Author Archives: richard wilson

Samsung passives business targets UK market

Anglia and Samsung

Left to right – David Pearson, Technical Director, Anglia; Frank Goebel, Sales Director Passive components and PCB Europe, Samsung; Elly Yoo, Sales associate LCR division, Samsung; Alexander Nebel, Application Engineer, Samsung; Graham Bridger, Director, PEMCO, Anglia and Kerry Higham, Marketing Manager – PEMCO, Anglia

Samsung Electro Mechanics (SEM) has signed Anglia Components to act as distributor for its passive components in the UK and Ireland.

Steve Rawlins, CEO of Anglia Components, sees an opportunity to increase the manufacturer’s visibility in the UK market.

“SEM is insufficiently exposed to the UK market, and we are looking forward to introducing them to our customers, and identifying opportunities where SEM devices can make a difference to their design,” said Rawlins.

Michael Chang, Sales Manager, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, believes local distributors with close customer relationships have a key part to play in the company’s network.

“Anglia has particular expertise in the industrial sector, an important part of the UK market and an application that SEM is keen to expand into,” said Chang.

SEM has a strong range of MLCC devices and this range will be a major focus for Anglia. In addition it will fully support SEM EMC control devices, chip resistors, crystal devices, Tantalum and X2Y Capacitors and chip inductors.

This represents a major stock investment for Anglia, said Rawlins.

Europe is tops for chip sales

STMicroelectronics Crolles fab in France

STMicroelectronics Crolles fab in France

Europe seems to be an important market for semiconductor suppliers right now.

According to figures from the World Semiconductor Trade Statistics (WSTS) and published by the European Semiconductor Industry Association, the European market grew faster in dollar terms than the world as a whole in May.

European semiconductor sales jumped by 10.1% in May on the back of strong growth in thw wireless market, according to WSTS.

Global semiconductor sales in May were $26.86bn, up 8.8% year-on-year.

Just over $3bn worth of semiconductors were sold in Europe in May, this was 10.1% ahead of the same month a year ago.

The May figure was also 2.1% ahead on the April sales figure.

According to WSTS, this continues the trend for growth, and European semiconductor sales for the first 5 months of 2014 are running 9.6% ahead of the same period in 2013.

Discrete and analogue ICs remain the big drivers.

“The wireless market continues to be the strongest end market, and a brisk growth could be observed in the sales of devices designed for consumer and wired communication applications,” said WSTS.

Exchange rate effects continue to affect the European sales picture when comparing market growth in euros and in dollars.

Semiconductor sales were €2.266bn in May, an increase of 3.7% on teh same month a year ago.

Cherry has kit for designing energy harvesting switches

Cherry Eval-kit

Energy harvesting evaluation kit

Evaluation kit for demonstrating the batteryless, wireless RF energy harvesting technology, has been introduced by Cherry.

Designed for industrial automation, the switches incorporate RF transmitters powered by the mechanical actuation of the switch.

Cherry is sampling two package versions for industrial applications – a rocker switch for actuation by hand and as a snap-action switch for mechanical actuation, e.g. by a machine.

The switch can be connected with a standard SPS bus system like OpenCAN and Profibus or industrial interfaces like RS485, SPI, 4-20mA and 0-24V. The signal received simply transmits to an SPS or other industrial control.

The evaluation kit is available to provide a functional demonstration of the technology and allows users to measure signal strength and range.

The evaluation kit contains an energy harvesting generator, including RF electronics integrated into a microswitch housing, a receiver PCB with multiple digital and analogue outputs, a high performance dipole antenna, a chip antenna, and a CD containing the driver & installation instructions, as well as an instruction manual.

Volume production of the two switch versions for industrial applications commence in August 2014.

The corresponding receivers will be available from October 2014. Samples of both products are available.

Cherry is a brand of ZF Electronics, the Germany-based switches and sensors business acquired by ZF Group in 2008.

Designing MEMS-based DLP pico projectors

TI DLPOver the last few years, millions of products incorporating pico projection have shipped, and developers are constantly innovating new applications for this rapidly growing display category.

Pushing beyond front projection, applications for pico projection include near eye display, interactive digital signage, standalone portable projectors and embedded projection in smartphones.

