ICs & Semiconductors

ams AG has unveiled an 8A LED flash driver that provides a photo flash light output at least four times brighter than in most flash systems commonly used in smartphones. The new AS3630 can drive up to 8A current through an LED flash system, enabling mobile phone cameras to take pin-sharp images.

Freescale Semiconductor has launched a comprehensive system-level solution for automotive radar based advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). The new Qorivva MPC577xK microcontroller (MCU) and MRD2001 77 GHz radar transceiver chipset provide the embedded technology necessary for affordable radar based ADAS solutions with fewer components, removing up to four additional major printed circuit board (PCB) components and reducing system-level cost, PCB space and software complexity, in a move which could help to increase this technology’s adoption in mainstream vehicles.

The latest generation of Triaxis position sensors from Melexis support the SAE J2716 SENT (Single Edge Nibble Transmission) protocol which serves safety critical, cost sensitive applications in the automotive and transportation sectors and facilitates the replacement of analogue signalling between sensors and microcontrollers.

Lattice Semiconductor has introduced a new AEC-Q100-certified automotive family, the LA-LatticeECP3, which includes 6 devices. The family has been designed to leverage the company’s expertise in low power, small size, and cost optimised FPGAs to deliver programmable technology that can be used for all classes of automobile as well as automotive aftermarket products.

Diodes Incorporated has announced the addition of standard shift register and decoder logic ICs to its enhanced 74HC, 74HCT, 74AHC and 74AHCT CMOS logic families. Based on the company’s updated 5V CMOS process, the popular 595, 594 and 138 logic functions offer improvements over industry-standard alternatives in terms of power-to-performance ratio and ESD protection.

Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has launched its next-generation solid state hybrid drives (SSHD) that combine SSD-like performance with large HDD capacities. The new drives squeeze 8GiB of NAND storage and up to 500GB of HDD storage into a 2.5-inch (6.4 cm) form factor with 7.0mm height, and are suitable for high-performance and ultra-thin notebooks, and slim line PCs.

Microsemi Corporation has unveiled the IGLOO 2 field programmable gate array (FPGA) family for industrial, commercial aviation, defence, communications and security applications. The non-volatile flash-based IGLOO2 FPGAs have a wide range of FPGA features including general purpose input/outputs (GPIOs), 5G SERDES interfaces, and PCI Express endpoints and feature the industry’s only high-performance memory subsystem.

Maxim Integrated Products is currently sampling the DS28E35 DeepCover Secure Authenticator, a highly secure cryptographic solution for a host controller to authenticate peripherals. The DS28E35 integrates a FIPS 186-based, Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) engine to implement asymmetric (public-key) cryptography to operate a challenge-and-response authentication protocol between a host controller and attached peripherals, sensors, or modules.

Samsung Electronics has begun mass producing the industry"s first PCI-Express (PCIe) solid state drive (SSD) for next-generation ultra-slim notebook PCs. The company started providing the new SSD to major notebook PC makers earlier this quarter. The XP941 lineup consists of 512, 256 and 128GB SSDs.

Fujitsu Semiconductor Europe (FSEU) has introduced the new FM4 family of 32-bit RISC microcontrollers, which are based on the ARM Cortex-M4F processor core. The MCUs are designed for applications that require advanced, high-speed computing performance – ranging from general-purpose inverters, servomotors, PLCs and other industrial equipment to energy-efficient, inverter-based consumer appliances.