Electronic Design Automation Industry - Q4 2007
According to the EDA Consortium Market Statistics Service (MSS), the electronic design automation (EDA) industry revenue for Q4 2007 grew 6.7% to $1,602.7 million, versus $1,501.9 million in Q4 2006. The four-quarter average growth rate, which compares the most recent four quarters to the same four quarters in the prior year, was 9.1%. Companies that […]
Semiconductor Chip Sales - February 2008
According to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA), worldwide sales of semiconductors in February were $20.44 billion, an increase of 1.5% from February 2007 when sales were $20.14 billion. Sales declined by 4.9% from January when the industry reported sales of $21.48 billion. According to SIA, the sequential decline in February sales was in line with […]
Fujitsu and HHI Develop Nonlinear Optical Fiber Technology
Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and Heinrich Hertz Institut (HHI) announced the development of an ultra high-speed optical switch that uses nonlinear optical fiber to reduce optical amplitude noise, which degrades the quality of optical signals when they are transmitted. Employing this technology, suppression of optical amplitude noise using a 107 gigabit per second (Gbps) phase modulated […]
Fujitsu Laboratories Creates Nano-scale Carbon Composite
Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. announced the successful formation of a new nano-scale carbon composite featuring a self-organizing structure, by combining carbon nanotubes and graphene which are both nano-scale carbon structures. The newly-discovered composite structure is synthesized at a temperature of 510 C, cooler than for conventional graphene formed at temperatures too high for electronic device applications, […]
0.5 TeraHertz Silicon-Germanium Heterojunction Bipolar Transistor
A European consortium recently started its DOTFIVE project. The consortium plans to develop advanced silicon-based bipolar transistors with a maximum operating frequency of 0.5 THz (0.5 TeraHertz or 500 GigaHz) needed for future millimeter wave and terahertz communication, radar, imaging and sensing applications. DOTFIVE is aiming to establish a leadership position for the European semiconductor […]
AMD and IBM Team on Extreme Ultra Violet Lithography
AMD (NYSE: AMD) and IBM has produced a working test chip utilizing Extreme Ultra-Violet (EUV) lithography for the critical first layer of metal connections across the entire chip. Previous projects utilizing EUV to produce working chip components were only "narrow field", covering just a very small portion of the design.
Lithography is how highly complex chip […]
GaAs Solar Cells with Conversion Efficiency of 24.7%
IMEC recently announced a single-junction GaAs solar cell on a Ge substrate with a record conversion efficiency of 24.7%. The efficiency was measured and confirmed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, USA (NREL). GaAs solar cells are used in satellite solar panels and earth-based solar concentrators.
IMEC realized this record on a single-junction GaAs cell, grown […]
Microsoft Windows is Top Retail POS Terminal
According to a new study by IHL Group, POS Terminals running Microsoft® Windows® operating systems drove $3.8 billion of the $5.56 Billion North American Retail POS Terminal Market in 2007. IBM 4690 terminals generated $1.02 billion and Linux-based machines $475 million, with DOS and other operating systems being installed on the remainder of units. These […]
Embedded COTS Systems in Military, Aerospace, and Defense Applications
According to a VDC reseach report, demand for standards-based, merchant, embedded COTS computer boards and systems in military/aerospace/defense applications continues to grow across a wide range of missions, applications and platforms. These products are showing strength in both North America and Europe over the next two years.
VDC interviewed purchasers of both embedded COTS boards and […]
Equipment Fab Spending to Decline by 15% in 2008
According to recent SEMI Fab Database reports, spending on fab construction projects and fabs equipping will likely see double digit declines in 2008 as many fab construction projects are put on hold or pushed out to end of the year or into 2009. Spending on equipping fabs in 2008 is expected to decline 15% compared […]
New Carbon Nanotube Transistor Technology
NEC Corporation recently developed a carbon nanotube (CNT) transistor using a coating process. The basic operation of the new transistor with advanced characteristics has been verified, confirming its application in the printed electronics field. NEC views the new CNT transistor technology as key to the development of electronic devices with minimal environmental impact and will […]
The $10 Automotive Radar Chip
Researchers at the University of Florida and Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) announced a new silicon-based radar chip that could cost just US$10 to produce. Electronics for automotive radars currently cost hundreds of dollars to manufacture, resulting in radar systems that each cost car buyers thousands of dollars.
The current sets of commercial radar chips are made […]
77GHz CMOS-based Power Amplifier
Fujitsu Laboratories, Ltd. has developed a millimeter-waveband power amplifier (PA) using standard 90nm CMOS process technology. Targeting millimeter-wave applications, Fujitsu Labs developed a standard CMOS modeling technology and design techniques to minimize high-frequency signal loss, thereby enabling the development of the world's first CMOS-based PA that operates at 77GHz. The technology realizes CMOS radio frequency […]
High Frequency Circuit Becomes Common
The University of Florida (UF) and Texas Instruments (TI) (NYSE: TXN) have developed the world's highest frequency circuit made with a common type of semiconductor transistor, a step that could slash the price of detectors useful in medicine, environmental monitoring and military applications.
Measured in a UF laboratory using a circuit equipped with a tiny on-chip […]
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