Tabula, a privately held fabless semiconductor company that developed the Spacetime 3-D architecture, has announced the launch of the ABAX family of 3-D Programmable Logic Devices (3PLD). Based on Spacetime architecture that delivers 3-D by using time as a third dimension, ABAX enables high-performance, compute-intensive applications on a programmable platform but at volume price points.

austriamicrosystems has launched the AS3645 LED flash driver, an inductive, ultra small, high-efficiency single/dual LED flash driver that offers 25 per cent higher output current than existing equivalents. The higher flash power enhances picture and video quality especially in low light environments at same system size.

MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) scans provide extraordinarily clear images of the human body and are commonly used to diagnose a wide range of illnesses and injuries, such as Alzheimer’s disease, cancerous tumors, and torn ligaments. Analog Devices has introduced what it is describing as a breakthrough in data conversion that will be capable of giving clinicians and radiologists the much improved image clarity that they need to see smaller anatomical structures and abnormalities, such as breast cancer cells.

Texas Instruments has introduced three new switch-mode standalone battery charger ICs for lithium-based battery-powered applications with a 5-V to 28-V input. These devices provide highly accurate and efficient charging in a small package for mass market applications, such as industrial handhelds, mobile Internet devices (MIDs), netbooks, power tools and portable medical devices.

SiGe Semiconductor has launched the SE2576L, a 2.4GHz Wireless LAN power amplifier (PA) module. The new IEEE 802.11bgn device is the industry's smallest and most efficient power amplifier operating at 26dBm. The SE2576L targets applications requiring high RF transmit power such as residential video and data transport, enterprise and outdoor networks as well as public hotspots, delivering complete area coverage and improved link budgets for more effective broadband data services.

STMicroelectronics has unveiled an innovative plastic air-cavity package that could enable high-power transistors for Radio-Frequency (RF) applications such as transceivers, broadcast equipment and MRI scanners to deliver performance and cost advantages over alternative devices in ceramic packages.

Air-cavity packages provide high electrical isolation for silicon die, and are well suited for high-frequency, high-power applications. Whereas the traditional package body is typically ceramic, to withstand high-temperature soldering during package assembly, this new air-cavity technology now enables lower thermal resistance, lower weight, and reduced cost compared to devices in ceramic packages.

STMicroelectronics has introduced an ultra-low-power IC containing all the functions necessary to control an Optical Finger Navigation (OFN) module or optical joystick. The VD5376 optical joystick controller helps users interact with the increasingly sophisticated features of portable electronic products, such as smartphones, laptop PCs, netbooks, media players, GPS devices and remote controls for home-entertainment equipment. The new VD5376 controller chip has been designed into new smartphones by leading mobile phone manufacturers and is being evaluated by major PC companies for use in portable computing devices and by TV and set-top-box makers for remote controllers.

ARM has announced the availability of phase one of the new AMBA 4 specification, providing increased functionality and efficiency for complex, media-rich on-chip communication.

The AMBA specification is the de facto standard for system on-chip interconnects, and was introduced by ARM more than 15 years ago. Like its predecessor AMBA 3, introduced in 2003, the AMBA 4 specification has been designed by and for the industry with contributions from thirty-five of the industry’s leading OEM, semiconductor and EDA vendors.

SiTel Semiconductor, working in collaboration with Target Compiler Technologies, has developed a customised audio DSP for its SC14452 Green VoIP processor. The DSP combines extreme energy efficiency with high processing performance, enabling industry-leading audio quality and power consumption. The DSPs were developed using Target’s IP Designer retargetable tool suite.

While conditions in the global semiconductor industry this year are set to improve dramatically compared to a dismal 2009 the reality is, according to a new report from iSuppli Corp., that this year is likely to deliver only a modest recovery when viewed from a longer-term perspective.

iSuppli is predicting global semiconductor revenue in 2010 is set to amount to $279.7 billion. While this represents a striking 21.5 percent rise from $230 million in 2009, it amounts to only an 8 percent increase from $258.9 billion in 2008, and a scant 2.3 expansion compared to $273.4 billion in 2007.

With market conditions in 2009 dictated by macroeconomic factors that were independent of the technology business, comparisons with 2007 and 2008 provide a more accurate depiction of 2010 semiconductor market conditions, iSuppli believes.

Energy Micro has announced a range of entry-level devices for low power applications subject to stringent PCB space and product cost limitations. The EFM32 'Tiny Gecko' (TG) microcontrollers provide the energy-efficient performance of the company's bigger Gecko products combined with smaller Flash and RAM combinations and a choice of space saving QFN20, QFN32 and QFN64 packaging.

Atmel Corporation has announced the availability of the new single-chip AES-128 immobilizer and remote keyless entry AVR microcontroller for combi-key applications. This combi-key application will enable a fully integrated solution for automotive manufacturers and consumers seeking an easier to use, integrated system. Atmel's ATA5795 is specifically targeted for high-volume, uni-directional car keys, while the immobilizer and the remote keyless entry functions are integrated in the same fob. An immobilizer is an electronic device fitted to an automobile which prevents the engine from running unless the correct key (or other token) is present.

Renesas Technology Europe has announced the development of a new ThreadX board support package from Express Logic for its SH7216 microcontroller. Customers using the integrated connectivity chip, the SH7216, which is aimed at real time control, will now have an additional option for their choice of operating system in the real time operating system, ThreadX, which also delivers connectivity software.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has become the first and only pure play foundry to offer an embedded non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) process feature, leading to a single-chip solution. Combining the benefits of quickly accessible SRAM with the non-volatile data retention of EEPROM or FLASH memories, the new NVRAM capability of the XH018 process and supporting NVRAM compiler enable customers to achieve the same or better functionality in significantly less chip area, and to save time and effort as they design and test.

Numonyx has introduced the industry’s first 65nm multiple I/O serial flash memory product line. The new Numonyx Forté N25Q serial flash family is designed to deliver performance, flexibility and reliability for embedded applications found in PCs, set-top boxes and communications devices.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has introduced the industry’s first 12-channel sequencer and system health manager with fan control and multiphase PWM clock generator. The UCD90124 integrates system power management and system thermal management into one device, which reduces board space and eases design, while providing highly intelligent system health monitoring. The UCD90124 features power supply margining and comprehensive non-volatile error logging, allowing customers to diagnose power supply failures in their systems.

Intel and RealVNC have collaborated to embed VNC remote control technology in the new 2010 Intel Core vPro processor family providing a built-in, fully graphical remote control capability to facilitate problem diagnosis and resolution.

KVM and KVM-over-IP solutions have been available for many years in the form of external hardware add-ons. Intel’s collaboration with RealVNC makes out-of-the-box KVM functionality a feature of Intel vPro Technology.

The Atmel Corporation and i-Novi, a leading design services team, have announced they will join forces to deliver a 3D Accelerometer (3DA) and capacitive touch sensing intuitive wireless lighting control reference design platform.

This reference design is based on Atmel's QTouch Library supported RF single-chip, ATmega128RFA1, featuring both a high-performance Atmel AVR microcontroller and Atmel's best-in-class 2.4 GHz RF transceiver in a single chip. Combining QMatrix and R4Control, Atmel's ZigBee RF4CE compliant software platform, the ATmega128RFA1 has been designed for  touch-based RF remote controls including lighting control, remote control, iPOD® docking interface, and control panels keypads.

STMicroelectronics has released details of a new ultra low-cost 32-bit microcontroller that will bring the advantages of the STM32’s 32-bit advanced industry-standard core into applications served by lower-performing devices that lock developers into proprietary processor architectures.

Silicon Laboratories has launched the Si4830 AM/FM receiver, an IC designed to reduce product design time and system costs as well as streamline manufacturing for a wide range of radio products such as portable radios, boom boxes, clock and lamp radios, toy radios and give-away radios.

Renesas Technology Europe has announced a new generation of R8C Family microcontrollers (MCUs) that are based on the latest process technology tailored for high performance 8 bit applications. Built on a powerful 16-bit CPU core, the R8C/3x MCUs with on-chip flash have an extended operating voltage range of 1.8V to 5.5V. They incorporate new and enhanced analogue functions, including level-only-sensitive power-on reset circuits, high speed digital-to-analogue converters and analogue comparators. In addition, their overall performance has been boosted by the addition of a data transfer controller (DTC) and a background operation (BGO) function for flash memory rewriting.

Emerson Network Power and Freescale Semiconductor have announced a collaborative effort to deploy Freescale’s multicore QorIQ processors on modular single-board computers (SBCs) based on the COM Express small form factor.

The goal of the collaborative initiative is to deliver power, performance, integration and broad feature sets that are associated with embedded processors to systems designers targeting the telecom, military, aerospace, medical and factory automation markets. Resulting products are intended to help OEMs simplify design cycles, reduce development costs and speed time-to-market.

In a move designed to meet the need for energy efficiency in home automation and metering, Silicon Laboratories has introduced the industry's lowest power single-chip wireless microcontrollers (MCUs). Silicon Labs' new ultra-low-power Si10xx wireless MCU family looks to address the power and RF requirements of battery-operated home automation systems, smart meters, in-home utility monitors and security systems.

Fujitsu Microelectronics Europe (FME) has announced a new application concept showing the possibilities for virtual instrumentation in future passenger and commercial vehicles. The intention of developing the virtual cluster application was to provide a ‘right-sized’ complete system solution including hardware and software components, a demo application, as well as tool support to enable a quick start to development.

STMicroelectronics has announced sample availability of the first in a new family of products capable of remotely programming or updating electronic products, anytime during their lifetime, and anywhere in the supply chain. The new devices enable manufacturers to update parameters, regionalize or activate software without connecting a programmer, or even opening the retail packaging. This pioneering way to access the memory will allow businesses to add new functions and capabilities to their products, but also reduce manufacturing costs, simplify inventory management, and respond more quickly to changing market demands.

The Atmel Corporation has announced a new secure microcontroller dedicated to deeply embedded security functions including brand and IP (intellectual property) protection against counterfeiting and cloning. Atmel's AT90SO4 is the newest member of the AT90SO product family - a family that offers a wide range of interfaces to bring security in any system.

Express Logic, Inc., a developer of royalty-free real-time operating systems (RTOS), and IAR Systems, a provider of software tools for embedded systems, have announced a commercial-grade integration for developers of serious applications. The integration combines Express Logic's ThreadX RTOS and IAR Embedded Workbench IDE in a form that can be used out-of-the box by developers of embedded applications.

Atmel Corporation has announced a new turnkey security module to protect brand and IP (intellectual property) against counterfeiting and cloning. Based on Atmel's AT90SO secureAVR microcontrollers, the VaultIC200 is the newest member of the VaultIC product family - a family that offers secure microcontrollers with multiple interfaces and bundled security firmware.

