Handy said.
For its part, GlobalFoundries is supporting embedded MRAM (eMRAM). “We’re working with four of the five biggest makers of MCUs, and what they need after 40nm is a less expensive alternative to e-flash for FinFETs or FD-SOI, where the cost to add eFlash to a logic platform begins to increase dramatically,” said David Eggleston, vice president of embedded memory at GF and another event speaker.
Eggleston notes that eMRAM is starting to mature and produce higher volume as GlobalFoundries, TSMC and Samsung enter risk production of different variations of eMRAM–FD SOI, bulk, and SRAM replacement, respectively.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel’s CEO resigns as information about a ‘past consensual relationship’ surfaces
https://techcrunch.com/2018/06/21/intels-ceo-resigns-as-information-about-a-past-consensual-relationship-surfaces/?sr_share=facebook&utm_source=tcfbpage
In a press release touting “another record year,” Intel dropped a bombshell, announcing that CEO Brian Krzanich is resigning, amid revelations of a “past consensual relationship” with an employee.
“Intel was recently informed that Mr. Krzanich had a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee,” the company notes in the release. “An ongoing investigation by internal and external counsel has confirmed a violation of Intel’s non-fraternization policy, which applies to all managers.
https://newsroom.intel.com/news-releases/intel-ceo-brian-krzanich-resigns-board-appoints-bob-swan-interim-ceo/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
As Intel looks for its next CEO, its traditional chips business is troubled by delays and the firm is chasing competitors in GPUs ideal for AI computing
Intel now faces a fight for its future
Brian Krzanich’s surprise departure sets Intel on a race to find a new CEO
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/22/17492184/intel-future-ceo-brian-krzanich-resignation-2018
Intel is facing a turning point in its nearly 50-year history. Intel CEO Brian Krzanich resigned yesterday, following an ongoing investigation into a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee that violated the company’s non-fraternization policy. It’s a surprise end for Krzanich, who first joined Intel more than 35 years ago and spent most of his time at the company on the operations side.
Krzanich was appointed Intel CEO five years ago, and was left with the messy task of fleshing out Intel’s mobile strategy and driving the company forward in new markets. Known for PCs and servers, Intel’s business has been disrupted by smartphones and the cloud, and the company was caught seemingly unaware by the rise of AI and autonomous vehicles.
Intel was originally planning to release its 10-nanometer processors back in late 2016, but the company recently delayed that once again to 2019 due to yield issues. It’s the first major stutter in Intel co-founder Gordon Moore’s incredibly accurate Moore’s Law prediction of roughly doubling the number of transistors in its processors every couple of years.
Intel is also redesigning its processors to protect against the Spectre security flaws that were uncovered earlier this year. Once Intel gets production back on track, it faces competition that it can’t pay off PC makers to stem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
#IntelToo?
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333410
The announcement of Intel CEO Brian Krzanich’s abrupt resignation came as a shock not only to Intel’s workforce but, perhaps even more so, to the tech community and financial markets.
Intel announced that its chief executive resigned over a past consensual relationship with an Intel employee. The company said that Krzanich had “violated a non-fraternization policy” that applies to managers.
Unlike a slew of young startups and VCs whose “men-behaving-badly” culture was exposed, fueling the “#MeToo” movement in Silicon Valley, Intel is a mature company whose cautious HR and diversity policies are often considered the industry’s gold standard. Therefore, it surprised no one when the semiconductor giant made no excuses for Krzanich, nor did Intel ask him to reconsider his resignation.
Specific circumstances surrounding the CEO’s relationship with his underling remain sketchy, although some say that the affair ended a few years ago. Another Intel employee recently made the company aware of it.
Intel’s business affairs appear largely unaffected by this surprise. Some semiconductor industry observers suspect that Krzanich’s departure couldn’t have come at a more convenient time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Safer High-Voltage Analog Switch for Medical Ultrasound
http://www.electronicdesign.com/analog/safer-high-voltage-analog-switch-medical-ultrasound?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20180625_ED-003_677&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18105&utm_medium=email&elq2=10f7df67c5f74078a1131a21bc77d162
High-voltage supplies are used in most HV analog switches, which creates cost, size, and safety concerns. Switches developed by MPS offer an alternative by eliminating those supplies.