Imaging Technology 

Designers are faced with many imaging technology options, the most important being selection of a device that most efficiently utilises light. There are two different optical path architectures in the marketplace: transmissive and reflective.

Reflective technologies utilise an array of microscopic mirrors to create the image without fundamentally altering the light, in turn maximising light efficiency (see diagram below).

Reflective MEMS micromirror array

Reflective MEMS micromirror array

In contrast, other technologies employ transmissive or a hybrid of transmissive and reflective systems, requiring polarization of light to control the intensity of each pixel. Transmissive methods incur significant light loss, thus reducing optical efficiency.

When considering the selection of a display technology, it is important to efficiently capture light without worrying about polarization, resulting in higher brightness at lower system power. Reflective displays with micromirrors, such as DLP technology, provide this advantage.

Switching speed is a third consideration for the selection of display technology. The developer should look for a technology that can switch as quickly as possible, as this will allow the design to instantaneously control the light path and colour sources for the system.

The faster switching speed not only provides better colours but also better image quality, as there is less motion blur, resulting in a better viewing experience. As a point of reference, Texas Instruments DLP Pico devices can switch each pixel/micromirror up to 3,000 times per second.

Light Sources

When considering light sources, there are three primary options: lamps, LEDs and lasers. Lamps are commonly used in conference room and home theatre projectors, where high lumen levels (Over 2000L) are required.

For pico projectors, the most common light sources used are LEDs, specifically individual red, green and blue LEDs. The benefit of LEDs is that they provide the best trade-off between cost, size, brightness (lumens per watt) and reliability.

Laser illumination has the benefit of high flux density (in lumens) from a small size, as well as highly-saturated colours. Laser illumination is an attractive option for pico projector applications requiring hundreds of lumens and where the cost of lasers can be accommodated.

Typical pico display system

Typical pico display system

Optical Engines

Creating an optical engine design involves numerous trade-offs, each of which has an effect on size, cost and optical efficiency. There is an existing, mature network of Optical Engine Manufacturers (OEMs) that can supply fully-tested, off-the-shelf (OTS) designs for most pico projection applications.

Using an existing OTS design is the fastest way to get to market. If there isn’t an OTS design that meets a developer’s needs, OEMs are fully capable of creating semi-custom or custom designs.

For most pico projectors, achieving efficiencies for battery operation is critical. An important aspect of managing power comes through utilising algorithms to analyse the image on a frame-by-frame basis. By doing so, the intensity of each LED can be optimised for each frame.

For example, a blue sky will not need much red and green, while a red sunset won’t need much blue and green. This can provide savings in power consumption of up to 50 percent without compromising image quality or brightness, and in many cases actually improves both.

Although we won’t go into specific algorithms here, there are numerous resources available to explore and learn more about proprietary algorithm offerings from various technology providers.

Furthermore, adding an ambient light sensor to a pico projector enables algorithms to adjust the image brightness to suit varying ambient light conditions. This further maximises battery life and optimises the viewing experience.

Special considerations for emergent product categories 

Pico projector

Pico projector

It is important to note that there is a variety of emerging product categories using DLP Pico technology to achieve unique design requirements and each of these will have their own design considerations. For example:

  • In near eye displays – whether in the form of glasses, goggles, visors, augmented reality helmets or other novel form factors, MEMS switching speed and display contrast are far more important than light source brightness.
  • For resilient digital signage that can be projected onto storefront windows, having a long-lasting and bright light source is just as important as the projection quality enabled by the imaging technology and more key than power optimisation.
  • When developing ultra-short throw (UST) TV devices to be competitive in the marketplace, consideration needs to be given to high definition resolution, battery conservation and light engine size.

By exploring these guidelines and pragmatically selecting image technology, light sources, optics and software implementation, developers can create innovative and exciting world-class applications incorporating DLP pico projection.

Writer is Carlos Lopez, strategic marketing manager for pico products at Texas Instruments DLP.

Ericsson and Murata in digital power pact

Tatsuo Bizen, CEO and President of Murata Power Solutions

Tatsuo Bizen, CEO and President of Murata Power Solutions

Murata Power Solutions and Ericsson have teamed up to accelerate the adoption of digital power products.

The two power supply manufacturers have signed a technical collaboration agreement which includes the introduction of a range of standardised digital power modules.