The VaultIC200 can protect against cloning of various applications including ink and toner cartridges, computer and gaming console accessories, white goods, batteries and battery chargers, mp3 players, Bluetooth earphones, smart energy meters and more.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced the world’s first ARM Cortex-M3 microcontroller to feature a single 5V supply. Combining high performance and low power consumption, the TMPM380FY combines comprehensive serial connectivity with a number of on-board features and peripherals that meet the specific needs of industrial and home appliance designs.

Altium has announced a technology partnership with Atmel to co-develop an integrated solution combining Atmel's Qtouch Studio, a touch sensor configuration tool, and Altium's electronics design solution Altium Designer. Brokered and negotiated in Europe, the partnership will be worldwide in scope.

"We are excited to be creating the industry’s first native touch sensor development solution," said Martin Harris, Vice President EMEA, Altium. "With Atmel and Altium, engineers can reduce design time by up to 90%. These productivity improvements will help companies compete and focus on developing product differentiation, instead of wasting time on inefficient design processes.

Freescale Semiconductor has announced 90 nanometer (nm) thin film storage (TFS) flash memory technology for its next-generation microcontroller (MCU) platforms. The technology is expected to be deployed in Freescale MCUs targeted for applications ranging from consumer electronics and household appliances to medical devices and smart metering systems.

Renesas Technology Europe has released the second selection of products in its wide RX Platform product line-up. The RX Platform is built around the new RX CPU and comprises the next generation of MCUs integrating the functions of Renesas Technology’s existing 16-bit and 32-bit MCU products.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced an evaluation kit for the development of embedded systems designed to control three-phase BLDC (brushless DC) motors. Based on the company‘s TMPM370 family of ARM Cortex-M3 microcontrollers, the kit has been designed to speed up and simplify the design of motion control systems for pumps, fans, robotics, and other industrial and home appliance applications.

Actel Corporation has unveiled the world’s first intelligent mixed-signal FPGA at this year’s Embedded World conference. Available in production quantities, these SmartFusion devices feature Actel’s FPGA fabric, a complete microcontroller subsystem built around a hard ARM Cortex-M3 processor and programmable analogue blocks on a flash process. As a result, according to the company, embedded designers will be able to easily build the system they want, with all the features they need, on a single chip.

STMicroelectronics has announced two significant advances designed to improve the performance and power consumption of its STM32 family: these are production devices featuring embedded Flash at 90nm process technology; and the industry’s first Adaptive Real-Time (ART) memory accelerator optimised for the STM32’s industry-standard ARM Cortex-M3 processor.

Xilinx Inc. has laid the foundation for the next-generation of Xilinx programmable platforms that will give system designers FPGAs that will consume half the power at twice the capacity than previously possible. Xilinx is looking to maximise the value of the 28nm technology node by choosing a high-performance, low-power process technology, a common scalable architecture across product ranges, and tool innovations so customers will have FPGAs that deliver the ASIC-class capabilities they need to meet their cost and power budgets, while improving their productivity as a result of easier design migration and IP reuse.

NXP Semiconductors has become one of the first ARM partners to license the latest ARM Cortex-M4 processor. The Cortex-M4 processor has been designed for digital signal control (DSC) applications. NXP intends to use the Cortex-M4 processor for a wide range of applications which require greater flexibility and signal processing capabilities, such as motor control, automotive, power management, embedded audio and industrial automation applications.

ARM has launched the Cortex-M4 processor in a move designed to provide a highly efficient solution for digital signal control (DSC) applications.

The combination of high-efficiency signal processing functionality with the low-power, low cost and ease-of-use benefits of the Cortex-M family processors is designed to provide flexible solutions specifically targeting the motor control, automotive, power management, embedded audio and industrial automation markets.

A European taskforce has been set up to investigate how to design the next generation of tera-scale computer memory systems.

Within the next decade microchips are expected to incorporate billions of transistors – the tiny on-off switches that enable circuits to process and store data – creating ultra-powerful computer systems that can process trillions of bytes (terabytes) of data per second.

However, as transistors get smaller, so tiny variations within their structures affect their performance and thus the reliability of the whole microchip. It is a problem which presents a huge barrier to the continued scaling of microchips and the development of ever-more powerful computers.

"I never dreamed that it would turn out to be the bees; they've always been our friend." said the Michael Caine character Dr Brad Crane in the 1978 disaster movie: the Swarm.

Identifying which bees have stuck their tongues out and providing each with a sugar reward is probably not top of the list of design challenges that electronics engineers expect to face. Nevertheless, this is exactly the brief ML Electronics was given in developing an automatic Bee Conditioning Unit (BCU) for Inscentinel, a biotechnology company that uses the insects for trace vapour detection.

STMicroelectronics has announced the first silicon surge protectors meeting international surge-protection standard IEC61000-4-5, with a family of devices delivering high reliability and effective protection throughout the entire operating-temperature range.

The STIEC45 Transil family provides mandatory protection for power supplies against surges, electrostatic discharge, and electrical fast transients. Metal-Oxide Varistors (MOVs) are usually connected to prevent surge energy reaching the power supply, but silicon surge protectors are more reliable. Among these, only the STIEC45 family is specified according to IEC61000-4-5.

Supertex has introduced the HV9963, a closed-loop LED driver IC with pulse width modulated (PWM) dimming capability designed to optimise LED performance and efficiency and extend LED life. The IC is suitable for DC/DC applications such as RGB or white LED backlighting, LCD TVs and monitors, and LED lamps for general lighting.

The HV9963 used a closed-loop system to control the current going to the LED string, which is an active, real-time system that continuously monitors the LED current via sense resistors. The HV9963 includes a 1.0MHz transconductance amplifier with a tri-state output, which closes feedback loops in the sensing process and provides accurate current control. It can be synchronised in applications requiring multiple LED drivers to prevent the system sub-harmonic oscillations that are often associated with driving multiple driver schemes.

Kontron has announced the introduction of the Kontron AM5030, one of the first Advanced Mezzanine Cards designed with a quad-core processor.

This new Kontron double-wide, full-size AMC module features the new Intel Xeon processor LC5518, which is based on the latest Intel microarchitecture and delivers with its 45nm process technology even lower power consumption and higher integration. This makes the Kontron AM5030 an attractive solution for MicroTCA platforms designed for dense server environments deployed in storage, military/aerospace and communications networks such as IPTV, VoIP, NAS, SAN and wireless radio network controllers.

e2v, a designer and manufacturer of specialised electronic components, has announced the availability of a high speed 10-bit 3 Gsps demultiplexer (DMUX) featuring LVDS compatible differential data and clock inputs for easy interface into Digital Signal Processor (DSP) or industry standard Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA). 

STMicroelectronics has introduced a new 3-axis digital gyroscope that employs a single sensing structure for motion measurement along all three orthogonal axes. This new design approach significantly increases accuracy and reliability in motion-controlled consumer applications, paving the way to previously unseen levels of realism.

Lime Microsystems has announced the availability of the LMS6002D, a multi-band multi-standard RF transceiver IC designed for small cell base stations and femtocells, featuring integrated high performance dual ADC and DAC. This single chip transceiver solution delivers increased levels of integration over the company's analogue version, the LMS6002. The highly frequency agile transceiver operates at user-selectable frequencies between 375MHz and 4GHz and is suitable for 3G, WiMAX, and LTE operation.

STMicroelectronics has announced the world’s first device combining field signal-termination and protection functions, enabling designers of industrial control and building-automation equipment to increase system performance and EMI robustness while simultaneously cutting power consumption, size, and heat dissipation.

The market for control and processing equipment is expected to exceed $71.6bn globally in 2010 and equipment is becoming more sophisticated as designers add extra digital signal channels to increase system capabilities and precision. This also increases size and power consumption of functional blocks which require extra components to handle the additional channels. Optical isolation usually requires further protection, for equipment and users, against effects such as power surges or electrostatic discharge (ESD).

CEVA has unveiled the CEVA-MM3000, a fully programmable, HD video and imaging platform specifically designed for portable multimedia and home entertainment devices.

Based on a heterogeneous, scalable multi-core architecture, this low-power, platform delivers full-HD, 1080p video decode and encode at up to 60 frames per second (fps), supporting advanced  video standards, including H.264, VC1, Real Video, AVS, VP6/7/8, as well as future standards such as SVC (Scalable Video Codec) and MVC (Multi-view Video Codec, for 3D video).

It also supports video and image pre/post processing algorithms such as scaling, stabilizer, and noise reduction in addition to many proprietary add-on applications, for example, augmented reality, gesture recognition and face detection.

NXP Semiconductors has announced that its CGV series of JESD204A-compliant data converters are now interoperable with Altera Corporation’s Stratix IV GX and Arria II GX FPGA families, and will also be interoperable in the future with the Cyclone IV GX FPGA family. Assured interoperability and interworking between programmable logic devices and high-speed converters is a critical acceptance criterion for equipment designers as it eliminates risk and cost associated with project schedules.

STMicroelectronics has introduced the first members in its iNEMO family of multi-sensor Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) devices. It is hoped that the integration of a variety of motion, magnetic, pressure and temperature sensors with a 32-bit processing unit and dedicated software in one package will lead to a leap in functionality and performance in a wide variety of applications, including Gaming, Human Machine Interface, Robotics, Portable Navigation Devices and Patient Monitoring.

Wolfson Microelectronics has announced the world’s first digital audio hub solution for mobile phones.

The WM8995 combines together many of Wolfson’s audio components to deliver improved audio performance, significantly enhanced battery life, longer music playback time and more end user features at a lower total cost. The WM8995 will enable system designers to manage multiple concurrent use cases, for example, where the consumer can take a hands-free call over a Bluetooth headset, whilst listening to music and receiving navigation commands.

Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation has unveiled the new PE42440 SP4T (single pole four throw) RF switch. The PE42440, designed on Peregrine’s green UltraCMOS silicon-on-sapphire (SOS) process technology, provides a broadband RF performance from 50 MHz up to 3 GHz.

The HaRP-enhanced switch has best-in-class linearity, making it suitable for general purpose TRx switching in cellular and 2.4 GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) radio bands; antenna tuning; and filter bank tuning/switching in a wide range of applications, including cellular radios and radio modules; antenna tuning of UHF bands through 3 GHz; RFID antenna tuning; 2.4 GHz ISM; Femtocells and other industrial applications.

Wolfson Microelectronics has announced the launch of two new audio amplifiers. The WM9090 and the WM9010 are the latest additions to the company’s audio amplifier portfolio, and will feature in a range of highly integrated mobile phones.