Medical ultrasound imaging is a non-invasive method of viewing internal organs and structures of the human body using high-frequency acoustic waves. Sending an acoustic wave into the human body and listening to the acoustic echoes can create an ultrasound image. Given the acoustic properties of the human body, the optimum frequency range for general medical ultrasound imaging is 1.0 to 12.0 MHz.
An acoustic wave is created with a piezoelectric transducer (PZT). The PZT physically expands and contracts when a voltage is applied to it, thereby converting electrical energy into acoustic energy. High-voltage pulses are used to excite the PZT. This is done with a pulse generator, sometimes referred to as the transmitter, with amplitudes of up to ±90 V and current capability of ±2.0 A. The same PZT then is used to convert acoustic echoes back into electrical signals, which are referred to as the receive signals. The received signals are processed and analyzed to construct an ultrasound image of the transmitted path.
To create a two-dimensional image, an array of PZTs is needed. An ultrasound probe is used to house the array of PZTs. There are many different types of ultrasound probes, such as abdominal, cardiac, and pediatric probes, among others
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
Intel’s integrated model served it well for 35 years, but in the mobile era, is a straitjacket hemming in the chip maker — Last week Brian Krzanich resigned as the CEO of Intel after violating the company’s non-fraternization policy. The details of Krzanich’s departure, though …
Intel and the Danger of Integration
https://stratechery.com/2018/intel-and-the-danger-of-integration/
Last week Brian Krzanich resigned as the CEO of Intel after violating the company’s non-fraternization policy. The details of Krzanich’s departure, though, ultimately don’t matter: his tenure was an abject failure, the extent of which is only now coming into view.
Intel’s Obsolete Opportunity
When Krzanich was appointed CEO in 2013 it was already clear that arguably the most important company in Silicon Valley’s history was in trouble: PCs, long Intel’s chief money-maker, were in decline, leaving the company ever more reliant on the sale of high-end chips to data centers; Intel had effectively zero presence in mobile, the industry’s other major growth area.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dealing With Resistance In Chips
https://semiengineering.com/dealing-with-resistance-in-chips/
Contacts and interconnects becoming more problematic at each new node, but with fixes come tradeoffs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The memory market will grow 40% to US$177 billion in 2018
https://electroiq.com/2018/06/the-memory-market-will-grow-40-to-us177-billion-in-2018/
The semiconductor industry posted record results in 2017, with revenue exceeding US$400 billion. Overall demand for semiconductor devices was robust throughout the year, driven by the growing adoption of electronics components across all applications, with particular strength in the mobile and data center markets. Semiconductor growth in 2017 was led by the memory segment, with impressive revenue reaching US$126 billion. It represents an increase of over 60% year-over-year. Yole Développement (Yole) Memory Team forecasts the memory market to reach US$177 billion in 2018, with 40% growth.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taiwan’s TSMC to invest $25 billion in 5 nanometer node technology
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-tsmc-investment/taiwans-tsmc-to-invest-25-billion-in-5-nanometer-node-technology-idUSKBN1JH0EX
Tomi Engdahl says:
High Power Leaves its Mark on IMS
http://www.mwrf.com/components/high-power-leaves-its-mark-ims?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180626_MWRF-001_257&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18168&utm_medium=email&elq2=b028bd2e4bad4f8caa4b40a339fa7d39
IMS 2018 showcased the latest in high-power RF capability, with multiple companies demonstrating an array of performance breakthroughs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IR Light Source Serves Security Systems
http://www.mwrf.com/systems/ir-light-source-serves-security-systems?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180626_MWRF-001_257&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18168&utm_medium=email&elq2=b028bd2e4bad4f8caa4b40a339fa7d39
IR technology is gaining in importance as RF/microwave bandwidth continues to be consumed by different applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Monday At DAC 2018
https://semiengineering.com/monday-at-dac-2018/
What is drawing the industry’s interest? Major themes begin to emerge.
DAC #55 started with rumors flying. Will this be the last DAC as we know it? Is there a huge chasm forming between academia and the industry? Will DAC be able to make it in Las Vegas where there is no local interest? Of course, those who have been in the industry know that this kind of speculation happens every few years, and in the 80s, Las Vegas was a very popular location for DAC. There was even a year when Cadence pulled out. The industry changes and morphs as the forces that push it fluctuate.