“We believe this joint initiative will encourage manufacturers to speed up their adoption of digitally controlled power systems,” said Tatsuo Bizen, CEO and president of Murata Power Solutions.

“Initially, the benefits of using digitally controlled power sources were considered not to be worth the extra price, however, customers now can see the advantages digital control and monitoring can bring to their end application, so we believe that by introducing a second-source route of Ericsson’s products we will speed the development of this market,” said Bizen.

The first standardised digitally controlled power modules will be introduced this year.

 

Novel audio topology aims to increase efficiency

Figure 2: Negative rail is only generated when needed

Figure 2: Negative rail is only generated when needed

Have you ever heard of an audio amplifier operating in Class-DG?

Neither had I until I came across an unusual amplifier from Maxim, that slipped below Electronics Weekly’s radar when it first came out.

Class-D audio amplifiers (switching audio amplifiers) have done a lot to increase efficiency and cut heat compared with traditional analogue Class-AB amplifiers, without sacrificing much audio quality when it is done correctly.

However, as power output drops, switching losses start to dominate, which is why amplifiers aimed at 32Ω headphones are still analogue.

While they are analogue, the latest headphone amplifiers are analogue with a twist: the amplifier is Class-AB, but they get their power from a two-level voltage source which will be at the higher level for sonic peaks and the lower level for quieter passages.

This sort of power-saving operation is called Class-G – and has even been used in some large amplifiers. Some of Bob Carver’s 1980s ‘Cube’ amplifiers used Class-G operation as a heat-reduction strategy to deliver over 200W from cases far smaller than many thought possible at the time.

In a rather left-field move, Maxim has combined Class-D switching amplification with Class-G-style rail switching and come up with Class-DG operation, implemented in its MAX98308 3.3W (from 5V into 8Ω+68µH) mono audio amplifier.

To get the power, it has differential outputs to double potential output swing, and a charge pump that can generate a negative rail when more than 0-5V of output excursion is needed.

Multi-level output modulation is employed in to draw maximum power from the lower impedance positive battery rail, rather than the higher impedance charge-pump-generated negative rail.

This is accomplished by generating PWM signals that swing from ground to the positive rail, or from ground to the negative rail, at either end of the bridged load, rather than continually swinging from positive to negative rails.

“When the negative rail is not needed, the output is drawn entirely from the standard supply. This scheme results in high efficiency over a wide output power range,” said Maxim. Better than 80% efficiency is claimed from 350mW to 2.2W output.

Fixed gains of 8.5, 11.5, 14.5, 17.5, and 20.5dB set by a select input, or there is a MAX98307 version which has adjustable gain set by external resistors.

1.77W is available from a 3.6V lithium ion battery.

Both the 3.3W and 1.77W figures are at 10% THD+noise. For 1% THD+noise, 1.54W is available from 3.6V, and 2.85W from 5V.

At 500mW from 3.6V, efficiency is 84%. Quiescent current is 1.85mA at 3.6V.

Active RF emissions limiting is built in, as well as click and pop suppression, thermal protection, over-current protection, and a low current shut-down mode.

This is a very small chip: a 1.7×1.3mm 12bump wafer-level package (WLP) needing only 4.7 and 10µF capacitors (the external resistor version is in a larger 16pin TQFN).

Figure 1: Class-DG amplifier

Figure 1: Class-DG amplifier

In a slightly larger (2.1×2.1mm, 16bump WLP), Maxim also makes a 3.6V class-D audio amplifier with a more conventional built-in full-time inductive boost converter (needing 2.2µH and 22µF) to provide the audio section with added headroom.

Called MAX98502, from 3.6V it can deliver 2.2W (10% THD+N) or 1.7W (1%) – and these figures roughly double if the load is changed to 4Ω+33µH.

Quiescent current is 1.7mA at 3.6V, and it will run from 2.5 to 5.5V.

The inductive version is slightly more efficient, however, it will not deliver 3.3W into 8Ω at any voltage, although it will deliver over 4W into 4Ω.

For those interested in higher power audio, many semiconductor firms make single-chip Class-D amplifiers. For example, Maxim’s MAX98400A delivers 2x20W into 8Ω loads or 1x40W into 4Ω. There is a reference design (No 4320) for a 2.1 channel (two 2in high frequency speakers and one 5in woofer) Bluetooth docking station on its website complete with enclosure plans.

