SEMICON Europa, Europe’s largest event connecting the entire electronics design and manufacturing supply chain – from innovation to applications – opens today in strategic co-location with productronica at Messe München, in Munich, Germany. Themed Semiconductors Drive Smart, SEMICON Europa 2019 – Nov. 12-15 – highlights the vital importance of European sectors and ecosystems in propelling the semiconductor manufacturing industry and the broader electronics design and manufacturing supply chain worldwide.
MEMS
NXP Announces New Automotive Ultra-Wideband Chip Capable of Turning Smartphones into Car Keys
NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI), the world’s largest provider of automotive semiconductors, today announced an addition to its UWB portfolio with a new automotive UWB IC. UWB provides precise, secure, real-time localization capabilities unrivaled by other wireless technologies such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. The technology is designed to give spatial awareness to UWB-equipped cars, mobiles, and other smart devices, to enable cars to know exactly where the users are. For the first time, smartphone-based car access offers the same level of convenience as state-of-the-art key fobs. Users can open and start cars, while leaving their phones in their pockets or bags, and enjoy secure remote parking via smartphone.
On the Way to Intelligent Microrobots
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute PSI and ETH Zurich have developed a micromachine that can perform different actions. First nanomagnets in the components of the microrobots are magnetically programmed and then the various movements are controlled by magnetic fields. Such machines, which are only a few tens of micrometres across, could be used, for example, in the human body to perform small operations. The researchers have now published their results in the scientific journal Nature.
ON Semiconductor CEO Keith Jackson Elected Chair of Semiconductor Industry Association
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) Board of Directors today elected Keith Jackson, President, CEO, and Director of ON Semiconductor, as its 2020 Chair and Robert Bruggeworth, President, CEO, and Director of Qorvo, as its 2020 Vice Chair. SIA represents U.S. leadership in semiconductor manufacturing, design, and research, with members accounting for approximately 95 percent of U.S. semiconductor sales.
Tech to Change the World: Lux Research Releases Annual List of Transformational Technologies
A combination of megatrends, market demand, and new innovations has thrust many technologies into the spotlight. Lux Research – a leading provider of tech-enabled research and advisory services – released its annual report on the tech innovations that are likely to have the greatest impact during the next 10 years. The new report combines the power of insights from technology experts with proprietary data science tools to better guide innovation decision making. Lux’s “20 for 2020” identifies and ranks 20 technologies that will reshape the world, based on innovation interest scores from the Lux Intelligence Engine, along with input from Lux’s leading analysts. It provides data-backed context for the ever-shifting technology landscape and insights into how companies can maximize the investment opportunities these data trends reveal.
Light-Based ‘Tractor Beam’ Assembles Materials at the Nanoscale
Modern construction is a precision endeavor. Builders must use components manufactured to meet specific standards — such as beams of a desired composition or rivets of a specific size. The building industry relies on manufacturers to create these components reliably and reproducibly in order to construct secure bridges and sound skyscrapers. Now imagine construction at a smaller scale — less than 1/100th the thickness of a piece of paper. This is the nanoscale. It is the scale at which scientists are working to develop potentially groundbreaking technologies in fields like quantum computing. It is also a scale where traditional fabrication methods simply will not work. Our standard tools, even miniaturized, are too bulky and too corrosive to reproducibly manufacture components at the nanoscale.
Renesas and Altair Semiconductor Announce Collaboration for Cellular IoT Solutions
Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, and Altair Semiconductor (altair-semi.com), a leading provider of cellular IoT chipsets, jointly announced a partnership aimed at bringing ultra-small and ultra-low-power cellular IoT solutions to the global IoT market. Cellular IoT device makers will be able to use this combination of best-in-class solutions to create highly differentiated IoT products and services that offer much greater efficiencies and faster time to market. These integrated solutions will be delivered through Renesas’ sales channels, enabling cellular connectivity to all of its markets.
Broadcom Completes Acquisition of Symantec Enterprise Security Business
Broadcom Inc. (NASDAQ: AVGO), a global technology leader that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, today announced that it has completed its acquisition of the Enterprise Security business of Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC). Symantec’s Enterprise Security business will now operate as the Symantec Enterprise division of Broadcom and will be led by Art Gilliland as SVP and General Manager.
Boston Semi Equipment Revolutionizes Handling of Multi-Port, Low Pressure MEMS Sensors
Boston Semi Equipment (BSE), a global semiconductor test handler manufacturer and an innovative provider of test automation technical services, announced today that it has enhanced its Zeus gravity feed handlers with the capability of handling extremely low pressure MEMS devices with multiple ports. The first to benefit from this new MEMS handling capability is a leading manufacturer of health monitoring systems who selected BSE’s Zeus pressure MEMS solution for the ability to provide the extremely low-pressure stimulus combined with higher throughput. The Zeus MEMS handler is faster, more economical, and requires significantly less floor space than their existing solution.
NTU Singapore Researchers Create Quantum Chip 1,000 Times Smaller than Current Setups
Researchers at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have developed a quantum communication chip that is 1,000 times smaller than current quantum setups, but offers the same superior security quantum technology is known for. Roughly 3mm in size, the tiny chip developed by NTU scientists uses quantum communication algorithms to provide enhanced security compared to existing standards. It does this by integrating passwords within the information that is being delivered, forming a secure ‘quantum key’. After the information is received, it is destroyed along with the key, making it an extremely secure form of communication.
