european January 2011 business press www.electronics-eetimes.com 10 execs and 10 technologies that are changing the game 8 Focus: Test & RF & Wireless Measurement 21 Technologies 40 CONTENTS JANUARY 2011 A EUROPEAN BUSINESS PRESS PUBLICATION PUBLISHER André Rousselot +32 27400053 [email protected] EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Julien Happich Using a century-old phenomenon discovered in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, applied scientists +33 153907865 at Harvard University have demonstrated highly collimated unidirectional microlasers. [email protected] 5 EDITORS OPINION batteries Philip Ling | Uncommon Market: Forget +44 1622746580 4 [email protected] fab-lite, this is fab-tight DESIGN + PRODUCTS Christoph Hammerschmidt 50 Last Word: Don’t be an easy SPECIAL FOCUS: +49 8930779786 catch: test your products before TEST&MEASUREMENT [email protected] deployment 21 Measuring the resistivity of bulk CONTRIBUTING EDITORS materials Paul Buckley COVER STORY 24 Radar measurement +44 1962866460 [email protected] 8 10 execs and 10 technologies comparison: swept and FFT- that are changing the game based signal analyzers Jean-Pierre Joosting +44 1202543405 28 Optical power measurement and [email protected] NEWS & TECHNOLOGY resolution CIRCULATION & FINANCE 5 | Unidirectional ‘whispering SPECIAL FOCUS: Luc Desimpel gallery’ microlasers show higher INTERCONNECT [email protected] output efficiency 32 Automotive Ethernet diagnostics ADVERTISING PRODUCTION & REPRINTS 6| ECC toolbox could extend scaling and beyond! Lydia Gijsegom for new nand Flash interface [email protected] 36 Automotive connectors evolve to 18 Software to take half of the total meet EV challenges ART MANAGER navigation market by 2016 Jean-Paul Speliers SPECIAL FOCUS: european ACCOUNTING 19 Audio processing puts greater RF&WIRELESS Ricardo Pinto Ferreira business press demand on DSPs Regional Advertising Representatives: 40 Inside Bluetooth low-energy Contact information at: 19 | Blue Link: Hyundai’s next in- http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/en/about/ sales-contacts.html vehicle telematics interface READER OFFER 20 | Nanoscoops’ could spark new EUROPEAN BUSINESS PRESS SA 46 Ten RDK-251 reference kits 144 Avenue Eugène Plasky generation of electric automobile 1030 Brussels - Belgium Tel: +32 (0)2 740 00 50 Fax: +32 (0)2 740 00 59 www.electronics-eetimes.com ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING TIMES EUROPE is published monthly in 2011 by European Business Press SA, 144 Avenue Plasky, 1030 Bruxelles, Belgium Tel: +32-2-740 00 50 Fax: +32-2-740 00 59 email: [email protected]. VAT Registration: BE 461.357.437. RPM: Brussels. VAT Registration: BE 461.357.437 / RPM: Volume 13, Issue 1 EE Times P 304128 AD_ecomm_EPN.qxp:EETimesBrussels 1/6/11 12:39 PM Page 1 It is is free to qualified engineers and managers involved in engineering decisions – see: http://www.electronics-eetimes.com/subscribe Company Number: 0461357437 / © 2011 E.B.P. SA Copyright 2011 by European Business Press SA. All rights reserved. P 304128 Vicor Products Now Also Available Online ! Vicor offers tens of Prototype Quantities at Unbeatable Lead Times thousands of standard and customizable, high-performance power conversion solutions fitting your exact specifications. Visit vicorpower.com or call us at 00800 VICOR 000 (00800 84267000) COMMENTARY: UNCOMMON MARKET Forget fab-lite, this is fab-tight By Philip Ling Over-cautiousness during the recent hard times may other words, ICs destined for high volume have left the semiconductor industry struggling to applications. This can only lead to the loss of keep up with expected demand, according to indus- innovation. The problem may be that the real value try analyst Malcolm Penn, CEO of Future Horizons, in semiconductor manufacturing is now in who has coined the phrase ‘fab-tight’ to highlight the (re)packaging and distribution, which is why fabless companies are able to command the need for more capacity across the board. the greatest – and possible only commer- cially sustainable – margins. A FLAT-LINED CAPITAL EXPENDITURE curve sic economics. With a subsequent glut of The good news is Penn sees many new over six quarters means many fabs have ‘commodity’ parts, it may be apparent that markets needing many new devices, pre- been running at close to 100% capacity for the ASP is falling but clearly that should be dominantly devices that aren’t 20nm SOCs. three years, a trend that is set to continue something under the control of the industry, This includes mixed signal ICs, power de- due to the missing investment, leaving vices, compound semi- little or no room for flexibility. Penn high- conductors and display lighted that the last quarter of last year saw drivers; applications a 147% increase in capital expenditure but and devices that could fears it is a case of ‘too little, too late’. offer smaller IDMs real Instead of adding capacity in anticipation opportunities. of demand, Penn believes that manufactur- Penn proposed that ers have taken to