Graphcore Shares Its Views on Evolving TÜV SÜD Product Service Reviews Key Testing Machine Learning Strategies, Lays Its Plans
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european www.electronics-eetimes.com December 2016 business press 100Gbit/s on copper Executive interview: STMicro’s CEO, Carlo Bozotti Special Focus: Artificial Intelligence 161123_5Mill_EET_EU_Snipe.indd 1 11/18/16 2:01 PM 161019_LogoBurst_EET_EU.indd 1 10/17/16 2:32 PM CONTENTS DECEMBER 2016 4 & 49: OPINION 6 - 23: NEWS & TECHNOLOGY Uncommon Market: ST’s Bozotti on ‘back-to-silicon’ differentiation Pyramidal micro-LEDs for quantum computing EE Times Europe interviewed Bozotti at a bustling Last Word: Electronica settles into automotive, Electronica in Munich. industrial, IoT roles 24 - 31: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE & 32 - 37: POWER SUPPLIES & MACHINE LEARNING BATTERIES AI startup Graphcore shares its views on evolving TÜV SÜD Product Service reviews key testing machine learning strategies, lays its plans. scenarios for safe battery deployment. 38 - 43: AUTHENTICATION & ENCRYPTION 46: READER OFFER Implementing secure authentication This month, Arrow Electronics is giving away 10 without being a cryptography expert ARIS IoT development platforms worth 150 Euros For many engineers, encryption is probably the first each, for EETimes Europe’s readers to win. word that comes to mind when they think about security. Probably only a few think initially about 48: DISTRIBUTION CORNER authentication. 3 Electronic Engineering Times Europe December 2016 www.electronics-eetimes.com UNCOMMON MARKET QUANTUM BITS If your 5G idea works here... Pyramidal micro-LEDs output entangled- photons for quantum computing By Julien Happich sing scalable and foundry- The original manufacturing pro- compatible lithographic cess includes the epitaxial growth of processes, researchers Quantum Dots (QDs) inside inverted Ufrom the Tyndall National Institute pyramidal recesses originally pat- in Cork have designed pyramid- terned lithographically patterned on shaped quantum dot light-emitting a (111)B GaAs substrate, each with it will work here. diodes able to produce entangled a base approximately 5µm wide. photons (whose actions and states Through numerous metalorganic are linked). The micrometre-sized vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) structures can be replicated in large steps, several differently composed arrays where each microLED could Dr Emanuele Pelucchi, Head of Epitaxy and Physics of III–V (Al)GaAs layers and an InGaAs potentially be individually controlled Nanostructures at the Tyndall National Institute in Cork. QD layer self-assemble inside the electrically. This, report the researchers in Nature Photonics diminishing pyramidal recess. under the title “Selective carrier injection into patterned arrays According to the paper, complex epitaxial dynamics yield of pyramidal quantum dots for entangled photon light-emitting three embedded low bandgap vertical quantum wells (VQWs) diodes”, could lead to their use and integration into photonics- and a vertical quantum wire (VQWR) of a diameter around based quantum computers where polarization-entangled pho- 20nm, respectively. tons could theoretically be used to encode quantum informa- In addition, a thin InGaAs layer forms a group of intercon- tion. necting nanostructures: a flat QD at the central axis of the structure, three lateral quantum wires (LQWRs) and three lateral quantum wells (LQWs). Through back-etching the original substrate, the researchers managed to revert to apex-up pyramidal structures, enhancing light extraction by several orders of magnitude compared to the inward-built embedded devices. Top and bottom contacts were then designed so as to selectively inject current in the single QD at the centre of the pyramid, always using self-aligning tricks 50,000 football fans streaming live-action that inherently made the devices easy to manufacture at scale. By contacting all the μLEDs, the researchers could perform mobile video. All at once. a bulk analysis across approximately 1,300 μLEDs, but did not Soon it will be reality. A world connected as never before. discard the possibility to control those μLEDs individually for better performance selectivity and to compensate for process Always on. Amazingly fast. Massive traffic. Instant information. inhomogeneity. Ideally, for quantum information processing, That’s the promise of 5G. New spectrum. New waveforms. they would like to use the μLEDs as perfectly indistinguishable Millimeter-waves. Massive MIMO. More. Keysight offers the sources of entangled-photons. Photon extraction efficiency was world’s first 5G simulation, design and test environment able fairly low too, at around 1%, something the researchers ought to be improving to emulate your real-world 5G wireless thesis. With deep using various tricks expertise to help you tackle 5G risk