Southern Africa
Nokia's Professional Mobile Radio (PMR) division has selected Integcomm as its South African partner for Nokia Tetra Equipment. This appointment will continue with EADS once the sale of Nokia PMR to EADS is finalised. Integcomm is in the final stages of finalising its empowerment shareholders. Integcomm is a member of The Midway Two Group.
Integrate&Autom8 and Lapp Cable have moved to their newly-built offices at: 24 Brunton Circle, Founders View, Modderfontein, Gauteng. Tel: +27 (0)11 201 3200, fax: +27 (0)11 609 6180.
Actum Electronics has announced that it has launched its new website at www.actum.co.za with all products and technical information now easily accessible.
Erratum
Please note that Connector & Wire Services has an incorrect agencies listing in the new Electronics Buyers' Guide 2006 handbook. Connector & Wire Services is in fact the sole distributor for Deutsch, Deutsch Mil Connectors, and Deutsch Relays; and is a shared distributor for Alpen Deutsch. Technews regrets the error.
Overseas
Business
Maxim Integrated Products posted earnings of $126,1m on sales of $400,4m for its fiscal fourth quarter, up from $124,7m on sales of $420,9m for the same quarter a year ago. For the 2005 fiscal year, Maxim reported net revenues of $1,6 bn, up from $1,4 bn a year ago. Net income was $540,8, up 31,7% from $419,8m a year ago.
Companies
Vishay Intertechnology has announced it is to acquire CyOptics Israel, the Israeli subsidiary of infrared optical components supplier CyOptics, for an undisclosed amount. CyOptics Israel produces gallium arsenide and indium phosphide chips used for optoelectronics.
Agilent Technologies and Eagleware, which does business as Eagleware-Elanix, have announced a definitive agreement for Agilent to acquire substantially all of the assets and business of Eagleware-Elanix, a provider of system and circuit design software for the communications industry.
Electronic manufacturing services provider, Celestica, has acquired CoreSim, a leader in advanced design analysis and redesign services.
Power Analog Microelectronics (PAM), a Chinese developer of Class-D digital audio amplifiers and power management semiconductors, has acquired MicroSilicon, a power management IC design company based in Shanghai.
PCB manufacturer Austria Technologie & Systemtechnik (AT&S) has acquired the Bangalore-based ECAD Technologies, which performs design, simulation and testing of high-end PCBs.
Celestica, a leader in electronics manufacturing services (EMS), has announced that it has acquired Ramnish Electronics, an EMS provider located in Hyderabad, India. To facilitate growth, Celestica will relocate Ramnish Electronics' existing operations to expanded facilities in the Hyderabad area later this year.
Qualcomm, a developer of code division multiple access (CDMA) and other advanced wireless technologies, has announced that it will acquire Flarion Technologies for approximately $600m. Flarion is a pioneer in orthogonal frequency division multiplex access (OFDMA) technology and the inventor of Flash-OFDM technology for mobile broadband Internet protocol services.
Continuum Photonics and Polatis, optical switch subsystem and module makers, have announced that they are merging. Financial details were not disclosed.
The stockholders of both Entegris and Mykrolis have approved the proposed merger between the two companies. The combined company, named Entegris, will focus on products and services that purify, protect, and transport critical materials used in semiconductor and other high technology industries.
Symmetricom has announced that it has closed its acquisition of Agilent's Frequency and Time Standards product line. Under the terms of the transaction, Symmetricom paid approximately $8m.
Robert Bosch has formed a subsidiary company, Bosch Sensortec to intensify its growth in MEMS (microelectromechanical system) sensor activities. Bosch has been a pioneer in MEMS since 1988.
Infineon Technologies has transferred its RFID software solutions group to RF-iT Solutions based in Graz, Austria. RF-iT gains access to Infineon's patents, trademarks, licences, development hardware and software, as well as current customer projects and RFID demonstration applications.
AMI Semiconductor (AMIS) is reorganising and will integrate its foundry services business into its mixed-signal business unit. AMIS said the realignment will allow it to better serve its customers by offering a full range of options from ASSP products to custom designs and foundry services within the same business unit. The mixed-signal products segment will incorporate four product lines which are: mixed-signal products focused on the automotive and industrial segments; the medical and wireless product line centred on implantable medical and audiology devices; peripheral imaging products that will include the peripheral imaging business of Flextronics on close of the acquisition; and a new product line that will focus on opportunities in high-voltage products for communication applications.
e2v technologies has been awarded a £4,3m order to supply travelling wave tubes (TWT) for the new Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft's defensive aids sub system (DASS). The system is designed to enhance aircraft survivability with an advanced suite of self-defence sensors and countermeasures, with TWTs being an important component. The order comes via SELEX Sensors and Airborne Systems, under contract from BAE Systems.
Nano-Proprietary has announced it has been awarded a US Air Force contract to use carbon nanotube technology to develop components for military radars and other microwave devices.