 

Welsh technology firms go global

Raspberry Pi

Raspberry Pi

Richard Wilson travelled to Wales and discovered an electronics sector with world-class companies, cutting-edge university research and with aspirations to grow

I travelled to Wales to do some mountain-walking and discovered a two-week festival which was bidding to raise the profile of Wales as a centre for electronics technology.

Technologies were on show at 40 events, with companies across the region ranged from world-class semiconductor process technology and robotic systems, to MEMS sensors and systems for defence and aerospace.

Companies taking part included Sony, General Dynamics and semiconductor wafer producer IQE, as well as nano-health researchers from Swansea University.

Facility visits, seminars and exhibitions were open to student and the general public to raise the profile of the Welsh electronics sector.

There were also networking events to connect global companies operating in Wales with the local supply chain.

“Wales can already claim credit for an amazing array of enabling technologies, although that’s not always widely recognised,” said Ian Menzies, chair of ESTnet, the electronics and software technologies network for Wales. He is also senior director in Wales of General Dynamics.

Menzies pointed to a recent UK innovation survey which showed that just over 40% of Welsh firms with over 10 employees are ‘innovation active’ which means they regularly introduce new or significantly improved products and processes or engage in innovation projects.

“If we can build energetically upon the work to date and nurture a new culture of innovation this could earn the Welsh economy billions of pounds extra and create thousands of new high-quality jobs,” he said.

Most recent figures from the survey show that 22.5% of Welsh company turnover was generated from new or significantly improved products and services, with 5.8% of total turnover coming from products that were totally new to the market.

Among the home-grown Welsh companies showcasing their work was Cardiff-based IQE, a manufacturer of specialist compound semiconductor wafers which are supplied to chip makers world-wide.
IQE supplies over 50% of the world’s RF epitaxial wafers, which are used to fabricate radio front-end ICs for mobile phones. IQE possesses the largest independent manufacturing capacity of compound semiconductor epi worldwide, and as a result, is able to achieve enhanced economies of scale, helping to build wafer capacity and cost structure needed to grow the GaN market.

“We are beginning to see very significant traction for GaN occurring in the compound semiconductor industry, across a wide range of applications” said Drew Nelson, president and CEO, IQE, who won the lifetime achievement award at the Elektra Awards 2013.

The company is now creating in its Welsh facility a production capability for gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon wafers which is expected to be an important technology for volume markets such as smartphone power amplifiers.

IQE has recently signed a licence agreement for gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon wafer with M/A-COM Technology. The agreement gives the Wales-based wafer producer access to RF and microwave IP for gallium nitride (GaN) on silicon technology.

M/A-COM has also signed an epitaxial (epi) wafer supply agreement with IQE allowing the compound semiconductor wafer producer to manufacture GaN-on-silicon epi at 4, 6 and 8-inch diameters in high volume for RF applications.

According to IQE, this agreement will deliver GaN RF products with “breakthrough bandwidth and efficiency at mainstream 8-inch silicon cost structures.”

The deal means that Wales will be a source for large diameter wafer manufacturing capabilities to support mainstream, commercial adoption of GaN technology.

“We are nearing a watershed moment for the RF and microwave industry, promising breakthrough performance for compound semiconductors and leveraging large-scale silicon production facilities that operate at orders of magnitude greater economies of scale,” said John Croteau, president and CEO, M/A-COM.

According to IQE’s Nelson, the agreement will bring “decades of high volume production experience to create the necessary supply chain needed to accelerate GaN adoption.”

As part of the innovation festival IQE was one of a number of companies taking part in an event at St Asaph, North Wales designed to establish technology partnerships with other Wales-based electronics firms.

Also at the event in St Asaph, Microvisk invited visitors to hear about its pioneering micro-viscometer, based on novel, patented MEMS (micro electromechanical system) technology used in medical sensors.

General Dynamics’ EDGE innovation centre at Oakdale, Gwent is organising facility visits, while the electronics and software technologies network for Wales (ESTnet) holds its software exhibition at Cardiff City Stadium.

