Texas Instruments has launched an MCU range based on ARM's Cortex-M4F core. The MSP432 range is said to optimise performance without compromising power. According to the company, the MCUs consume 95µA/MHz in active mode and 850nA in standby.The MSP432 MCUs are said by TI to achieve a score of 167.4 on the ULPBench test – better...

Toshiba says it has developed a 48 layer three dimensional stacked flash memory. Called BiCS, the 2bit/cell device has a capacity of 16Gbyte and is now sampling.BiCS is said to enhance write/erase endurance and to boost write speed. Although the technology can be used in a range of applications, Toshiba expects the parts to be used primarily in...

Demand for MEMS devices grew by 5.7% in 2014, according to market researcher IHS, which identified Bosch as the leading supplier of the technology in a market driven by Apple. Claiming the market in 2014 was worth $9.45billion, IHS said Bosch held 12% of sales, worth $1.17bn.IHS analyst Jeremie Bouchard said Apple boosted Bosch's MEMS reven...

Arrow Electronics says it will distribute a development platform and system on modules based on Qualcomm's Snapdragon 600 processor. According to the company, this will enable companies addressing the embedded and industrial sectors to develop applications such as security systems, robotics and motion control."Snapdragon processors are...

Responding from a perceived demand from industry and society at large for practicable encryption solutions, researchers from the German Fraunhofer Institute have launched an open initiative intended to make end to end encryption more widely available. The team, from the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT), has deve...

While organic LEDs can be incorporated in thin layers and used on curved surfaces, large area displays are not cost effective because of their low efficiency and short operating life.One alternative to OLEDs is electroluminescence, in which phosphors are excited in an electric field and researchers at the INM–Leibniz Institute for New Mat...

Looking to boost its presence in 5G communications, National Instruments is acquiring BEEcube, a leading supplier of FPGA based prototyping and deployment products for advanced wireless research, wireless infrastructure and military/defence applications. "As the Internet of Things drives greater demand for data and an increasing numbe...

Those organisations trying to make fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD-SOI) technology a realistic alternative to FinFETs have sketched out a roadmap intended to broaden its appeal. Included is non volatile memory, better RF handling and a path to 7nm.At the recent DATE conference in Grenoble, Carlo Reita, director of nanoelectronics techni...

Tektronix has unveiled the DPO70000SX, a 70GHz oscilloscope said to feature the lowest noise and highest effective number of bits of any high bandwidth real time oscilloscope currently available.One of the target markets for the device is communications. Dean Miles, technical marketing manager, noted: "We are seeing a lot of investment in...

While attempting to develop a novel type of permanent magnet, a team of researchers at Trinity College Dublin has discovered a new class of magnetic materials based on Mn-Ga alloys.According to the team, the Mn2RuxGa magnetic alloy – or MRG – has some unusual properties that may allow it to revolutionise data storage, as well as inc...