The keynote was given by Sarah Cooper, GM of IoT Solutions at Amazon Web Services. Cloud is one of the main focus areas of this DAC. The title of the keynote was “Building Connected Devices that Learn and Evolve”
She talked about the rate of improvement in existing products such as cars. “You buy technical debt – everything you buy will be replaced by better products almost immediately. We have to understand how buying habits are changing. Relationships are changing. We have to make products adapt and change after they have been installed. I also want products that learn about me and adapt to me.” Interestingly, she had some advice for product developers that may raise some eyebrows. “We are so used to concentrating on power and cost, but putting in a few Easter eggs is good for business.”
The focus of the talk turned to AI and handling data
Tomi Engdahl says:
AMD Tackles Coming “Chiplet” Revolution With New Chip Network Scheme
Active silicon interposers could make for smaller, better computers but the networks need to mesh
https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/semiconductors/design/amd-tackles-coming-chiplet-revolution-with-new-chip-network-scheme
The time may be coming when computers and other systems are made not from individually packaged chips attached to a printed circuit board but from bare ICs interconnected on a larger slice of silicon. Researchers have been developing this concept called “chiplets” with the idea that it will let data move faster and freer to make smaller, cheaper, and more tightly integrated computer systems. The idea is that individual CPUs, memory, and other key systems can all be mounted onto a relatively large slice of silicon, called an active interposer, which is thick with interconnects and routing circuits.
There’s (at least) one problem: Though each chiplet’s own on-chip routing system can work perfectly, when they’re all connected together on the interposer’s network a situation can arise where a network tries to route data in such a way that a traffic jam occurs that winds up seizing up the computer. “A deadlock can happen basically where you have a circle or a cycle of different messages all trying to compete for same sorts of resources causing everyone to wait for everyone else,” Loh explains.
“Each of those individual [chiplets] could be designed so that they never have deadlocks,” says Loh. “But once I put them together, there are now new paths and new routes that no individual had planned for ahead of time.” Trying to avoid these new deadlocks by designing all the chiplets together with a particular interposer network in mind would defeat the advantages of the technique: Chiplets, then, couldn’t be designed and optimized easily by separate teams, and they couldn’t easily be mixed and matched to quickly form new systems.
The AMD team found that deadlocks on active interposers basically disappear if you follow a few simple rules when designing on-chip networks. These rules govern where data is allowed to enter and leave the chip and also restricts which directions it can go when it first enters the chip. Amazingly, if you follow those rules you can pretend everything else on the interposer—all the other logic chiplets, memory, the interposer’s own network, everything—is just one node on the network. Knowing that, separate teams of engineers can design chiplets without having to worry about how the networks on other chiplets work or even how the network on the active interposer works.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Taiwan’s Foxconn calls Sino-U.S. trade spat a ‘tech war’
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-foxconn-strategy/taiwans-foxconn-calls-sino-u-s-trade-spat-a-tech-war-idUSKBN1JI06H
Foxconn, the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, on Friday said the U.S. and Chinese governments are engaged in a technology war, not a trade war, describing the spat as the biggest challenge the Taiwanese company is facing.
President Donald Trump on Monday said Washington would hit $200 billion of Chinese imports with 10 percent tariffs if Beijing retaliates against his previous announcement to target $50 billion in imports. The United States has accused China of stealing U.S. intellectual property
Analysts have said a Sino-U.S. trade war could disrupt supply chains for the technology and auto industries – sectors heavily reliant on outsourced components such as those supplied by Foxconn – and derail growth for the global economy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Where Is Selective Deposition?
https://semiengineering.com/what-happened-to-selective-deposition/
This technology has resurfaced as one option at 5nm, but it’s still not clear if it will work.
The concept behind the technology isn’t new. For decades, chipmakers have used deposition, a process that deposits a blanket of materials on a surface. In area-select deposition, though, the idea is to use atomic layer deposition (ALD) to deposit materials in exact places. Using a bottoms-up approach, area-selective deposition, sometimes called area-selective ALD, is used to pattern and self-align tiny features on devices. Potentially, it could reduce the number of lithography and etch steps in the manufacturing flow.
For years the industry has used various forms of selective deposition in the fab to deposit metal materials on metal surfaces in devices. But for the more advanced forms of area-selective deposition, a tool must deposit different combinations of material sets in chips, such as metals on dielectrics, dielectrics on metals and dielectrics on dielectrics.