Altera and Texas Instruments have partnered to develop a PCI-SIG compliant, low-cost PCI Express solution using Altera's Cyclone II FPGAs and the latest generation TI x1 physical layer (PHY) chip. With the partnership the companies hope to address the need for a low-cost, programmable, fully-compliant reference design for embedded systems bridging from legacy interfaces.
Motorola and Phiar have agreed to jointly work on a project focusing on the creation of next generation electronic circuits that can be incorporated with tiny antennas to deliver high-speed millimetre wave receive arrays. The effort will use metal-insulator technology from Phiar and the millimetre wave circuits and systems technology, modelling and characterisation, and the advanced prototyping capabilities of Motorola, to develop low-cost, next generation receive arrays capable of running in the hundreds of GHz and potentially into the THz range. The circuits can be incorporated into multiple high-speed applications including device-to-device wireless communications, personal consumer near-field communications, as well as medical imaging, automotive radar, homeland security scanning, and defence applications.
Innos has announced that a joint project led by Imperial College, London, has demonstrated the potential for high-speed low power applications using strained-Si transistors. The project studies the re-designing and fabricating of transistors for applications in medicine. The project tested the feasibility of the fabricated and newly-designed strained-Si surface channel and buried channel field-effect-transistor. It also demonstrated and characterised simple monolithically-integrated circuits using strained-Si FETs and reduced temperatures.
Industry
Market research company, IC Insights, has released its latest rankings of the top 10 global semiconductor suppliers for the first half of 2005. Sales were (percentage change 2Q05 over 1Q05 shown in brackets): Intel, $16 855m (-2%); Samsung, $8494m (-5%); Texas Instruments, $5362m (6%); Renesas, $4850m (-2%); Toshiba, $4336m (-9%); STMicroelectronics, $4242m (4%); Infineon, $4136m (-4%); TSMC, $3626m (5%); Freescale, $2 887m (2%); NEC, $2824m
(-14%).
Actual sales of semiconductors were 2,2% less in June 2005 than in the same month a year before, according to statistics of the Semiconductor Industry Association. This contrasts to its three-month average of global sales for June, 0,8% up on the equivalent figure in 2004. On a year-to-date basis, actual global sales of chips in the first half of 2005 are up 6,5% on the same period in 2004.
Digital terrestrial TV (DTT) and free-to-air satellite TV services will give the PC TV tuner market a huge boost over the next several years, reports In-Stat. By 2009, the worldwide retail value of the PC-TV tuner market will grow at a CAGR of 42,6%. Personal computers with a TV tuner provide a wide range of features and functions that enable the emerging market for connected digital homes. A race among pay-TV services, consumer electronics manufacturers, and the PC industry will eventually favour the PC industry, says In-Stat, since it moves more quickly.
iSuppli has released its preliminary rankings of the Top 10 DRAM suppliers for Q2 of 2005 (market share in brackets): Samsung, $1 749m (30,6%); Hynix, $939m (16,4%); Micron, $840m (14,7%); Infineon, $774m (13,5%); Elpida, $397m (6,9%); Nanya, $325m (5,7%); Powerchip, $291m (5,1%); ProMos, $194m (3,4%); Winbond, $43m (0,8%); ISSI, $36m (0,6%).
In-Stat is forecasting strong growth in the PC core-logic chipset market from $6,9 bn in 2005 to $10,3 bn in 2009. During this period, continued growth in PC demand, combined with new standards will create a very dynamic market for new chipset designs. Although less than 20% of x86 processors have integrated memory today, In-Stat forecasts that roughly 70% will have integrated memory controllers in 2009, a trend similar to embedded processing. PCs will also shift from traditional AGP and PCI interfaces to PCI-Express, accounting for over 84% of all graphics interfaces and 98% of all peripheral interfaces in 2009.
The European Commission (EC) is about to launch 276 new research projects in the field of information and communication technologies (ICT) with 1 bn Euros in EU funding. The projects are the result of the fourth call for proposals for the Information Society Technology part of the EU's Sixth Research Framework Program. The selected projects aim in particular, to achieve industrial and societal breakthroughs in fields that are of strategic importance to Europe. They include micro- and nano-electronics, mobile communications and broadband technology for accessing the Internet.
Semico believes that semiconductor intellectual property (IP) is the next 'killer app' catalyst for semiconductor industry growth. Semico's new research report forecasts that the IP market will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23,2%, reaching more than $4,1 bn by 2009. The analyst group pointed to several trends driving the semiconductor industry toward increasing use of IP, including heavier reliance on outsourcing, rising photomask costs, lengthening design cycle times and shrinking market windows. It said the IP market would segment between different types of devices, with system-on-chip (SoC) devices consuming the most IP over the next four years. The communications segment would be the largest application consumer of IP over the forecast period, with the computer and consumer segments consuming the second and third most IP, respectively.