Both devices provide quality audio and extremely low power consumption for optimal audio playback time thanks to highly efficient headphone and speaker drivers. Both devices are packaged in tiny CSP packages, resulting in an ultra small PCB footprint and require minimal external components to reduce bill of materials (BOM) cost.

NEC Electronics has launched new system-on-chips (SoCs) in the EMMA Mobile series. EMMA Mobile /EV is capable of processing high-definition (HD) content and 3D graphics with very low power consumption.

The new EMMA Mobile/EV SoCs have been optimised for the portable device market including portable multi-media players and mobile tablets, integrate ARM’s high-end Cortex-A9 CPU core and a high-performance HD-capable audio-visual (A/V) engine for decoding a multitude of digital video and audio formats. Two versions of the device are available: EMMA Mobile/EV1 with one embedded Cortex-A9 CPU core and EMMA Mobile/EV2 with two embedded Cortex-A9 CPU cores.

Renesas Technology Europe has released the R8C/Mx Series of low-pin-count MCUs with on-chip flash memory (flash MCUs) offering power consumption among the lowest in the industry and improved functions including timers for applications requiring low power consumption, such as electric shavers, electric toothbrushes, and other compact electrical household appliances.

The R8C/Mx Series is a new addition to the R8C Family of flash MCUs.  The new series combines extremely low power consumption and a low pin count. The first products to appear will be the R8C/M11A, with a 14-pin package, and the R8C/M12A, with a 20-pin package. They will comprise a total of six types with 18 products, and sample shipments are scheduled to begin in March 2010.

Texas Instruments (TI) has unveiled the WiLink 7.0 single-chip solution, the industry’s first offering to integrate WLAN 802.11n, GPS, FM transmit/receive and Bluetooth technologies. 

By integrating these capabilities on a single chip, the 65-nanomenter WiLink 7.0 solution has reduced costs by 30 percent, reduced size by 50 percent and delivers an enhanced coexistence performance as compared to today’s existing solutions.

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAX14770E PROFIBUS-DP/RS-485 transceiver. The next-generation BiCMOS process technology enables the device to achieve fast (20Mbps) data throughput while integrating robust (±35kV, HBM) ESD-protected structures in a small TQFN package.

Additionally, the device is fully specified over the -40 - 125ºC automotive temperature range to ensure reliable operation in rugged environments. A pin-compatible upgrade for the MAX3469, the MAX14770E is ideal for industrial motor-control applications, PROFIBUS-DP/RS-485 networks, and fieldbuses.

APTX, a provider of high-performance audio coding solutions for Low-Latency (LL) Audio-over-IP and High-Definition (HD) Voice-over-IP for consumer, enterprise, and broadcast applications, has announced the successful integration, test and commissioning of a wideband, full-duplex (2-way) voice-over-network (VoN) system for Microsoft Game Studios.

Engineered by APTX expressly for Microsoft Game Studios, this turnkey solution combines apt-X audio coding and special AoIP protocol software to enable high-quality, 2-way, voice telephony. The solution provided to Microsoft Game Studios is especially optimized for massively multi-player online games (MMOG) from Microsoft Game Studios in Redmond, Washington, USA.

Rambus has unveiled its Mobile XDR memory architecture for next-generation mobile devices. Based on Rambus’ Mobile Memory Initiative introduced last year, Mobile XDR offers a high-bandwidth, low-power memory architecture to enable advanced applications in next-generation mobile devices such as smart phones, netbooks, portable gaming and media devices.

STMicroelectronics has completed its portfolio of industry-standard comparators in space-saving packages with the introduction of the LMV331 in a choice of 2.00 x 1.25mm SC70 or 2.90 x 1.60mm SOT23 form factors.

Battery-powered devices such as notebook PCs, PDAs and other handheld mobile communications products are major users of low-power comparators, such as the LMV331, for jobs that can include signal handling or event detection. ST’s variety of industry-standard comparators enables designers to optimise power consumption, response time and package size according to application requirements. ST’s new LMV331 variants, in miniature 5-pin packages, have been designed to offer greater choice to designers who are seeking to combine speed and power for space-constrained applications. 

NEC Electronics has introduced its new camera engine 151 (CE151) system-on-chip (SoC), an image processing device for camera phones to provide clear and high-quality images comparable to digital-still cameras (DSCs).

The CE151 SoC provides advanced picture quality, performance, and functions for still images and video data but with reduced energy consumption. It is the latest in a line of SoC’s designed for this market from NEC. In 2007 NEC launched the CE131 SoC which, to date, has provided the eight- megapixel mobile-phone market segment with accumulated shipments of over 30 million units, while in 2009 NEC unveiled the CE143 SoC which was designed to provide processing of 12-Megapixel images and full high-definition (HD) video.

Phyworks new PHY2210 equalising cable transceiver will enable cable manufacturers to extend the reach and reduce the gauge of active copper cable assemblies supporting all standard data rates up to 10.5Gbps. Integrating a high performance equaliser, limiting output amplifier and easily adjusted pre-emphasis cable driver, the PHY2210 will handle 10G datarates running over 15m of lightweight 24AWG twin ax cable.

Provided in a 5mm x 5mm QFN package with a maximum power dissipation of only 500mW, the PHY2210 will particularly benefit SFP+ compliant active cables, where both power capacity and PCB space are limited.  By integrating all receive and transmit functions in a single chip, the device will help reduce the power consumption, overall component count and cost of intra-rack, rack-to-rack and switch-to-switch data center cabling.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has introduced a new family of flexible I/O expander ICs for use in mobile phone handsets and industrial and medical applications. The TC35892/3/4 devices provide a low power solution to help overcome CPU limitations, adding connectivity and programmable functionality, including signal generation, keyboard support and PAL logic functions.

Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced a new 3.2-W, mono Class-D audio amp with an integrated digital-to-analog converter (DAC) noise filter that reduces codec noise by as much as 82 percent, compared to devices without this feature. The TPA2011D1’s integrated noise filter has been designed to eliminate the need for an external filter on the inputs, reducing component count and cost.

ST-Ericsson has launched a family of single-chip 1080p high-definition multimedia interface (HDMI) transmitters to enable streaming of high-definition multimedia content from mobile devices to TVs.  Consumers will now be able to easily connect their mobile devices to new (digital) as well as old (analog) televisions to playback HD videos, photos, movies and games.

"Today mobile computing is rapidly moving into the high definition world, enabling superb 3D, HD, video and imaging on your mobile device," said Patrick Duréault, head of the Analog and Mixed Signal unit at ST-Ericsson.  "We are driving innovation in high definition mobility by integrating key entertainment technologies to create a more enjoyable experience for consumers. Our latest family of transmitters will further enhance the role of mobile devices as entertainment hubs."

Samsung Electronics has announced that the industry's first 30-nanometer-class DRAM has just successfully completed customer evaluations, in two gigabit (Gb) densities. With DDR3
SDRAM becoming the predominant main memory this quarter, Samsung's aggressive advancement in process technology will raise productivity and expedite dissemination of high performance, 1.5V and 1.35V DDR3 for servers, desktops and notebook PCs.

"Our accelerated development of next generation 30nm-class DRAM should keep us in the most competitive position in the memory market," said Soo-In Cho, president, Memory Division, Samsung Electronics.

Renesas Technology Europe has announced the release of SH74552 and SH74562 32-bit MCUs for applications of advanced driver assistance systems, needed in automobile “active safety” systems, such as those for obstacle detection and risk avoidance. Sample shipments will begin in May 2010.

The specifications of the SH74552 and SH74562 have been carefully selected for systems intended for mid and low range vehicles. By integrating in a compact package the capability for high-speed and fine-grained processing of large amounts of data from sensors, they make it possible to build systems that are more compact and lower in cost.

The new microETXexpress-XL from Kontron featuring the Intel Atom processor Z520PT and Intel System Controller Hub US15WPT, offers a compact form factor COM Express Type 2 Computer-on-Module specifically designed for use in the industrial temperature E2 range from -40 to 85°C.

The Kontron microETXexpress-XL with the robust COM Express Type 2 connector is specifically designed for applications used in extreme environmental conditions ranging from very high to very low temperatures, and especially stressful cycling thermal conditions such as in UAVs, which experience high temperatures on the ground and extremely low temperatures at their operational altitude.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp. has introduced a touchscreen device driver supporting the Android mobile handset platform, and announced that it has joined the Open Handset Alliance. The I2C interface driver for Cypress's TrueTouch touchscreen solution gives manufacturers of handsets based on Android or other Linux operating systems an easy and quick path to delivering high-performance touchscreen interfaces. The driver supports single-touch and multi-touch signaling and is backwards compatible for applications written in earlier versions of Android.

Microchip has announced a new member of its 8- and 14-pin PIC16F61X 8-bit PIC microcontroller (MCU) family, targeting cost-effective general-purpose applications. The PIC12F617 MCU features 3.5kbyte of self-programmable Flash program memory, and peripherals such as a 10-bit Analogue-to-Digital Converter (ADC), comparator, Pulse-Width Modulator (PWM) and VREF for closed-loop-control applications - all in a 3 mm x 3 mm DFN package.

Wolfson Microelectronics has launched the WM8912, an ultra low power DAC designed to significantly extend playback time, reduce system cost and dramatically enhance audio performance in portable applications, including media players, headsets, multimedia phones and navigation devices.

The WM8912 is the latest addition to Wolfson’s portfolio of ultra low power audio solutions, delivering quality audio performance and low power consumption in an ultra thin, cost competitive package.

EZchip Semiconductor Ltd., a developer of  Ethernet network processors, has announced that it is sampling its NP-4 100-Gigabit network processor (NPU). According to EZchip the NP-4 will be the highest performance programmable single-chip solution for Carrier Ethernet equipment on the market.

The company says that the NP-4 represents a breakthrough in performance and integration to enable building the next generation of high-density switch/router line cards that will feature 200-400 Gigabit-per-second (Gbps) throughput and 20-40 10-Gigabit ports. The NP-4 has already been selected for use by a number of customers, including Tier-1 vendors, in a variety of applications.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has introduced its first dual-output fully synchronous SWIFT power management integrated circuit. The TPS54290 1.5-A/2.5-A converter simplifies power design in consumer electronics with a 12-V power supply, such as a set top box or digital TV.

The SWIFT device operates from a 4.5-V to 18-V input supply voltage, and supports output voltages as low as 0.8 V with a 90 percent power efficiency rating. The TPS54290 is set at a fixed frequency of 300 kHz. Two other family members, the TPS54291 and TPS54292, provide switching frequencies of 600 kHz and 1.2 MHz, further reducing the DC/DC solution size.