Clearly, the industry is working on the technology for 5nm and beyond. TSMC, for example, recently announced a breakthrough in the arena. In addition, Applied Materials, Lam Research, TEL and others are developing selective deposition tools in R&D. It’s still unclear when the technology will appear, as the industry is keeping their efforts close to the vest.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Big Trouble At 3nm
https://semiengineering.com/big-trouble-at-3nm/
Costs of developing a complex chip could run as high as $1.5B, while power/performance benefits are likely to decrease.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel now faces a fight for its future
Brian Krzanich’s surprise departure sets Intel on a race to find a new CEO
https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/22/17492184/intel-future-ceo-brian-krzanich-resignation-2018
Tomi Engdahl says:
Power Analysis with Emulation
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/andyladd/articles/power-analysis-with-emulation
It’s Prime Time for Hardware Emulation in the Cloud
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/lauro/articles/its-prime-time-for-hardware-emulation-in-the-cloud
Tomi Engdahl says:
Simplify PCB Layout with Highly Integrated DC-DC Converter Modules
http://www.powerelectronics.com/dc-dc-converters/simplify-pcb-layout-highly-integrated-dc-dc-converter-modules?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20180621_ED-003_271&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18072&utm_medium=email&elq2=ecd60906944b43f8b2b9dc0b685f3ffc
Thanks to new production techniques, a dc-dc converter IC die and multiple components integrate into a more space-efficient power-management module.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Celebrating the Copper Revolution’s 20th Anniversary
https://blog.lamresearch.com/celebrating-the-copper-revolutions-20th-anniversary/
This month, copper interconnects turned 20. That’s probably something like 200 in “technology years” considering the pace of innovation today. Yet even after 20 years of advances in chipmaking technology, the copper revolution is still considered one of the most significant inflections the industry has ever seen. Thanks to the integration of copper, electronic products have been getting faster, more capable, and more affordable ever since. In recognition of this important milestone, we look back at what was going on in the industry at the time and what it took to successfully integrate copper.
As device features continued to shrink in the late 1980s, ever thinner aluminum lines could no longer deliver the speed and electrical integrity performance required. A better-performing conducting material was needed to continue shrinking device dimensions, as well maintain the cost benefits that chipmakers expected.
Copper was soon being considered as it offered lower resistivity, enabling faster device speed. It also provides better reliability since it is not as vulnerable as aluminum to electromigration.
Copper’s electrical characteristics made it such a superior choice relative to other conductor candidates, that the industry continued working on it.
In addition to the obvious need to re-engineer chip designs, many challenges had to be addressed to integrate such a radically different process.
Then, on June 2, 1998, the “Damascus” production-ready damascene process was announced.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Market And Tech Inflections Ahead
https://semiengineering.com/market-and-technology-inflections-ahead/
Synopsys Co-CEO Aart de Geus explains why systemic complexity will be the next big challenge, and what that means for EDA and the chip industry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel is abandoning RTOS operating systems
Intel has confirmed that it will sell its embedded operating systems and RTOS operating systems to Wind River’s TPG Capital investment company. The deal strengthens Intel’s efforts to focus on the market for PC and server processors. Wind River’s CEO continues Jim Douglas (pictured).
In 2009, Intel announced many surprises by purchasing Wind River Systems, a well-known software for embedded systems, $ 884 million. Wind River was originally known for its VxWorks real-time operating system
Nine years ago, Intel stressed its focus on embedded software. Since then, the world has changed. The center of the company is now, above all, a data center.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/8157-myllerryksessa-oleva-intel-luopuu-rtos-kayttojarjestelmista
Tomi Engdahl says:
2020 National Electrical Code Open for Comment
http://www.ecmweb.com/national-electrical-code/2020-national-electrical-code-open-comment
A first draft of the 2020 edition of NFPA 70, the National Electrical Code, is now open for public comment and will be open until Aug. 30, 2018
https://www.nfpa.org/codes-and-standards/all-codes-and-standards/list-of-codes-and-standards/detail?code=70&tab=nextedition
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Tariffs Seen Hurting Tech Sector
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333420
The Trump Administration is preparing to further ratchet up the budding trade war between the U.S. and China with a series of measures designed to limit the ability of Chinese firms to invest in U.S. companies with “industrially significant” technology. The administration is also reportedly working to beef up export controls to prevent U.S. technology from going to China.