and complexity. So you of the trade (includ- can go from 5G ideas to 5G reality faster. ing built-in material strain and electric HARDWARE + SOFTWARE + PEOPLE = 5G INSIGHTS fields). Dr Emanuele Pelucchi, Head of 1) (Top left) Scanning electron microscopy image of a sample Epitaxy and Physics right after the chemical etching step showing exposed of Nanostructures at pyramidal structures. (Bottom left) Sketch of a p–i–n junction Tyndall National In- μLED in cross-section view. (Right) a magnified region of stitute in Cork sees the central part of a pyramid with a QD. The epitaxial layers his team’s results as 5G© KeysightGet Technologies, the latest Inc. 2015 app notes, comprise a representative structure with dominant AlGaAs key steps towards Scanning electron microscopy image white papers and tutorials the realisation of alloys that form a vertical quantum wire (VQWR). Arrows of a sample with exposed pyramidal www.keysight.com/find/5G-Insights integrated quantum indicate the injection current through the VQWR. Courtesy structures in an apex-up geometry. photonic circuits for Roisin Kelly, Tyndall National Institute, University College quantum computing Courtesy Roisin Kelly, Tyndall National Cork. processing tasks. Institute, University College Cork. © Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2016 4 Electronic Engineering Times Europe December 2016 www.electronics-eetimes.com Keysight_5G_Soccer_PE_EETE.indd 1 08/02/2016 10:38 If your 5G idea works here... it will work here. 50,000 football fans streaming live-action mobile video. All at once. Soon it will be reality. A world connected as never before. Always on. Amazingly fast. Massive traffic. Instant information. That’s the promise of 5G. New spectrum. New waveforms. Millimeter-waves. Massive MIMO. More. Keysight offers the world’s first 5G simulation, design and test environment able to emulate your real-world 5G wireless thesis. With deep expertise to help you tackle 5G risk and complexity. So you can go from 5G ideas to 5G reality faster. HARDWARE + SOFTWARE + PEOPLE = 5G INSIGHTS Get the latest app notes, 5G© Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2015 white papers and tutorials www.keysight.com/find/5G-Insights © Keysight Technologies, Inc. 2016 Keysight_5G_Soccer_PE_EETE.indd 1 08/02/2016 10:38 NEWS & TECHNOLOGY BUSINESS STRATEGY Infineon places its bets on compound semiconductors, lidar, radar By Christoph Hammerschmidt ith sustainability as its magic success formula, In FY 2016, Infineon sold 12 million 77 GHz radar chips, more chipmaker Infineon has grown faster than the chip than in the previous six years combined. And the demand is industry in the FY2016 that just ended. For the years expected to continue: For FY 2016, Ploss plans to sell between ahead,W CEO Reinhard Ploss is even sure that he can increase 25 and 30 million units. To meet the rising demand for these the company’s profitability in an almost stagnant global market. products, Infineon has started to increase its (actually rather old) But his high-flying plans depend on one factor that is not yet fab in Regensburg, Germany. completely certain. Lidar is another technology Infineon is betting on. Half a de- The yearly figures presented by the German chipmaker cade ago, lidar sensors had the size of a flowerpot and carried are rather unspectacular, but positive: 12 % overall revenue the price tag of a compact car – a prohibitive price for volume growth (7% resulting from organic growth), segment result vehicles. Recently, Infineon announced the takeover of lidar up 9.5%. The interesting aspect in these figures are twofold: technology company Innoluce, which will enable them to make First, it has been achieved in an environment characterized by almost zero growth for the semiconductor industry. And all four of Infineon’s business units – Automotive, Industrial Power Control, Power Manage- ment & Multimarket and Chip Card & Security – contributed to the growth and the profit. This was not always the case. The chip card and security busi- ness, years ago the company’s problem child, continued its recovery and actually turned out to have the highest profitability with a segment result margin of 19.3%. This reflects the fact that in Europe, Infineon’s security chips are provided to 70% of all #redCUBE ID card and passport projects, the company said. The success was widely driven by Infineon’s focus on embedded world Hall 3 Booth 359 applications that help custom- ers to improve their energetic sustainability, be it in the area of electromobility or energy efficiency in industrial environments. lidar sensors affordable, compact and robust enough for every- What all these application fields have in common is the demand day use. “It is our goal to turn lidar into an affordable option for REDCUBE Terminals are the most reliable high-power contacts on the PCB level. Low con- Flexibility in processing and for efficient