STMicroelectronics has introduced a highly integrated low-noise ultrasound pulse controller. Built using ST’s high-voltage BCD mixed-signal technology, the STHV748 provides four independent channels, each of which generates precisely controlled high-voltage pulses to drive piezoelectric crystals or other transducers. The device enables the next generation of high-performance ultrasound imaging systems in a small form factor.

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAX17120/MAX17121, triple/dual, high-voltage, level-shifting scan drivers for TFT panels with integrated gate logic. These devices minimise panel cost in LCD TVs by integrating all logic required to implement a high-performance scan-driver system.

Kontron has unveiled the market's most powerful single-width AdvancedMC processor module, designed with the new Intel Mobile Core i7 processor: the Kontron AM4020. With up to 2 x 2.53 GHz, the new Kontron AMC module offers the ultimate in computing power and integrated graphics when utilised in MicroTCA and AdvancedTCA integrated platforms.

The single-width Kontron AM4020 AdvancedMC processor board integrates for the first time the memory controller, PCI Express, and the graphics processor within the multi-core processor. Equipped with the highly-integrated Intel QM 57 Platform Controller Hub, it offers high power density and performance on an extremely compact footprint.

Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced the industry’s smallest, full-featured battery fuel gauge integrated circuit for portable consumer, commercial and industrial applications. The bq3060 has been designed to turn a battery into a “smart battery” that is able to measure, and also maintain, an accurate record of available capacity, voltage, current, temperature and other critical parameters for lithium-based batteries. The single chip also provides robust battery safety, including authentication, short-circuit and discharge protection.

NXP and Intrinsic-ID, an emerging semiconductor intellectual property (IP) and services provider, have signed a collaborative agreement to license and deploy a hardware intrinsic security (HIS) solution in NXP’s next generation SmartMX security chip technology. The partnership enables NXP to use Intrinsic-ID’s Quiddikey solution to secure SmartMX-powered assets against cloning, tampering, theft-of-service and reverse engineering.

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAX13171E multiprotocol data transceiver, the MAX13173E multiprotocol clock transceiver, and the MAX13175E multiprotocol termination IC. These three devices form a new multiprotocol transceiver chipset that supports V.28 (RS-232), V.10/V.11 (RS-449/V.36, EIA-530, EIA-530A, X.21), and V.35 protocols. Designed using Maxim's next-generation BiCMOS process technology, this chipset is a pin-compatible upgrade for the MXL1543B/MXL1544/MXL1344 chipset.

Texas Instruments (TI) is adding two new devices, the TMS320C5514 and TMS320C5515, to the industry’s lowest power 16-bit digital signal processor (DSP) C5000 platform. TI has also announced two evaluation options including a full-featured TMDXEVM5515 evaluation module and a new low cost TMDX5515EZDSP.

Analog Devices, Inc. has unveiled the latest entries in its Blackfin family of processors for converged digital signal and control processing applications – the Blackfin BF50x series.

Delivering up to 100% greater performance than comparably priced processors with integrated analog-to-digital converters (ADC) and flash memory, BF50x series processors look set to enable designers to achieve significant gains in signal conversion and computational precision, and apply advanced power control techniques to yield greater energy efficiency for industrial applications.

Analog Devices has also introduced a new EZ-KIT Lite evaluation platform for the Blackfin BF50x series, providing a cost-effective entry point for processor evaluation.

Peregrine Semiconductor Corporation, a supplier of high- performance RF CMOS and mixed-signal communications ICs, has announced the new PE42556 SPDT (single pole double throw) RF switch. The PE42556, designed on Peregrine’s UltraCMOS silicon-on-sapphire process technology, features impressive broadband RF performance from 9 kHz up to 13.5 GHz without gate or phase lag and insertion loss drift, and ensures fast switch-settling time.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has expanded its range of 32-bit ARM9 microcontrollers that combines integrated graphics capabilities with a comprehensive set of on-board peripherals and interfaces. The TMPA900CMXBG low-power device adds USB Host functionality, USB Device support and features that simplify compliance with the IEC60730 Class B home appliance safety standards.

Wolfson Microelectronics has introduced the WM8595, a multi-channel audio codec, designed to offer a complete high performance audio solution in an ultra thin package for consumer products, including high definition digital televisions, DVD recorders and Blu-ray players.

The WM8595 is a new addition to Wolfson’s Pure Sound audio portfolio and features flexible routing options, six stereo input selectors and two stereo output selectors, as well as both digital and analogue volume control. Based around one 24-bit high performance ADC and two 24-bit high performance DACs, this comprehensive 2Vrms audio solution also features channel selection and clocking options to address the audio requirements of leading consumer applications.

Samsung Electronics has announced two new high-density memory solutions for mobile devices. The new storage solutions - a 64-gigabyte (GB) moviNANDTM memory device and a 32GB micro secure digital (microSD) memory card – look to address mobile handset designers' requirements for advanced compact high-density memory.

"Samsung's high-density memory solutions bring the storage capacity levels of computing systems to small, mobile devices," said Dong-Soo Jun, executive vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Electronics.

Undetected bonding pressure variations can result in poor or open flip chip connections, which reduce yield and long-term reliability while at the same time raising costs. Maintaining a uniform distribution of bonding pressure across a flip chip die assures chip to substrate coplanarity, optimal bump compression, and a controlled, reproducible die to substrate gap. 

Pressurex pressure indicating sensor film from Sensor Products has been designed to assist flip chip bonders which lack the capability to measure pressure variations across the bonding tool but instead rely on average pressure with the assumption that it is uniformly distributed. Now a proven control measure in wafer-to-wafer bonding, Pressurex could extend similar low-cost coplanarity and uniformity control to flip chip bonding.

ROHM Co. and Hosiden Corp. have developed the industry's first high-speed optical communication module-unit featuring a transmission rate of 2.5Gbps for inter-substrate communication within portable devices such as mobile phones.

Transmission data volumes continue to increase as a result of greater display resolution, improved camera picture quality, and the addition of video playback functionality, making inter-substrate transmission rate an increasingly important characteristic. The transmission rate through conventional thin coaxial lines or flexible cables that employ copper wiring, however, is only about 500Mbps due to the effects of attenuation and fluctuation from bending, seriously hindering efforts to increase internal system data transmission speeds. Copper wiring also requires 40 to 50 wires, making the cable difficult to bend, causing problems during assembly. In addition, the connector and cable footprints are large, and the copper lines both generate and are susceptible to noise.

Analog Devices, (ADI) has collaborated with Cannondale Bicycles to incorporate ADI’s iMEMs accelerometer technology into Cannondale’s revolutionary Simon electronic front suspension system. Demonstrated as a concept at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, the programmable Simon suspension system uses an ADI single-axis iMEMS accelerometer to monitor the terrain at 2-millisecond intervals. This data is processed by the Simon system to access more than 10,000 terrain-response maps to provide optimal bicycle suspension control. Unlike previous mountain bike front suspension technologies, which relied on mechanical devices with slower response times, the Simon front suspension system incorporates ADI’s accelerometers for real-time response, which allows riders to instantly adapt to changing trail conditions.

Atmel Corporation has announced the SAM9M10, a high-performance ARM926EJ-based embedded microprocessor (MPU) that integrates a video decoder and 2D acceleration (scaling, rotating, color space conversion, picture in picture) to provide high-quality video performance in industrial embedded applications. The SAM9M10 is targeted at media rich display and control panels in application segments such as home and commercial buildings, POS (Point of Sale) terminals, entertainment systems, Internet appliances and medical.

In the wake of Intel’s Core i7 processor announcement at the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Kontron has introduced the Kontron VX6060, a new VPX computing blade for parallel data and signal processing applications.

With two independently implemented Intel Core i7 processing nodes, linked to a powerful Ethernet and PCIe infrastructure, the Kontron VPX blade VX6060 provides the building block for intensive parallel computing workloads where a cluster of Kontron VX6060s can be used in full mesh VPX or switched OpenVPX environments.

Concurrent Technologies has announced the launch of its latest high performance CompactPCI  processor board - the PP 712/08x.

In keeping with customer needs, the board has been designed specifically to address the requirements of high performance processing within the telecoms, defence and homeland security markets, and augments the Company’s existing family of CompactPCI boards.

This latest board uses processors from Intel which were only recently announced. The PP 712/08x uses the latest 32nm processors from Intel’s embedded long life roadmap – either the 2.53GHz Intel Core i7, 2.0GHz Intel Core i7 or the 1.06GHz Intel Core i7.

Intel Corporation has used CES to introduce the new 2010 Intel Core family of processors delivering improved integration and performance, and including the Intwel Turbo Boost Technology specifically for laptops, desktops and embedded devices.

The introduction of new i7, i5 and i3 chips coincides with the arrival of Intel's new 32 nanometer (nm) manufacturing process – which for the first time in the company's history – will be used to immediately produce and deliver processors and features at a variety of price points, and integrate high-definition graphics inside the processor. This unprecedented ramp and innovation reflects Intel's $7 billion investment announced early last year.

With 2009 being seen as a watershed year in the evolution of the eBook market, manufacturers and developers are racing to meet consumer demands in this emerging segment. In response Texas Instruments has unveiled an OMAP 3 processor-based eBook development platform to help manufacturers and developers rapidly deploy their ideas to launch new, innovative eBook readers into consumers’ hands.

With an electrophoretic display TI’s comprehensive platform includes the new OMAP3621 applications processor, WiLink 6.0 WiFi/Bluetooth/FM “combo” connectivity solution, the new TPS6518x electronic paper display (EPD) power management IC, along with other TI analog solutions, and 3G modem connectivity support.

The Toshiba Corporation has announced an expanded line-up of NAND-flash-based solid state drives (SSDs) based on the company’s 32nm Multi-Level- Cell NAND flash memories. The new drives include the industry's first 128-gigabyte (GB) Half-Slim /mSATA SG Series SSD modules, ideally suited for a variety of applications including mini-mobile and netbook PCs, and the HG Series that delivers all the high level performance and endurance essential for notebook computers and for gaming and home entertainment systems.

As the latest high-tech devices such as smartphones, mobile internet devices and netbooks adopt multi-touch touchscreens to support increasingly sophisticated ‘apps’ and games, STMicroelectronics has introduced a very advanced multi-touch ‘resistive’ touchscreen controller chip to optimise the Bill of Materials of the electronics supporting this advanced capability. The STM32TS60 is the first member of ST’s new STMTouch family, which offers a broad portfolio of solutions including multi-touch devices and proximity and touch-key sensors.

Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing has introduced the SVME/DMV-186, its latest rugged 6U VME64 single board computer (SBC). The SVME/DMV-186 is powered by Freescale’s QorIQ P4080 family of higher performance processors and provides up to eight Power Architecture processor cores and associated high-performance data-path acceleration logic, network and peripheral bus interfaces with superior MIPS/Watt performance.

CommAgility has launched a new Advanced Mezzanine Card module, further expanding its range of processing subsystems. The AMC-3D74 includes a front panel mounted Serial RapidIO (SRIO) interface, and provides a cost-effective, high performance solution for test equipment and general purpose DSP processing applications.

STMicroelectronics has announced details of a new generation of decoder chips that will enable hybrid Internet/broadcast-TV set-top boxes (STBs) featured to deliver enhanced user experiences and allow consumers to experience broadcast, Internet or personal content on the TV, intuitively and at any time. The STi7108 joins ST’s STi710x video decoders, and also provides features to support 3D graphics user controls, 3D TV, content protection, and connections to external devices.

NXP Semiconductors and ARM are set to showcase the recently announced NXP 847x/8x/9x SoC family, which is based on multiple ARM Cortex processors, at CES.  The NXP PNX847x/8x/9x IS the world’s first fully integrated 45nm Set-Top Box(STB) SoC platform incorporating multi-channel broadcast receivers. The NXP PNX847x/8x/9x uses the ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore and ARM Cortex-M3 processors.

“The NXP PNX847x/8x/9x platform provides an optimised system that significantly reduces the manufacturer bill-of-materials costs and power consumption,” said Christos Lagomichos, executive vice president, business unit home, NXP Semiconductors. “With STBs and DVRs getting more and more complicated, power efficiency has been one of the major challenges for the industry. By leveraging low-power and high-performance processors from ARM, we are able to bring the next-generation HD STB and DVR features to our customers.”  

STMicroelectronics has integrated a 3-axis digital accelerometer with a 3-axis digital magnetic sensor in a single module. The digital compass module combines high accuracy with small form factor and low power consumption and has been designed to meet the growing market demand for advanced navigation capabilities and emerging smart location-based services. ST’s high-performance system-in-package digital compass uses magneto-resistive technology from Honeywell and aims to accelerate the adoption of enhanced electronic compassing in portable consumer applications, including direction finding, map/display orientation, location-based services and pedestrian dead reckoning.

Maxim Integrated Products has launched the MAX17106, a fully integrated PMIC (power-management IC) that minimises BOM cost and solution size for notebook LCD panels. This device is equipped with two boost regulators, an LDO, a programmable VCOM calibrator with buffer, three high-speed op amps, a high-voltage level-shifting scan driver, and 18KB of EEPROM. Fabricated using Maxim's proprietary high-voltage BiCMOS process, the MAX17106 integrates all blocks required to power the LCD source drivers, gate drivers, and VCOM backplane.

austriamicrosystems has introduced the AS3607, a highly integrated power management IC (PMIC). The AS3607 features a level of start-up sequence programmability not found in competing devices. This PMIC is suitable for portable navigation devices, portable media players, e-dictionaries, GPS devices, PDAs and a wide range of battery powered handheld devices using ARM-based processors.

Freescale Semiconductor has unveiled a new tablet reference design featuring a 7-inch touch screen with up to four times the viewing area of a typical smartphone and based on a form factor that is approximately one-third the size and volume of today’s typical netbook.

The solution is intended to enable a second generation of smartbook products featuring form factors that fully leverage the power, performance and functionality advantages of advanced ARM processor technology. It is designed to provide instant-on functionality, persistent connectivity and all-day battery life. The tablet will be demonstrated at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show running both the Android and Linux operating systems.

STMicroelectronics has integrated a 3-axis digital accelerometer with a 2-axis analog gyroscope in a single module. The package-level integration of linear and angular motion sensors improves performance, boosts reliability, reduces size and shrinks cost, uncovering new possibilities for high-precision gesture and motion recognition in mobile phones, remote controllers, personal navigation systems and other portable devices.

Wolfson Microelectronics has launched a new addition to its Pure Sound audio portfolio with the introduction of the WM8783, an ultra low pin count, low power stereo ADC solution designed to offer high quality line input audio performance in recordable media applications, including LCD TVs, set top boxes and DVD recorders.

The WM8783 is a simple ‘plug and play’ device requiring a single 3.3V supply. The WM8783 has the lowest ADC pin count on the market today and requires only two decoupling capacitors. The low power WM8783 is also ideal for battery powered applications, providing system designers with an easy-to-use, high quality line-in conversion path, resulting in significant savings on design time, PCB space and the audio subsystem bill of materials (BOM).

The Atmel Corporation has announced the SAM3S series. This series includes 18 general-purpose Cortex-M3 based Flash microcontrollers that simplify PCB design and save 50 percent power at 1MHz operation with a consumption of only 2.3mW. At maximum operating frequency of 64MHz the device consumes 1.45mW/MHz.

austriamicrosystems is complimenting its existing range of market leading UHF RFID Reader ICs for Gen 2 applications with the launch of the AS3992.

The AS3992 includes advanced features such as programmable DRM filters, predistortion and an increased receiver sensitivity of -86dBm. This means for the first time ever, a system including AS3992 with a single design, is universally shippable.

Strengthening the line of Simply Gen 2 reader ICs, the AS3992 also continues to achieve best in class power consumption.  This lower power consumption coupled with its new advanced features positions the AS3992 as the most advanced Gen 2 reader IC on the market.

STMicroelectronics has announced a new series of single-chip controller ICs that deliver the features and performance previously only found in premium or high-end monitors, including advanced 12-bit colour-processing capabilities, enhanced colour fidelity, DisplayPort connectivity and industry-leading ultra-low power consumption when the monitor is in standby mode.

Designed for full high-definition and WUXGA-standard (1920 x 1200 pixel) multimedia monitors, the new STDP6000 series has already gained design wins with leading monitor makers and enables customers to select one or all of its features to introduce highly differentiated monitors with best-in-class viewing experiences at mainstream consumer price points.

NEC Electronics is launching four new 8-bit All Flash LCD microcontrollers (MCUs) with an integrated metrology engine providing energy measurement and management functions for smart electricity meters. The new chips have been designed to help simplify smart meter designs for homes around the world.

The 64-pin 78K0/LE3-M microcontroller comes in a 10 millimeter (mm) x 10mm low-profile quad flat package (LQFP) and is designed for single-phase 2-wire electricity meters, while the, 100-pin 78K0/LG3-M microcontroller comes in a 14mm x 14mm LQFP and is designed for single-phase 3-wire electricity meters.

austriamicrosystems has expanded its low drop out regulator portfolio with the AS1367 “Eco” LDO, capable of delivering up to 150mA at its regulated output.

"The AS1367 LDO provides a solution to variable duty cycle load issues that many customers now experience,” said Bruce Ulrich, Marketing Director Consumer & Communications at austriamicrosystems. “In portable battery powered equipment, as applications are switched on and off intermittently, load current variations can become extreme. austriamicrosystems’ AS1367 LDO can adapt to either heavy or light load situations.”

International Rectifier has introduced the IR11672A SmartRectifier IC with advanced Minimum On Time (MOT) protection circuitry for energy-efficient AC-DC power converters for laptops, LCD and PDP televisions, game consoles, and server and telecom Switch Mode Power Supplies (SMPS).

Featuring IR’s proprietary 200V IC technology, the IR11672A is a smart secondary-side synchronous rectification (SR) controller designed to drive N-Channel power MOSFETs used as synchronous rectifiers in isolated flyback and resonant half-bridge converters.

austriamicrosystems has expanded its low drop out regulator portfolio with the AS1355 triple LDO, capable of delivering up to 300mA at its regulated outputs.

"The AS1355 LDO provides an ultra compact solution for multiple and variable voltage loads" said Bruce Ulrich, Marketing Director Consumer & Communications at austriamicrosystems.

“In many applications both from an unregulated DC-DC source and batteries, multiple non standard point of load (POL) voltages are becoming more common. The AS1355 LDO takes advantage of austriamicrosystems Final Test Trim (FTT) capability enabling customers to realise either samples or production quantities of non standard output voltages within two weeks."

It is usual in GPS applications, that the LNA is placed close to the antenna as the GPS signal received from the GPS satellite tends to be quite weak and needs the LNA to amplify it. This can be achieved by using either a one stage amplifier (about 15dB) or a two stage amplifier (27dB). Two stages increases the amplification capabilities but is often combined with the downside of increasing the noise figure and the power consumption.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has introduced six new digital-to-analog converters (DACs) available in 12-, 14- and 16-bit versions and with either SPI or parallel interface. The eight-channel DAC87x8 family features a typical power consumption in normal mode of 14.8 mW/channel, dropping to <170 uW/channel in power-down mode.

An internal 4x or 6x programmable gain provides a bipolar ±16-V or unipolar 0-V to 33-V output range across eight channels. This eliminates the need for an external amplifier, saving cost and reducing board space by nearly 24 percent over competitive devices in automated test equipment (ATE), instrumentation, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and machine and motion control applications.

Wolfson Microelectronics has launched the WM8904, a new ultra low power CODEC with Class W headphone and line drivers, designed to offer low power consumption and significantly extend playback time in portable applications, such as media players, headsets, voice recorders and multimedia phones.

The WM8904 is part of Wolfson’s family of next generation ultra low power audio devices and delivers high performance audio and market leading power consumption in an ultra slim, low profile form factor.

Samsung Electronics  has announced the first mass production of its 30-nanometer (nm) class, 32 gigabit (Gb), multi-level-cell (MLC) NAND memory with an asynchronous DDR (double data rate) interface. The company said it began shipping initial production of its DDR NAND to major OEMs at the end of November.

DDR NAND will sharply raise the read performance of mobile devices requiring high-speeds and large amounts of storage space. Samsung's new DDR MLC NAND chip, which reads at 133 megabits per second (Mbps), is expected to replace single data rate (SDR) MLC NAND, which has an overall read performance of 40Mbps.

Pentek is introducing the 71620, a multichannel, high-speed data converter XMC module suitable for connection to HF or IF ports for communications, radar, telemetry and medical systems. This new module is the first member of Pentek's Cobalt family of products slated to employ Xilinx’s new Virtex-6 family. Twice as powerful as previous Virtex generations, the new module includes new enhancements in digital signal processing, logic, and clocking technology.

Wolfson Microelectronics has announced that Adaptive Sound Technologies (ASTI) has integrated the WM9081, a single chip mono DAC and speaker amplifier, into its new Ecotones Duet, a sound machine designed to aid millions of people worldwide who suffer from sleep-related problems.