building it in response to the industry is riding on demand; a ‘just in time’ approach that may the back of six prem- work well in certain supply chains, but ises that are essentially doesn’t fit the semiconductor model. Subse- wrong; myths that are quently, with a lack of sales there has been a perpetuated through reduction in R&D by the manufacturers of either a lack of under- semiconductor fabrication equipment, caus- standing, confidence or ing an even more severe dearth of capacity vision. The first three and lack of cutting edge technologies to feed Fab shortage versus fab shortage. declare that the market the now rising demand. not driving it. has reached a level of maturity that dictates Behind the lack of investment is reduced Likewise, the problem may stem from its cyclic nature is at an end and, as a result, confidence in the market caused by the device manufacturers being too eager to pass ASPs must continue to decline. But perhaps downturn, but Penn was keen to stress that savings on to their customers, as each new more interesting are the ‘myths’ that state this wasn’t a classic cycle or recession; it was process node delivers more transistors per there is no strategic value in fabs and that a ‘pause’ with a subsequent bounce back, not square inch, or larger wafers render a greater the fabless model is a recipe for success. a boom. As a result, there will be a market number of die. These two substantiate, in Penn’s view, correction, not to be misread as a crash, Economics aside, it seems clear that the ‘Wall Street’ dictate that, as it is a mature which may ultimately help reduce the stress an over-reliance on fabrication partners market with low growth and declining ASPs, on existing manufacturers. may ultimately promote the resurgence of everything should be outsourced and the His forecast is for a ‘steady’ 4 to 6% independent device manufacturers (IDMs), focus should be on IP and branding. growth which some may feel is too low, how- if the cost of the equipment can be justified. Penn’s forecasts, which historically have ever Penn believes the industry has an abil- The alternative is the ‘fab-lite’ model, which been relatively accurate, are derived from ity to see what it wants to see; for instance Penn feels is now defunct (and, perhaps, was fierce analysis and common sense; the it is perceived that the average selling price never viable), or the more mainstream ‘fab- former helps uncover the trends behind (ASP) for ICs continues to fall where, in fact, less’ solution. the data, while the latter helps provide the it has been rising for eight quarters. The danger here is that, as technology context. n Penn points out that the perception may evolves, fabless manufacturers may become be founded on the lack of premium devices more closely tied to a single fab partner, who Philip Ling is Editor for embedded electronics at entering the market, which command a will ultimately need to prioritise between EETimes Europe - he can be reached at higher selling price, as dictated by clas- those that offer the greatest potential, in [email protected] 4 Electronic Engineering Times Europe January 2011 News & TECHNOLOGY Unidirectional ‘whispering gallery’ microlasers show higher output efficiency QUANTUM PHYSICS By Julien Happich USING A CENTURY-OLD phenomenon dome in St. Paul’s Cathedral could hear each discovered in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, other by whispering into the circular wall. applied scientists at Harvard University He discovered that the sound skirts along the have demonstrated, for the first time, highly smooth surface of the wall with negligible collimated unidirectional microlasers. The attenuation due to scattering or absorption. result of a collaboration with researchers The optical analogy of whispers in a dome from Hamamatsu Photonics in Hamamatsu are light rays confined to the perimeter of City, Japan, and the Institute of Theoretical tiny circular disks by multiple reflections The new microlaser uses an elliptical resonator Physics of the University of Magdeburg, Ger- from the boundary as they circle around. with a wavelength-sized notch (seen at top right) many, the advance has a wide range of new Because attenuation is minimal within the on the boundary to create unidirectional rays applications in photonics such as sensing smooth disk, these resonators have already (bottom left). and communications. been used to make some of the world’s low- The research team took advantage of a est-threshold lasers. Circular disks, however, gallery modes with little chance to escape concept in physics referred to as “whispering have posed certain challenges. except by a faint isotropic emission. Strate- gallery modes.” Over a century ago, British “One of the crucial unsolved problems of gies to suitably deform the disks to solve this scientist Lord Rayleigh wondered how two these microlasers for practical applications problem have yielded disappointing results,” people standing on opposite sides of the has been that their emission is non-direc- Capasso added.