Archive : 1 July 2015 год

Following the announcement in October 2014 of its intention to buy IBM's microelectronics business, Globalfoundries has now completed the transaction.

"Today, we have significantly enhanced our technology development capabilities and reinforce our long term commitment to investing in R&D for technology leadership," said Sanjay Jha, the foundry's CEO. "We have added world class technologists and differentiated technologies, such as RF and ASIC, to meet our customers' needs and accelerate our progress toward becoming a foundry powerhouse."

The acquisition includes an exclusive commitment to supply IBM with advanced semiconductor processor solutions for the next 10 years and gives Globalfoundries direct access to IBM's semiconductor research. Additionally, the acquisition makes the foundry the holder one of the largest semiconductor patent portfolios.

Alongside the addition of RF and ASIC process technology, the company has increased its manufacturing capacity with the ex IBM fabs at East Fishkill (pictured) and Essex Junction.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

An international team of researchers, including scientists from Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, has devised a technique for creating an micro supercapacitor (MSC) that delivers high electrochemical performance.

The team modelled the film structure of its MSC on natural vein-textured leaves in order to take advantage of the natural transport pathways which enable efficient ion diffusion parallel to the graphene planes found within them.

To create this shape, the team layered a graphene-hybrid film with copper hydroxide nanowires. Once the desired thickness was attained, an acid solution was used to dissolve the nanowires, leaving a thin film with nano-impressions.

This film was applied to a plastic layer with long parallel gold strips placed on top. Material not covered by the gold strips was etched away so that only the gold strips on top of a layer of film were left. Gold contact pads were added and the remaining space filled with a conductive gel. Once peeled from the plastic layer, the MSCs is said to resemble clear tape with gold electrical leads on opposite sides.

In addition to superior energy density, the film is not only said to be highly flexible but also to increase its capacitance after initial use. Volumetric energy density was found to be 10 times higher than currently available commercial supercapacitors and better than the results of other recent research.

The MSCs are displaying electrical properties about five orders of magnitude higher than similar lithium batteries and are comparable to existing, larger supercapacitors. Team leader Young Hee Lee noted: "To our knowledge, the volumetric energy density and the maximum volumetric power density in our work are the highest values among all carbon based solid state MSCs reported to date."

The researchers anticipate the technology being applied where light, reliable energy storage, combined with a long lifespan and fast charge/discharge time, is required. The team also said the MSCs could be used in implantable medical devices, active RFID tags and micro robots, as well as in portable, stretchable and wearable devices.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

York EMC Services (YES) has announced the launch of its York Training Academy (YTA), offering online regulatory compliance training courses for industry.

YES has been offering compliance training for more than 30 years, however, increasing demands in the workplace often make it difficult to find the time to attend training courses.

The launch of YTA allows YES to make its training portfolio available globally in accessible 'modules'. Users who purchase modules can stream them to their desktop or tablet at their convenience. The first module, now available online, is entitled 'Introduction to EMC Standards'.

Nick Wainwright, CEO of YES said: "York Training Academy is a new and exciting addition to our training services, allowing users to access them in a flexible and convenient way. Our online 'pick and mix' training modules provide the perfect opportunity for users to tailor training to their specific needs and to access it at a time and location of their choosing."

Author
Tom Austin-Morgan

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk

In a move that boosts its security portfolio, Synopsys has acquired Elliptic Technologies, which develops security IP cores and software solutions for a range of applications. The move follows Synopsys' recent acquisition of Codenomicon. Both acquisitions are said to demonstrate the company's investment in providing the electronics industry with the necessary technology for developing secure products. 

"We live in an internet connected world and built in security is critical in protecting devices from malware, data breaches and more," said Joachim Kunkel, pictured, general manager of Synopsys' Solutions Group. "The acquisition of Elliptic Technologies enables us to provide designers with a broad portfolio of proven security IP solutions that help them create the SoCs that are at the heart of secure connected devices."

Elliptic Technologies' products are said to complement Synopsys' DesignWare IP portfolio. Synopsys also gains access to an R&D team with deep security expertise.

Meanwhile, Synopsys has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Quotium Seeker product and R&D team. The move will add interactive application security testing to the Coverity platform. Seeker is said to complement Coverity's static analysis technology by testing and analysing applications in run time.

Author
Graham Pitcher

Source:  www.newelectronics.co.uk