The WM9081, part of the Wolfson AudioPlus device family, is a highly integrated, single chip solution delivering optimum sound pressure levels and maximum intelligibility from speakers in portable navigation devices, mobile handsets, digital radios, and devices such as the Ecotones Duet.

Texas Instruments Incorporated (TI) has introduced the first in a new class of high-speed analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) delivering ultra-low power consumption and excellent dynamic performance across wide signal bandwidths from DC up to 550 MHz.  At the maximum sample rate of 250 mega samples per second (MSPS), the 14-bit ADS4149 consumes 30 percent less power, while delivering 3-dB greater signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) than the nearest low-power ADC.

austriamicrosystems has expanded its RF product portfolio with the AS3930, a single-channel low power, low frequency wakeup receiver which offers the highest sensitivity at lowest current consumption for the industry’s best range. The AS3930 supports the widely used 125 kHz band and, through the optimisation of power consumption, sensitivity and programmability, enables a variety of applications.

Maintenance is essential within most industries but particularly so when expensive machinery and lives are at stake. However, because cost-effectiveness is also high on the list of priorities, to have an optimum maintenance strategy requires walking a fine line between doing too little and too much. For example, insufficient or no maintenance typically leads to equipment failure, and in the aerospace sector this could have catastrophic consequences. Conversely, “erring on the side of caution” and over-maintaining equipment is a costly business. Plus, there are no guarantees that failure will still not occur.

Renesas Technology Europe is sampling the SH-Mobile APE4 (product number: R8A73720), an ARM Cortex(tm)-A8*1 based Application Processor Engine running at a speed of more than 1GHz, targeted for next generation mobile phone and mobile device implementations.

With the integration of various dedicated processing engines the device features multimedia capabilities, such as 1080p full HD video recording/playback at 30fps, and high speed 3D graphics rendering for sophisticated 3D UIs and an advanced gaming experience.

Microchip has announced that it now has the industry’s broadest portfolio of semiconductors specified for operation up to 150°C ambient - including 8- and 16-bit PIC microcontrollers (MCUs) and dsPIC Digital Signal Controllers (DSCs); serial EEPROM devices, and analogue products. 

Qualified and tested in accordance with AEC-Q100 Grade 0 requirements, the devices are optimum for under-the-hood automotive applications; extreme-environment industrial applications, such as down-hole oil drilling and lighting; and for medical applications such as devices that are sterilised in autoclaves.

Texas Instruments has introduced the industry’s smallest four-channel, low-power, low-jitter sine-to-sine wave clock buffer, the first device in a family of sine-wave clock buffers. The CDC3S04 can replace up to three individual same-frequency temperature compensated crystal oscillators (TCXOs), reducing board space and bill of materials (BOM) by nearly half.

Designers can use the CDC3S04 in a wide range of mobile applications including cell phones (UMTS/WCDMA/GSM), smartphones, mobile internet devices (MID), ultra mobile PCs (UMPC), navigation units and global positioning systems (GPS).

Linear Technology has launched the LT3991, a new 1.2A, 55V step-down switching regulator with an integrated boost diode. Its Burst Mode operation keeps quiescent current under 2.8µA in no load standby conditions. The LT3991's 4.3V to 55V input voltage range makes it suitable for automotive and industrial applications.

Its internal 1.7A switch can deliver up to 1.2A of continuous output current to voltages as low as 1.19V. The LT3991's Burst Mode operation offers ultralow quiescent current and can be used in applications such as automotive or industrial systems that demand always-on operation and optimum battery life.

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the DS1842, a 76V APD bias output stage and current-monitoring IC in a 3mm x 3mm TDFN package. Designed using Maxim's BiCMOS process, this device integrates a high-voltage (76V) current source and dual current mirrors for monitoring APD current.

The Atmel Corporation has announced the launch of three new 6-pin picoPower AVR microcontrollers. The ATtiny4, ATtiny5, and ATtiny9 are pin- and code- compatible, include a rich feature set, and execute code 6-times faster than the closest competitor.

Using the AVR CPU, the 6-pin tinyAVR microcontrollers can process up to 12 MIPS at 12 MHz, six times the performance of any other similar sized microcontroller in the market. This processing efficiency significantly reduces the time in active mode and increases the time spent in power saving sleep modes.

Lattice Semiconductor and Praesum Communications have announced the availability of the Serial RapidIO 2.1 endpoint soft IP core for the LatticeECP3 FPGA family. The core supports 1x, 2x and 4x lane configurations at up to 3.125Gbps lane speeds, offering the lowest cost, lowest power programmable SRIO solution in the industry.  Lattice has also licensed this IP core from Praesum and has full rights to use and sub-license the Serial RapidIO IP core.

austriamicrosystems has introduced a new 200mA boost converter. The topology of the

AS1337 is seen as providing an innovative step down function enabling buck-boost functionality. With a continuous transition between boost and regulated buck mode the AS1337 is ideal for single for dual cell applications.

The AS1337 DC-DC buck-boost converter offers an adjustable output voltage range from 2.5 to 5.0V from an input voltage range of 0.65V to 4.5V. From a two cell battery with a voltage range between 1.8V and 3.6V the AS1337 offers 200mA of output current at 3V. From a single cell 100mA can still be generated.

Everspin Technologies is introducing the world’s first serial interface magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM) family of products. These high performance non-volatile memory products are designed to enhance systems using the increasingly popular Serial Peripheral Interface (SPI) bus now common on many microprocessors, microcontrollers and other integrated circuits.

STMicroelectronics has announced a new series of LED drivers with automatic power saving, enabling electronic signage such as road signs, advertising, stadium displays, battery or solar-powered signs and similar equipment to deliver better, high-resolution viewing by ensuring consistent brightness across the viewing area.

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the MAX9820, a stereo headphone amplifier designed for portable multimedia devices. This tiny IC employs Maxim's patented DirectDrive architecture to eliminate clicks and pops, as well as the large output-coupling capacitors required by conventional single-supply headphone amplifiers.

Building on the success of its 80MHz 32-bit PIC32 microcontroller (MCU) portfolio Microchip is launching three new families. The new PIC32MX5/6/7 families are designed specifically for data-intensive applications running several software stacks simultaneously and are complemented by Microchip’s free software stacks, making it easier for embedded designers to add connectivity to their applications.

Renesas Technology Europe has announced the development of the RS-4 Dual Interface Series of high-performance 16-bit secure MCUs*1. Built around the proven RS-4 high-performance 16-bit CPU core while providing dual interface capability for contact and contactless communication and MIFARE Plus*2 support, the new MCUs are intended for smart card applications requiring multi-functionality and high security, such as financial services cards issued by banks or credit card companies and ID cards.

austriamicrosystems has launched the AS3665, a new LED driver which will enable significantly improved lighting effects in mobile phones and a variety of other consumer applications. It delivers sharper colour, smoother colour effects and brightness with a minimum amount of design effort for applications such as mobile phones, MP3 players, mobile computers, portable game stations, speaker boxes, toys and audio equipment.

The AS3665 offers nine LED channels with up to 25mA per channel. A dedicated 12-bit PWM for each of the nine channels delivers smooth colour effects allowing linear, logarithmic and ratiometric fading effects.

Atmel Corporation has announced the first dual-core secure microcontrollers designed to target smart card applications such as the growing PayTV conditional access market.

Atmel's TwinAVR microcontrollers (MCUs) offer two independent cores with a central processing unit (CPU), memory and peripherals on a single chip, unlike current secure MCUs on the market today that offer a single core.

STMicroelectronics has unveiled the AuKey turnkey solution, based on ST’s ST23 highly secure microcontrollers, to help brand owners authenticate their products. AuKey provides enhanced security when compared with conventional techniques, which are often susceptible to being easily and cost-effectively broken or cloned. AuKey can be quickly designed into various products, including computer accessories, add-in cards, gaming peripherals, printer cartridges, toners, disposable medical equipment, network infrastructure products, metering devices, and many other types of assemblies and systems.

Atmel Corporation has announced its new VaultIC family of security modules for applications including femtocells, smart meters, telehealth, USB token and gaming platforms. The VaultIC460 is the first security module available on the market that provides a secure microcontroller with multiple interfaces and bundled firmware. Based on Atmel's AT90SO secureAVR microcontrollers, this new family will enable higher levels of security and provides a secure turnkey solution for system designers. The VaultIC460 provides 128KB of fully configurable EEPROM memory to store user data and match any security architecture.

Lattice Semiconductor has announced that the LatticeECP3-150 FPGA, the highest-density device in its low-power ECP3 mid-range FPGA family, has been fully qualified and released to volume production.

The ECP3-150 device features a DSP capacity of 320 18x18 multipliers, 6.8 Mbits of memory and up to sixteen 3.2Gbps SERDES channels, making it suitable for highly complex and integrated Wireless Remote Radio Heads (RRH) such as MIMO-based RF antenna solutions.

Freescale Semiconductor is expanding its embedded motor control portfolio with the introduction of the S08MP16. This entry-level 8-bit microcontroller (MCU) family provides a safe, accurate and cost-optimised solution for brushless DC (BLDC) motor control applications ranging from industrial drives to automotive fuel pumps.

austriamicrosystems has expanded its interface product portfolio with the AS1716, a sensor designed for interfacing to Piezo Electronic capacitive sensors. Althoug designed primarily for automotive knock sensors the microchip is also configurable for industrial sensor applications.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced two new integrated constant current LED drivers that provide high accuracy and fast response time in a small SSOP package. These eight-channel devices reduce component count and board space requirements in applications that use displays with multiple LEDs.

Cypress Semiconductor has introduced an upgraded West Bridge peripheral controller module that offers the fastest sideloading solution for transfer of multimedia files from a PC to handheld device via the widely-used Media Transfer Protocol (MTP). The new Turbo-MTP 2.0 module enables users to sideload a feature-length movie in less than 45 seconds. Additionally, the new module includes drivers for the Android operating system, making it compatible with a wider array of handhelds. 

Maxim Integrated Products has introduced the the MAX3799, a single-chip VCSEL driver and dual-path limiting-amplifier solution targeted at SFP+ Ethernet and Fibre Channel applications. Fabricated using Maxim's MBiC3 IC technology, this device delivers up to 14Gbps performance, a wide range of programmable receiver and transmitter features, and only 320mW of power consumption.

NEC Electronics has introduced three new 16-bit All Flash microcontrollers (MCUs) with embedded IEEE802.15.4-compliant 2.4 gigahertz (GHz) radio frequency (RF) transceiver for ZigBee RF4CE, an industry standard for remote control in consumer electronics.