The market for silicon carbide (SiC) devices will exceed $50m by 2009, according to market research company, Wicht Technologie Consulting. SiC, a material capable of handling high power densities in temperature and radiation extremes, will continue to serve as substrates for high-brightness blue, green and white LEDs, it says. By 2009, close to 80% of wafers will be used in this manner. In addition, it says, fresh markets will emerge for SiC in a new generation of energy efficient, high performance diodes and transistors as used in power circuit management and industrial motor applications.
A teardown analysis of 30 mobile phones conducted by iSuppli has revealed that NOR-type flash memory remains the predominant memory used in mobile phones and the preferred method of code storage. However, NAND represents a growing presence, although its use is limited to data-storage applications.
The Open Source Development Labs (OSDL), a global consortium dedicated to accelerating the adoption of Linux, has announced the OSDL patent commons project designed to provide a central location where software patents and patent pledges can be housed for the benefit of the open source development community and industry.
The Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) has adopted one of the most comprehensive content management systems employed on an optical disc format in a move to prevent illegal copying. The Blu-ray content management system includes three primary components: advanced access content system (AACS); BD+, a Blu-ray-specific enhancement for content protection renewability; and ROM Mark, designed to guard against mass production piracy or the mass duplication and sale of unauthorised copies of pre-recorded media.
In unveiling Toshiba's three year plan, incoming president, Atsutoshi Nishida, revealed that the group intends to target 50% of its capital expenditure over the next three years on increasing semiconductor production. He also said that Toshiba hoped to increase semiconductor sales by 8% over that time.
Ofcom (the UK Office of Communications) has announced its intention to make spectrum available for use by RFID equipment in the range 865-868 MHz on a licence-exempt basis. Ofcom is the regulator for the UK communications industries. Ofcom is proposing to implement the recommendation (CEPT/ERC/Rec 70-03) and exempt RFID equipment from the Wireless Telegraphy Act licensing on the basis that it is unlikely to cause interference to other users of the radio spectrum.
The UK Government has again postponed the introduction of the electronic waste (WEEE) legislation until June 2006, citing continuing concerns expressed by the business community and other stakeholders. The implementation date of the WEEE directive into UK law was previously moved from August 2005 to January 2006.
Technology
IMEC, the independent research centre in nanoelectronics and nanotechnology based in Leuven, Belgium, is seeking to demonstrate the concept of spin torque in a nanoscale microwave integrated oscillator for wireless integrated devices. The recent discovery of the spin torque oscillator, a nano-patterned ferromagnetic device in which high-quality tunable microwave oscillations can be generated by a small DC current, has opened up new perspectives in microwave engineering design. According to scientists, no RF oscillators that exist today combine a high-quality resonance with a high integration level, necessary for low-power and low-cost applications, and wideband tunability. The Tunamos (tunable nano-magnetic oscillators) project aims to study the oscillating modes in the range of 5 to 10 GHz. The scientists believe monolithic integration with a high-gain RF CMOS amplifier circuit will boost the power to levels suitable for wireless applications, potentially leading to integrating flexible low-cost radio capability into a wider range of silicon products.
Universal Display has demonstrated a white organic light-emitting-diode (OLED) lighting panel with a power efficiency of 30 lumens per watt using its phosphorescent OLED technology, which it claims is the highest power to date. Power efficiencies of the 153 x 153 mm prototype panel were measured at colour temperatures between 2900 and 5700 degrees Kelvin. According to the company, the 30 lm/W efficiency was achieved at a 4000 K colour temperature, comparable to the colour temperature and power efficiency of a cool fluorescent lamp. By comparison, typical incandescent light bulbs emit light at around 15 to 20 lm/W with a colour temperature of 2900 K.
Physicists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have used the natural oscillations of two different types of charged atoms (ions) confined together in a single trap, to produce the 'ticks' that may power a future atomic clock (device illustrated). The unusual tandem technique involves use of a single beryllium ion to accurately sense the higher-frequency vibrations of a single aluminium ion. The NIST group used ultraviolet lasers to transfer energy from the aluminium's vibrations to a shared 'rocking' motion of the pair of ions, and then detected the magnitude of the vibrations through the beryllium ion. The tandem technique could be used to investigate the potential of various ions in optical atomic clocks. Since different atoms respond to different frequencies of light, the researchers believe the technique could also be used to improve the control of ions or atoms within a potential future quantum computer.
Hitachi Maxell has introduced its latest digital pen. The DP-201 Anoto pen is about 15% slimmer than the company's existing digital pen and feels more like a regular pen according to the makers. It measures 157 x 21 x 18 mm with a pen cap and weighs 30 g. The pen supports wireless access by Bluetooth and fixed line access by USB. Developed by Anoto of Sweden the Anoto pen allows transfer of handwritten information to devices such as a personal computer.
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