Research in Wales has also contributed to the sophisticated sensor technology used in the Bloodhound high speed car, bidding to break the land-speed record.

The University of Swansea is one of a group of UK universities taking part in a £2m research project to develop safer, cheaper and more sustainable new materials for solar cells.

The “PVTeam” project aims to develop new active materials for photovoltaic solar cells based on abundant and low cost elements, says the university.

Specifically, the research objective is to replace key elements such as gallium, indium, cadmium and tellurium with abundant non-toxic alternatives, “while developing and implementing processes compatible with large-scale manufacturing in the UK”.

Another event took place at the Sony UK Technology Centre at Pencoed, Bridgend.

Sony’s UK Technology Centre was in the headlines last year when it manufactured more than a million Raspberry Pi educational computers.

The computer boards have been sold by distributor element14, which partnered with Sony UK TEC.

“The strategic decision to bring the Raspberry Pi back to the UK and partner with the electronics giant Sony UK TEC has a number of benefits from bringing the manufacturing centre closer to the head office, reducing transport costs and supporting UK mass scale manufacturing,” said element14.

“In a little under a year we have created one million units at our site in Pencoed, Wales which has resulted in us generating 40 local jobs,” said Steve Dalton OBE, managing director of Sony UK Technology Centre.

“The work done by all parties has acted as a significant milestone in the UK manufacturing industry, which ultimately helps to support and grow the UK economy.”

According to Edwina Hart, Minister for economy, science and transport in the Welsh Government: “We have first class academia for research and development, cutting-edge technologies and pioneering people and businesses leading the way. Promoting further innovation is a top priority for the Welsh Government and we have key programmes in place to achieve that.”

MediaTek uses cloud service to update wearables

MediatekSoftware for setting up and activating wearable electronic devices will be downloaded over mobile communications networks and chip maker MediaTek has teamed with mobile software management firm Red Bend Software offer firmware over-the-air software services.

MediaTek’s first chip to be integrated with Red Bend’s FOTA SaaS is the Aster SoC device for wearables.

As well as downloading firmware for the Aster platform, the wearable devices can be continually updated with apps and services.

MediaTek platform allows apps to be pushed and installed, along with sensor algorithms and drivers. This is done remotely through the wireless links between phones, tablets and their wearable devices.

According to IDC, the worldwide market for wearable devices, including smart watches, fitness devices and personal healthcare monitors, will have a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 83.2% growing to $20.6bn by 2018.

Red Bend’s FOTA cloud-based service allows manufacturers to update devices without requiring expertise in designing and operating an over the air updating system or needing to make large, upfront capital expenditures in service infrastructure.

Component market is improving, but weaknesses remain

Adam Fletcher

Adam Fletcher

The medical cliché “the patient is improving but remains weak” nicely summarises the current situation in the UK electronic components market. If the optimism and positive thinking exhibited by most movers and shakers in the electronic components industry was all it took to drive recovery I suspect the market would be growing more strongly, at least in-line with other sectors of the UK economy, writes Adam Fletcher, chairman of the Electronic Components Supply Network.

The growth and investment in UK market sectors such as construction, aerospace, automobiles, military and even retail has been faster than in many other European countries. Unfortunately this performance has not been mirrored in the core UK and international industrial manufacturing markets, where the majority of purchasers of electronic components, the systems integrators, operate.

The overall monthly book-to-bill ratio for the UK and Ireland electronic components market in Q1 ‘14 can best be described as inconsistent – two good months and a poor one – but the overall result was positive at 1.04:1. A positive growth number is evidence that customer order backlogs have increased.

Analysis of bookings (orders received) in Q1’14 compared to the same period ’13 showed an increase of 5%, while comparison with the previous quarter (Q4 ’13 with Q1 ’14) showed an 11% increase. This last comparison however is a little misleading, as the final quarter of the year is generally slow due to the seasonal festivities that make December a very short month.

Billings (Orders Shipped) in Q1’14 compared to the same period ’13 resulted in an increase of 2%, while comparison with the previous quarter (Q4 ’13 with Q1 ’14) shows an increase of 7%. Taken in isolation a market growth rate of 2% in the first quarter is a ‘not too bad’ result, especially as the backlog has also increased as it suggests that there is some growth built into the second quarter but it is at the low end of ECSN members’ consolidated Q’1 forecast of 2% to 5%.