Paving the way for more flexible e-ticketing and increasing user convenience and operator efficiency, STMicroelectronics has introduced the SRi2K, a new 2-Kbit IC that will enable contactless tickets to manage access to multiple services.

Silicon Laboratories has introduced the Si345x family, an integrated, energy-efficient quad Power over Ethernet (PoE) Power Sourcing Equipment (PSE) controller. Able to support four independent PoE (IEEE 802.3af) and PoE+ (IEEE 802.3at) PSE ports, the Si345x controllers offer real-time power measurement capabilities, energy-efficient powered device (PD) detection and disconnect algorithms, and offer the industry's lowest on-resistance power field-effect transistors (FETs) and sense resistors.

The New ZMS-08 StemCell processor from ZiiLABS offers faster, lower-power single chip solution for full H.264 HD 1080p video playback, 720p video conferencing, 1080p encode, OpenGL ES 2.0, X-Fi Audio and 1GHz ARM Cortex application acceleration.

Freescale Semiconductor is introducing a mini USB interface IC that helps mobile device designers and manufacturers create smaller, sleeker consumer products by enabling a single mini USB connector for external accessories including chargers, headsets, microphones and audio/data connections.

STMicroelectronics has expanded its motion-sensor portfolio with a broad range of thirteen new single- and two-axis gyroscopes. With more than a 50% shrink in volume over previous ST devices, reduced power consumption, and an aggressive price, ST’s new high-performance angular-motion sensors open the way to a wide range of innovative consumer applications, including gesture-controlled gaming and pointing devices, image stabilisation in digital video or still cameras, and assisted GPS navigation.

ROHM Semiconductor has unveiled the new, ultra compact all-in-one fingerprint authentication module MK67Q5250-2510. Based on OKI Semiconductor’s  ML67Q5250 fingerprint solution and the proven AES2510 Sensor from AuthenTec, the new module meets the growing demand for fingerprint authentication functionality.

Cypress Semiconductor has three of its state-of-the-art CMOS Image Sensors for space applications on-board the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Proba-2 Satellite, which was successfully launched on November 2.

STMicroelectronics and the Mayo Clinic, a leading health-care organisation, are collaborating on a novel platform for remotely monitoring patients with chronic cardiovascular disease. The platform will provide a comprehensive and unobtrusive solution that monitors person-specific data and physiological parameters and influences lifestyle and treatment choices.

NXP Semiconductors has announced major developments in its portfolio of mains connected LED driver solutions with the success of its SSL2101 LED driver IC in matching LED lifetimes in an accelerated lifetime test; the introduction of the SSL 2102 integrated dimmable mains LED driver IC for SSL retrofit lamps and modules; and the launch of its online design tool for SSL applications.

Renesas Technology Europe is to release a total of eight versions of the SH7266 and SH7267, two new high-performance 32-bit MCU products with an on-chip SRAM size of 1.5 MB, that are intended for embedded applications in the industrial and consumer fields such as displays for digital audio players or graphical dashboards. Sample shipments will begin in February 2010.

NEC Electronics has announced the availability of its four new single-chip IO-Link solutions for IO-Link slave applications based on the close cooperation between NEC Electronics and its business partners ELMOS Semiconductor AG and TMG-Karlsruhe.

TI’s new multicore devices deliver up to the equivalent of 4.2 GHz of processing capability for high-end industrial applications and embedded systems where performance and energy efficiency are critical.

Cypress Semiconductor has announced an automatic tuning solution for its CapSense capacitive touch-sensing devices. While existing solutions require engineers to perform time-consuming calibrations for up to 15 capacitive-sensing parameters, the new patent-pending SmartSense solution sets these automatically during the design process, significantly reducing development time.

STMicroelectronics has announced a new low-power processor chip dedicated to managing SIM data for machine-to-machine (M2M) cellular communications, a growing market that could account for over 200 million mobile connections by 2013, according to an August 2009 report by Beecham Research. 

Responding to increased low-cost bandwidth needs driven by the demand for mobile video, voice, and data access, and the hunger for high-quality 3D images, the new Cyclone IV FPGA family adds support for mainstream serial protocols while offering an optimal balance of low cost, low power and a rich supply of logic, memory and DSP capabilities.

STMicroelectronics has unveiled its new power management chip for car body applications. The device addresses the challenge facing car manufacturers of reducing the stand-by current consumption (quiescent current), at a time when the number of power-consuming products in the car is continuously increasing.

STMicroelectronics is combining a DisplayPort 1.1a and HDMI 1.3 receiver to support full-high-definition sources, such as Blu-Ray, while offering comprehensive analog-video and audio connectivity. The new STDP8028 SoC from ST simplifies the design of high-end Full-HD multimedia displays with its integration of video inputs, advanced video quality and usability features such as Picture-In-Picture (PIP) and Picture-By-Picture (PBP).

Macronix International has announced the world’s first 256-megabit(Mbit) Serial Flash product.  This new 256Mbit product, MX25L25635E, will allow system designers and manufacturers to offer greater functionality and performance in their products.

austriamicrosystems has expanded its extensive magnetic rotary encoder portfolio with the AS5245, a fail-safe magnetic rotary encoder IC specifically designed to address stringent automotive requirements like reliability, accuracy and safety.

Intel Corporation and Numonyx B.V. have announced a breakthrough in the research of phase change memory (PCM), a new non-volatile memory technology that combines many of the benefits of today's various memory types.

New IC supports safe manual restart using regular function buttons with no need to find the reset key or risk data loss by removing the battery.

Renesas Technology announces the SH7777 (SH-NaviJ3) SoC for dashboard-mounted car navigation and infotainment systems offering both enhanced audio and video functions.

Texas Instruments has introduced an analog-to-digital-converter (ADC) that combines 12 bits of resolution with a 1-GSPS sampling rate, effectively doubling the amount of signal bandwidth that can be captured in a single ADC.

Rambus has announced it has achieved a new breakthrough level of power efficiency with its latest silicon test vehicle developed through its Mobile Memory Initiative (MMI). 

Phyworks has announced a high performance quad backplane equalizer chip for line cards using IEEE802.3ae XAUI backplane interfaces. 

The new ACS710 from Allegro MicroSystems Europe is a 120 kHz bandwidth, high-voltage isolation current sensor IC that provides an economical and precise means for current sensing applications in industrial, commercial and communications systems.

Wolfson Microelectronics has launched the WM8910, an ultra low power DAC designed to significantly extend playback time in portable audio applications, such as media players, multimedia phones and handheld gaming systems.

Providing developers with greater flexibility to meet embedded design requirements, Texas Instruments Incorporated has announced the expansion and a reduction in the pricing of its Stellaris ARM Cortex-M3-based microcontroller (MCU) family.

ARM has launched the ARM Cortex-A5 MPCore processor, the smallest, lowest power ARM multicore processor capable of delivering the Internet to the widest possible range of devices, from ultra low cost handsets, feature phones and smart mobile devices, to pervasive embedded, consumer and industrial devices.

Analog Devices, Inc. has developed the industry’s lowest-power, triple-skew-compensating video delay line IC (integrated circuit) for transmitting clear, sharp images long distances over twisted-pair cable for digital signage, KVM (keyboard, video, mouse), video projection and high-definition surveillance applications.

Xilinx and ARM have announced that they are collaborating to enable ARM processor and interconnect technology on Xilinx FPGAs.

Microchip announces the MCP9804 Temperature Sensor.  The sensor provides high temperature accuracy of +0.25°C (typical) and  +/- 1°C from -40 to 125°C, as well as static current consumption of just 200µA (typ).

Lattice Semiconductor and Epson Toyocom Corporation have announced a low-cost reference clock solution for SERDES applications. By utilizing Lattice’s ispClock5400D device and the appropriate SG-710ECK CMOS oscillator from Epson Toyocom, a designer now has a low cost reference clock for SERDES applications such as XAUI or SDI Video. 

STMicroelectronics introduced a three-axis sensor with digital output that can detect accelerations up to 24g, or about 5x the force created by a Formula One car under heavy braking.

Cypress Semiconductor Corp has announced the industry's first monolithic SRAMs at 144-Mbit densities, the latest members of its 65-nm SRAM family. The new 144-Mbit QDRII, QDRII+, DDRII and DDRII+ memories leverage 65-nm process technology developed with foundry partner UMC.

Altera Corporation is enhancing its MAX II CPLD family by offering industrial-grade temperature ranges and lowering the power of its MAX IIZ devices.

Texas Instruments, C.G. Development Ltd. and Quanta Microsystems have announced a complete, easy-to-use RF4CE development platform for advanced RF remote control applications.

Cypress Semiconductor has introduced a new 1-Mbit Serial non-volatile Static Random Access Memory (nvSRAM) family and new 4-Mbit and 8-Mbit nvSRAMs with an integrated real-time clock (RTC).

New SoC is optimised for modular automotive display systems such as instrument clusters, head-up display units, navigation and rear-seat entertainment applications.

The Atmel Corporation has announced the first ATA874x single-chip UHF ASK/FSK RF transmitter family targeting a broad range of proprietary wireless industrial and consumer applications such as metering, alarm systems and home control applications.

New MSP430F4xx ultra-low power MCUs provide analog front-end requirements and achieve improved accuracy for electricity and gas metering applications.

Freescale and ST Microelectronics have introduced a new 32-bit microcontroller that will help engineers working to apply sophisticated safety concepts to comply with current and future safety standards. The dual-core MCU family  includes features that help engineers focus on application design and simplify the challenges of safety concept development and certification.

Is convergence here at last? In 2008, a new kind of consumer electronics device took off: the ultra-mobile device. Smartbooks, netbooks, UMPCs, MIDs as well as e-Books and smartphones: all of these products fall into this category, which sits at the convergence of the computer and the mobile phone. The ultra-mobile device inherited performance from the PC and the need to be portable from the mobile phone.

Texas Instruments Incorporated has introduced the industry’s first integrated, eight-channel, transmit/receive (T/R) switch for ultrasound systems. The TX810 addresses designers’ need to build smaller portable ultrasound systems, while speeding time to market.

Xilinx has announced that its low-cost Spartan-6 FPGA family is compliant with the PCI Express 1.1 specification, enabling low-risk and low-cost implementation of serial connectivity solutions for consumer, automotive, wireless, and other price-sensitive or high volume markets.

High Integrity Systems and InterNiche Technologies Inc. have signed a cross distribution agreement to give their respective customers better access to the complete range of products from both companies.

Intel has produced what is thought to be the first working version of a 22 nanometer SRAM chip.

Intel's president and chief executive Paul Otellini, took some industry experts by surprise when he displayed the silicon wafer during his keynote speech at the firm's developer conference in San Francisco.