The first of these measures — which would levy a 25% tariff on about $35 billion worth of Chinese goods — are currently set to take effect in less that two weeks, July 6.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China’s IC Capex Expected to Top Europe and Japan Combined
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333427
China-based chip firms plan to lay out about $11 billion for capex in 2018, more than the combined total of European and Japanese firms, according to market research firm IC Insights.
China-based firms are forecast to account for 10.6% of the global total of semiconductor capex this year, which is expected to be about $103.5 billion, IC Insights said. China’s projected total of $11 billion would be five times what China-based firms spent just three years ago in 2015, according to the firm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Not All Emulators Are Created Equal
Speed, throughput, and latency are the key parameters in determining hardware-emulation performance.
http://www.electronicdesign.com/test-measurement/not-all-emulators-are-created-equal?NL=ED-003&Issue=ED-003_20180628_ED-003_914&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18233&utm_medium=email&elq2=49128e29df1840cdb6cfa89d89e1f494
Tomi Engdahl says:
Adding NoCs To FPGA SoCs
https://semiengineering.com/adding-nocs-to-fpga-socs/
As complexity and device sizes rise, so does the need for an on-chip network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ZTE names new board per Commerce Department agreement
https://www.lightwaveonline.com/articles/2018/07/zte-names-new-board-per-commerce-department-agreement.html?cmpid=enl_lightwave_lightwave_service_providers_2018-07-02&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2160762
ZTE has taken another step forward toward convincing the Commerce Department to lift the ban imposed on ZTE’s access to U.S. communications technology. The company has replaced its board of directors with a new slate of officers, one of the requirements for repeal of the ban
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Darker Side Of Consolidation
https://semiengineering.com/the-darker-side-of-consolidation/
What happens when companies are combined? The outcome often isn’t as good as the announcement.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Offline Pulse-Width Modulation Controller Boosts Efficiency, Economy, and Stability
https://www.eeweb.com/profile/eeweb/news/offline-pulse-width-modulation-controller-boosts-efficiency-economy-and-stability
STMicroelectronics’ STCH03 offline Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) controller combines high integration with accurate constant-current output using primary-side regulation enabling economical mobile chargers, power adapters, or auxiliary supplies to meet stringent eco-design limits for average efficiency and standby power.
At heavier loads, the STCH03 maximizes efficiency by operating in quasi-resonant mode with zero-voltage switching (ZVS) controlled by detecting transformer demagnetization.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Siemens–Mentor: How’s It Working Out?
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333432
Siemens closed the acquisition of Mentor Graphics in March 2017. How’s that working out for the electronics industry?
This marriage — an EDA business bought by a powerhouse of infrastructure solutions — initially inspired skepticism among investors, the EDA community, and media. However, one year later, speaking of Siemens’s “digital factory” strategy in an investors’ conference in New York last month, Siemens AG CEO and President Joe Kaeser laid out facts and made a compelling case for the Mentor acquisition:
For those of you who have been following Siemens for a long time, I know you are questioning time and time again: Is it really worth doing this digital factory thing? Is it really coming? Or is it another overvalued, overrated waste of money by acquiring companies like Unigraphics — last, but not least, even Mentor Graphics?
Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to tell you it’s been the right thing. Actually, it turned out much better than we originally thought: It’s a real thing.
Siemens’s digital factory initiative is paying off nicely, according to Kaeser, particularly after the Mentor deal. Siemens’s 4% share in the digital factory market in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 jumped to 20% in the second quarter of fiscal 2018.
Tomi Engdahl says:
NASA Embraces Commercial Electronics
https://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1333436
Several experiments aboard the International Space Station are testing whether the space agency can move beyond traditional rad-hard components.
If all goes according to plan, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship returning from the International Space Station this fall will deliver back to Earth and waiting engineers a pair of servers that will have flown aboard the orbiting laboratory and testbed for nearly a year. The idea is to simulate a nearly year-long trip to Mars and determine whether off-the-shelf hardware can hack it in deep space.