The electronic components markets in Europe and the US have historically seen Q1 as the strongest growth quarter but I suspect that the recovery is not yet sufficient for a return to normal seasonal patterns. Indeed, ECSN members’ consolidated UK/Ireland Electronic Components Market Forecast for 2014 is for a gradual quarter on quarter growth throughout the year resulting in annual growth in the range 3.5% to 7%.

The wider picture

Looking at the wider European picture, results for France, Italy and the Nordic countries are consistent with those seen in the UK, while the German electronic components market is pulling ahead. The growth rate in Germany for both bookings and billings is twice that of other European markets for the same time period.

IDEA: Q1 2014 billings

IDEA: Q1 2014 billings

The strength of the German electronic components market should not really be a surprise as the overall German economy is currently much stronger than its European neighbours. It is likely that the German electronic components market is an early beneficiary of a reduction in ‘off-shoring’ (manufacturing in Asia), with more new projects coming on-line in Europe. There is also limited evidence of ‘re-shoring’ (manufacturing returning from Asia to Europe) particularly to Eastern Europe where purchases are often made via a German-based parent company.

The situation in the US electronic components markets is surprisingly similar to Europe – low growth and improvement expectations that are not being demonstrated by the market statistics. There are however many more good examples of US based multinationals “re-shoring” from Asia to the Americas, primarily Mexico and Brazil, a process confusingly referred to as “on-shoring”.

China remains the single largest electronic components market, where it is still almost impossible to obtain accurate statistical information due to a high level of internal inter-company trading. The best information indicates that in Q1 ’14 growth in the Chinese electronic components market was below expectations, probably in the range 3% to 5% and well below historic growth rates. The outlook however is a return to stronger growth especially in early Q3 ’14, as it reaches peak of manufacturing activity to service the Western Christmas and Chinese New Year demands.

Overall sentiment in the electronic components market remains positive but the stability that components manufacturers need to see before they’ll invest significantly in increased production capacity is still lacking. Overall manufacturing lead-times for most electronic components remain low – averagely in the 4 to 8 week range – but there is evidence that manufacturers are beginning to transition slightly towards the higher end of this range. In-house inventories at systems integrators are low and they are generally placing short term order cover, although there is a trend towards increasing order cover for some key components, particularly memory products.

The electronic components industry needs to see a long continuous period of stable growth, which will encourage investment in new capacity to meet anticipated future demand. Demand visibility is a key element of achieving stable growth but unfortunately visibility continues to be poor. I encourage all parties in the electronic components supply network to engage and communicate their best forecast of demand to their wider supply network to avoid market instability, which benefits none of the professional organisations in the market.

Writer is Adam Fletcher, chairman of the Electronic Components Supply Network  

 

UK-based Asic firm takes on new graduates

Jason Robinson (left) and Adrian Wheeldon

Jason Robinson (left) and Adrian Wheeldon

Swindon Silicon Systems, the mixed-signal Asic design firm, has expanded its design team by recruiting three graduates.

“We have had a very successful year,” said company  managing director, Geoff Hall,” and we have been lucky in recruiting some talented new graduates to continue our growth.”

Jason Robinson is joining Swindon Silicon Systems as a Graduate Product Support Engineer. He is a new graduate in electronic engineering from Southampton Solent University.

The company also has two new Graduate Design Engineers joining in the autumn: William Kelsey, currently completing his MEng in electrical and electronic engineering at Bristol University and Vlad Cretu who has gained an MSc in analogue and digital IC design.

The fabless IC firm is also taking on a group of undergraduates on placement in our product support group.

“This is an opportunity for them to gain valuable on the job training and experience,” said Hall.

Adrian Wheeldon reading Electronic Engineering with Computer Systems at the University of Southampton and Luke Morton reading Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College have both just completed the second year of their MEng courses and will be with the company for ten weeks over the summer.

There is a European element too with Guillaume Saint-Cirque a 3rd year student at the National Engineering Institute in Mechanics and Microtechnologies in France beginning  a five month placement in September.

“The company is committed to supporting the development of young engineers,” said Hall.

Swindon Silicon’s UK-based design team designs chips for the automotive, consumer, defence and medical markets.