LSI Corporation has begun shipping samples of the industry's first 40-nanometer multi-interface physical layer (PHY) IP designed for notebook, desktop and enterprise hard disk drive (HDD) market segments.

STMicroelectronics has extended its STM32 microcontroller portfolio by introducing the STM32W family, which features an integrated IEEE 802.15.4 radio to deliver a true System-on-Chip platform supporting embedded wireless sensor network design.

Samsung Electronics Co. has announced, at the sixth annual Samsung Mobile Solutions Forum, that it is has begun producing 512-Megabit (Mb) PRAM memory. A new non-volatile memory technology that features high-performance and low power consumption, PRAM (phase change random access memory) is expected to usher in the next generation of non-volatile memory technology for mobile devices.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced a series of solid state drive (SSD) modules using the latest generation Toshiba 32nm MLC NAND flash. The Toshiba SG2 modules are offered in two types, one based on the new low-profile mini-SATA (mSATA) interface standard and the other a Half-Slim type, which uses a SATA connector. The drives are available in 30GB[1] and 62GB modules. Volume production will start in October.

Cypress Semiconductor has announced it has expanded its automotive-grade portfolio with two USB devices-the EZ-USB(r)-HX2LP 4-port high-speed USB hub and the EZ-Host(tm) full-speed USB host. The AEC-Q100 auto-qualified devices are suitable for automotive applications such as navigation, infotainment, vehicle data recorders (VDRs) and data loggers.

Analog Devices has introduced a new series of highly integrated RFICs (radio frequency integrated circuits) designed for LTE (long term evolution) and 4th generation (4G) cellular base stations. LTE is a set of enhancements to the UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) standard and is considered to be the last step toward the 4th generation of radio technologies in cellular networks.

Avago Technologies has developed the industry's first fully integrated and feature-rich Bluetoothä (BT) 2.1 System-on-Chip (SoC) LaserStream navigation sensor for wireless mouse applications, and other integrated input devices.

ARM and NXP have launched mbed.org and the mbed microcontroller rapid prototyping tool at this year's Embedded Systems Conference in Boston. With the market for 32-bit microcontrollers set for explosive growth, the ability for new markets to adopt and exploit modern microcontroller technology is becoming an increasingly important success factor. To maximise these opportunities ARM has developed mbed, the industry's first online platform for fast, low-risk prototyping of microcontroller-based systems. The mbed tools launch with integral hardware and software support for the NXP LPC1768 ARM Cortex-M3 processor-based MCU, making cutting-edge microcontroller technology accessible to a wide audience.

Phyworks has introduced the first single chip transceiver in CMOS to offer an integrated +/-3°C temperature sensor and diagnostic reporting. Designed for 10GBASE-SR and 1G to 8G Fibre Channel SFP+ optical applications, the PHY3070 can be used with an external junction-temperature monitoring transistor to improve module temperature sensing accuracy. This reduces measurement variance due to the influence of IC temperature. Integrating the sensor also cuts cost and saves space. The device combines enhanced diagnostics with a 1 to 10.6Gbps VCSEL driver and a high performance, limiting amplifier. To help reduce operating and environmental costs it has been designed to enable sub 750mW modules.

Texas Instruments (TI) has introduced the TPS6507x family of single-chip, power management integrated circuits for portable electronics. The new power management units (PMUs) implement all sequencing and default options to power today's leading processors, including TI's OMAP and digital signal processors.

ARM has developed two Cortex-A9 MPCore hard macro implementations for the TSMC 40nm-G process, enabling silicon manufacturers to have a rapid and low-risk route to silicon for high-performance, low-power Cortex-A9 processor-based devices. The speed-optimised hard macro implementation will enable devices to operate at frequencies greater than 2GHz.

XMOS has announced that it will provide support for Gigabit Ethernet AVB networking. The XMOS Gigabit endpoint implementation supports AVB applications including high speed streaming of up to 72 channels of audio traffic over Ethernet to networked electronic devices.

Altera Europe has increased the high-end density range of its 40-nm Stratix IV E FPGAs to 820K logic elements (LEs). The Stratix IV EP4SE820 FPGA is the industry's highest density, highest performance and lowest power FPGA in its class and is suitabel for a variety of high-end digital applications that require resource-rich FPGAs, including ASIC prototyping and emulation, wireline, wireless, military, and computer and storage applications.

For many designers, the cost and time to set up development tools is a major barrier when evaluating a new digital signal processor (DSP) platform. In response to this problem Texas Instruments(TI) has announced the availability of the TMS320VC5505 eZdsp USB stick development tool, which drops the cost of a full-featured emulator and integrated development platform down to just $49 and, which in turn, should enable the rapid development of DSP applications including: portable audio players, voice recorders, IP phones, portable medical devices, biometric USB keys, software defined radios (SDRs), hands-free headsets and metering applications. At $49 it is the industry's lowest cost DSP tool, making development accessible to existing and potential customers, hobbyists, researchers and students.

STMicroelectronics has introduced a chip that simplifies the design of HDMI-compliant connections for high-definition products such as set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, game consoles and HDTVs. The new IC, the HDMI2C1-5DIJ, assures designers of meeting HDMI specification version 1.3, while occupying up to 70 percent less board space than an equivalent network of discrete components for ESD protection, boosting, and level shifting of HDMI control signals.

Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI)has expanded its portfolio of supervisory ICs with new microprocessor supervisory circuits for monitoring under-voltage conditions in handheld industrial instruments, telecommunications devices, and other portable applications.

Analog Devices(ADI)has extended its mobile television RF (radio frequency) product family with the introduction of the industry's smallest terrestrial mobile TV RF tuners. Compatible with global terrestrial mobile TV standards, ADI's ADMTV803 and ADMTV804 RF tuners consume 60 percent less power and are 50 percent smaller than competing tuners, helping to prolong battery life and improve the user experience for mobile phone, notebook PC, and PDA (personal digital assistant) applications.

The Atmel Corporation has announced the production release of its new maXTouch family of capacitive touchscreen controller solutions, capable of supporting an unlimited number of unique simultaneous touches with a video-quality screen refresh rate of 250 Hz. Atmel's new maXTouch technology platform supports the development of touchscreens surpassing 10 inches with full zoom, rotate, handwriting and shape recognition functionality.

ADLINK Technology has unveiled the Express-ATC, the newest member of its Computer-on-Module (COM) family. The Express-ATC is a "Compact" COM Express module measuring only 95 x 95 millimeters, and is fully compatible with the Type 2 pin-out of the PICMG COM Express specification. This highly integrated "Compact" size COM Express module is an off-the-shelf building block that is ready to plug into custom-made, application-specific carrier boards for embedded and mobile applications.

X-FAB Silicon Foundries has announced the XA035, a comprehensive, analog/mixed-signal complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) high-temperature foundry process for integrated circuits (ICs) requiring operating temperatures up to 175 degrees Celsius.

Direct Insight has introduced a tiny, low-cost module based on the Texas Instruments OMAP3530 family of microcontrollers which feature ARM's powerful Cortex-A8 core, optimised for high performance low-power embedded applications requiring graphics, video, or featuring high resolution touch screen displays.

Monitran Technology, the R&D arm of vibration and displacement sensor OEM Monitran, has developed a digital signal processing (DSP) unit for the real-time monitoring of turbine blade conditions.

RMI Corporation, a provider of high-performance processors for networking, communications, data centre, security, storage and media-rich applications, has announced that its Au1250 Ultra Low-Power processor product line has been selected by Samsung Electronics for its revolutionary LED TV Couple product family.

NXP Semiconductors has unveiled a new family of highly integrated system-on-chip products enabling a complete range of high-performance solutions for mainstream HD DVRs and set-top box platforms in global satellite, cable and IPTV networks.

Cypress Semiconductor has introduced new, fully-integrated TrueTouch touchscreen controllers. The TMA300 family is based on the PSoC programmable system-on-chip architecture. The new controllers will help to accelerate the development of next-generation differentiated touchscreen-based user interfaces for applications in mobile handsets, portable media players, netbooks, notebooks, printers, digital still cameras, GPS systems and more.

austriamicrosystems has introduced the AS5215, a dual die automotive magnetic rotary encoder IC for safety challenging applications, such as electronic power steering systems. This solution is based on austriamicrosystems patented stacked-die technology.

Concurrent Technologies, a specialist in the design and manufacture of high-end embedded computer products, has launched its latest high performance VME processor board - the VX 541/06x.

Modern military aircraft are increasingly reliant on electronics for a wide range of avionics, communications, navigation, life support, weapons system and other mission control functions.

This equipment must be protected against a number of threats, including electrical interference, and military grade components, connectors and cables are used wherever possible to maintain integrity. A general increase in on-board electronics systems means cost-efficient and effective protection is required from spikes, lightning strikes for example, conducting through to other interconnected electronic systems.

Designers wanting to add capacitive touch sensing to an application have a choice between using a standard touch sensing IC and integrating touch sensing functionality onto an existing microcontroller. In medium to high volume applications, integrating it into the existing microcontroller to develop a single chip solution may be the preferred option. A single chip solution avoids using an additional device dedicated to touch sensing, reducing cost, complexity and board space. There may also be a requirement for the use of custom communications protocols or other specific functionality which would prohibit the use of a standard touch sensing IC solution.

Over the last seven years high-speed serial has been the buzz word in the interconnect arena. One high-speed protocol that has drawn much popularity in the multi-gigabit interconnect space is PCI Express (PCIe). Since 2002, PCIe has seen a sharp increase in usage moving out of the PC into applications such as communications equipment, military radar systems, and high-end medical equipment. However, in cost-sensitive applications such as print engine controllers, video security devices, and portable medical imaging equipment PCIe is still an emerging standard since the hardware costs are just now coming down enough to make high-speed serial interconnects feasible.

Power consumption today is amongst the most crucial considerations in electronics design. From concerns about building systems that use too much energy to crafting portable devices that last days on a single battery charge, engineers are intently focused on optimising their power budgets.

That focus on power becomes even more crucial when you consider that at the macro level in North America, for example, the growth in demand for electricity has outstripped generation supply by 25 percent per year since 1982. Homes have more power-hungry devices (computers, routers, displays, printers, and so forth) than ever before.

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have, since their inception, given designers substantial flexibility and time-to-market advantages compared with ASICs. In recent years however, FPGAs have hit a wall. FPGAs' great strength, reconfigurability, is unfortunately also the cause of a large weakness - low performance - keeping FPGAs from competing with ASICs despite smaller technology nodes being employed. As a result, traditional FPGAs have been prevented from playing a role in many high-performance systems where ASICs still dominate, even in low to medium volume applications where an FPGA would be a much more cost effective solution.