Meanwhile, the space agency is readying an ARM processor core design as the foundation of its next generation of space electronics. It has also examined the effects of radiation on memory chips.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chip Industry Posts Another Monthly Sales Record
https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1333439
Semiconductor sales once again set a new alltime high in May, growing by more than 20 percent for the 14th straight month, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) trade group.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Distributed Amplifiers Challenge Wide Bandwidths
http://www.mwrf.com/semiconductors/distributed-amplifiers-challenge-wide-bandwidths?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180703_MWRF-001_500&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18322&utm_medium=email&elq2=02fcc638b1c847f59c7ecd4ef9f6db08
Trends in solid-state distributed amplifiers continue to grow in gain and bandwidth at higher frequencies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Passives Cram More Power into Ever-Smaller Packages
http://www.mwrf.com/components/passives-cram-more-power-ever-smaller-packages?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180703_MWRF-001_500&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_1_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18322&utm_medium=email&elq2=02fcc638b1c847f59c7ecd4ef9f6db08
In walking the exhibition floor at the recent IEEE International Microwave Symposium (IMS), trends in passive components were clear, with many suppliers extending their product lines to higher power levels and higher frequencies—many well into the millimeter-wave region—while pursuing ever-smaller packages to help system designers reach their goals for lighter weight and smaller size.
Passive components tend to be taken for granted at the systems-design level, because of their lack of active circuit elements, such as transistors, and need of a power supply. In many cases, a passive component, such as a coupler or power divider, can be added to a system whenever there’s enough space for them. Of course, this assumes that any passive component squeezed into a tight space can also dissipate whatever heat it generates by handling high signal power levels.
Directional couplers are one of the more common passive components added to a system after a certain design stage, usually to perform monitoring or testing purposes. Companies with broad product lines, such as Mini-Circuits, stock a variety of couplers for handling power levels as high as 250 W at frequencies from 5 kHz to 18 GHz.
In addition to its many 50-Ω miniature surface-mount and coaxial components, Mini-Circuits also offers 75-Ω passive components for such applications as cable-television (CATV) systems.
ARRA is well known for its passive components, in both coaxial and waveguide forms, built into rugged metal housings.
Traditionally, passive RF/microwave components have been somewhat large, at least in package sizes large enough to support the use of coaxial connectors. As the push toward 5G wireless networks and commercial automotive radar systems encourages the use of passive components in the mmWave frequency range, many passive-component suppliers are higher-frequency components. Still, they are maintaining their coaxial connectors, albeit with smaller dimensions to accommodate the higher frequencies.
Many users employ these precision couplers in test-and-measurement systems, where small size isn’t overly critical compared to a portable design application. Nonetheless, the size of the circuit boards and packaging is shrinking with the smaller wavelengths of mmWave frequencies, to the point where some packaging is barely large enough to support the screw mounting of high-frequency coaxial connectors, such as 2.4- and 2.9-mm connectors.
Such couplers find use in a wide range of commercial and military systems, including communications, electronic warfare (EW), and radar.
As manufacturers of passive components attempt to keep pace with growing demands for mmWave products for 5G and automotive radar applications, some makers of passive components have been there for a while.
The trend throughout the high-frequency industry is to design passive components that can handle higher power levels with effective thermal management in tighter spaces
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rice University develops conductive laser-induced-graphene foam from plastic (with video)
https://www.laserfocusworld.com/articles/2018/06/rice-university-develops-conductive-laser-induced-graphene-foam-from-plastic-with-video.html?cmpid=enl_lfw_lfw_enewsletter_2018-07-03&pwhid=6b9badc08db25d04d04ee00b499089ffc280910702f8ef99951bdbdad3175f54dcae8b7ad9fa2c1f5697ffa19d05535df56b8dc1e6f75b7b6f6f8c7461ce0b24&eid=289644432&bid=2160802
Rice University (Houston, TX) scientists have developed a simple way to produce conductive, three-dimensional (3D) objects made of graphene foam. The squishy solids look and feel something like a child’s toy but offer new possibilities for energy storage and flexible electronic sensor applications, according to Rice chemist James Tour.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Successful high-speed design depends on addressing three main areas of concern: signal quality, timing, and crosstalk.
Signal quality includes items like overshoot, ringback, and non-monotonicities that can damage a receiver or introduce data errors.
Timing, including effects of terminations, receiver loading, and trace impedances and lengths, must be rigorously analyzed at the PCB level to ensure compliance at the system level.
Crosstalk, or unwanted noise induced by one trace onto another, can affect both signal quality and timing.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Electronics Manufacturers React To China Trade Tariffs
https://hackaday.com/2018/07/02/electronics-manufacturers-react-to-china-trade-tariffs/
Mere weeks ago, the United States announced it was set to impose a 25% tariff on over 800 categories of Chinese goods. These tariffs include nearly every component that goes into the manufacture of any piece of electronic hardware, from resistors to capacitors, semiconductors to microcontrollers, and even the raw components that are turned into printed circuit boards. These tariffs will increase the cost of materials for electronics, even if those electronics are ultimately manufactured in the United States because suppliers and subcontractors must source their materials from somewhere, and more often than not, that place is China.
Now, manufacturers are feeling the pinch. An email distributed by Moog Music last Friday has asked their supporters to contact their senators and representatives.
In the world of musical synthesizers, there is no bigger name than Moog. The company was founded in the 1950s manufacturing theremins, and in the 1960s, production moved to synthesizers.
25% Tariff On Chinese Goods Threatens Our Jobs
https://us2.campaign-archive.com/?e=&u=66ca69d70dceab5be9897856d&id=a2684e1453
A U.S. tariff (import tax) on Chinese circuit boards and associated components is expected to take effect on July 6, 2018.
These tariffs will immediately and drastically increase the cost of building our instruments, and have the very real potential of forcing us to lay off workers and could (in a worst case scenario) require us to move some, if not all, of our manufacturing overseas.
I am urgently contacting you about the recently announced 25% tariff on Chinese goods.
Roughly half of the circuit boards and associated components for Moog’s instruments come from China. This tariff would significantly limit their ability to manufacture synthesizers, and could put many of their employee-owners out of a job.
Moog sources circuit boards from US suppliers whenever possible, paying up to 30% over the price of the same circuit boards made overseas.
the majority of the raw components still come from China
These tariffs will immediately and drastically increase the cost of building Moog instruments
Tomi Engdahl says:
High-Power Transistors Fit Standard Plastic Packages
http://www.mwrf.com/semiconductors/high-power-transistors-fit-standard-plastic-packages?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180705_MWRF-001_476&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18340&utm_medium=email&elq2=77a4d4f3046f48c09365f9fa2a98f475
These two LDMOS power transistors sacrifice nothing in terms of performance by using plastic packages, which offer a great deal of flexibility in mounting to a PCB.
High-power RF transistors are usually protected by fairly costly ceramic packages, to protect the semiconductor chips inside as much from the environment as from thermal buildup. However, several high-power RF transistors from NXP Semiconductors include a 100-W device in a
TO-220 housing and a 300-W device in a TO-247 housing, with both packages being standard plastic housings, for handling ease and simplicity
Tomi Engdahl says:
Distributed Amplifiers Challenge Wide Bandwidths
http://www.mwrf.com/semiconductors/distributed-amplifiers-challenge-wide-bandwidths?NL=MWRF-001&Issue=MWRF-001_20180705_MWRF-001_476&sfvc4enews=42&cl=article_2_b&utm_rid=CPG05000002750211&utm_campaign=18340&utm_medium=email&elq2=77a4d4f3046f48c09365f9fa2a98f475
Trends in solid-state distributed amplifiers continue to grow in gain and bandwidth at higher frequencies
Distributed amplifiers may be better known in their electron-tube forms as traveling-wave-tube amplifiers (TWTAs), although their goal by any name is to provide reasonable gain and output power over a wide bandwidth. Most engineers may not realize that these are amplifier designs with roots in the 1930s and 1940s, during which times they were based on vacuum-tube active devices rather than solid-state transistors.
But to some researchers, these wide-bandwidth amplifiers are quite useful at high frequencies whether in solid-state or electron-beam form.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China IP Battle Takes New Turn
https://semiengineering.com/micron-suffers-legal-setback-in-china/
A court temporarily bans Micron from selling select chips in China.
Micron Technology appears to have suffered a legal setback in its suit against Taiwan’s United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) in China.
On Tuesday, UMC announced that the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) issued a preliminary injunction against Micron Semiconductor (Xi’an) and Micron Semiconductor (Shanghai), enjoining Micron from offering to sell, and selling in the PRC 26 DRAM and NAND-related items, including certain solid-state hard drives and memory sticks in China.