Analog Devices Announces High Integration RF IC for Cellular Phones
Ningbo Bird Adopts Philips Nexperia in EDGE Handsets
Toshiba Develops 8Gbit Flash Memory
Fujitsu Considers Getting Into Small Format HDD Market
Matsushita Announces MOS Image Sensor with 2.0 micron Pixel Pitch
MtekVision Develops Multimedia Chip with Camcorder Equivalent Video Quality
Samsung Begins Commercial Production of 2.5Gb Multi Chip Package
White LED Prices Slide
SCE Offers Free Repair on PSP Button Defect

Analog Devices of the U.S. announced an RF IC for GSM/GPRS handsets, the "Othello-G RF (AD6548)". It is a quad band FR IC which supports 850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz and 1900MHz and is priced at less than $3 for orders larger than 10,000 units. Analog Devices' Othello series is based on direct conversion technology which the company introduced in 2001. The new device integrates a VCO (Voltage Controlled Oscillator), a PLL (Phase Lock Loop) filter and a power source management circuit and improved the degree of integration. The company reduced the component count and assembly area. The number of components mounted on the reference design is 75 percent fewer than the company's previous generation product. The externally mounted components are a receiver SAW filter, power amplifier and switch for switching between sending and receiving. The new RF IC is 5mm x 5mm, which is smaller than the 7mm x 7mm of the company's previous generation RF IC. The reference design measures 18 mm x 8.5mm which is 30 percent smaller than its competitors' products. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Philips Semiconductors of the Netherlands announced on February 14, 2005 that Ningbo Bird, China's leading cellular phone manufacturer, had adopted Philips' Nexperia Cellular System Solution 6120. Bird will use the Nexperia Cellular System Solution 6120 in development of GSM/GPRS/EDGE compliant handsets. The Nexperia Cellular System Solution supports up to 220Kbps downlink speeds. It also integrates ARM9 base band and "LiveVibes" multimedia suite, enabling 15 frames per second streaming of 3GPP or MPEG4 files in QCIF format. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Toshiba announced on February 8, 2005 that they have co-developed an 8Gbit NAND flash memory with SanDisk. The company will begin commercial production based on a 70 nm process design in summer 2005.

Toshiba adopted a two-bit-per-cell technology, which writes in 2bit equivalent information in one memory circuit. By revising the design, Toshiba managed to keep the area of the new device less than 5 percent larger than the existing 4Gbit product which is fabricated on a 90nm design rule. Toshiba will produce the new flash at FlashVision, a flash memory joint venture of Toshiba and SanDisk. The plant is located within Toshiba's Yokkaichi Plant. Toshiba plans to commercialize a 16Gbit product which stacks two 8Gbit flash and packages as one. South Korean Samsung Electronics has completed development of an 8Gbit flash and plans to begin mass production before the end of 2005. Toshiba will counter Samsung by introducing the same capacity flash memory.

On a related note, Toshiba announced that it would increase their semiconductor capital investment for the fiscal year ending March 2005 to 203 billion yen ($1.85 billion @ yen 110/$US 1) from the original 179 billion yen ($1.63 billion). The company is responding to the rising demand for NAND flash memory. According to Toshiba, there is strong NAND flash demand from Apple Computer's iPod shuffle.

As for HDD, Toshiba is going to mass-produce a 40GB 1.8-inch HDD during July-September 2005. Apple's popular HDD-based personal audio player, the iPod, uses a 1.8-inch HDD. Toshiba's two-disc type can store up to 80GB. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Fujitsu admitted that the Japanese company is considering getting into small format HDD manufacturing on February 22, 2005, itmedia reported on the same day. Earlier that day, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Japan's largest financial daily, reported that Fujitsu is going to get into the small format HDD market. The company has prototyped 1-inch and 1.8-inch HDDs; however, it has not decided whether to get into the market.

Fujitsu's IR Department issued a statement that it had not reached that decision. The company is had prototyped a 1.8-inch HDD for personal audio players and a 1-inch HDD for cellular phones. It will decide whether to foray into that market depending on market development.

Fujitsu is currently producing a 3.5-inch HDD for servers and a 2.5-inch HDD for notebook PCs. According to Fujitsu, its global shares during October-December 2004 are 22.5 percent for server HDDs and 25.5 percent for notebook PC HDDs. Its HDD business is growing steadily. The company withdrew from producing 3.5-inch desktop PC HDDs in 2001 and has been concentrating on high-value added products.

The company considers the small format HDD as a promising market. Although it has developed prototypes, it will decide cautiously whether to enter the market as it experienced serious pain and loss for a long time with 3.5-inch HDD for desktops in the past. Fujitsu does not plan to jump on the bandwagon immediately just because portable audio players have become a hit and HDDs are going to be installed in cellular phones, according to the company's IR Department. It is a serious business decision for Fujitsu. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., known for its Panasonic brand internationally, presented a paper on MOS-type image sensors with a pixel pitch of 2.0 micron at ISSCC 2005. It has achieved the smallest pixel pitch in CMOS/MOS type image sensors yet announced. Matsushita announced a 2.25-micron pitch MOS image sensor at ISSCC 2004 which had 1.75 transistors per pixel. This time, Matsushita has eliminated transistors for pixel selection and made 1.5 transistors per pixel. The company also reduced the design rule from 0.25 micron to 0.15 micron. Employing these measures, Matsushita has improved the aperture ratio by five points to 30 percent.

The prototype uses amorphous Si for its color filter. Matsushita comments that use of amorphous Si as a color filter could lead to cost reductions. Ordinary image sensors have a color filter film which has dye mixed into and mounted on the chip. The amorphous Si filter on each pixel has three different thicknesses. Using light through each filter, the signal processing will extract the R, G, B constituents. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

MtekVision of South Korea made an announcement on February 23, 2005 that the company has developed a mobile multimedia processor (model : MV8602COK), which supports a camcorder equivalent video quality. The new processor contains an MPEG4 (Motion Picture Experts Group 4) engine supporting 30fps video, which is equivalent to the frame rate of a typical camcorder. When adopted in a wireless handset, it can support camcorder levels of real-time video recording and replaying. It will be able to support two-way video calling, which is one of the requirements of 3G wireless handsets.

MtekVision has completed interfacing functional tests with base band processors of existing CDMA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE and WCDMA standards. The chip can be used in multimedia phones with various base band processors. The low power consumption MV8602COK enables twice the battery life of its competitors'multimedia chips. It also supports functions for an MP3 player and a 5 million-pixel class camera.

MtekVision plans to begin supplying this mobile multimedia processor in mass quantity in the third quarter 2005 to South Korean and other handset suppliers. IDC forecasts that demand for 3G multimedia phones will reach 136 million units in 2006. MtekVision aims to supply over 20 million units of the mobile multimedia chip to handset suppliers in 2006. See an image of the MV8602COK at: http://www.newswire.co.kr/read_sub.php?id=32784&no=0&ca=&ca1=%c0%fc%c0%da%c5%eb%bd%c5-&ca2=&sf=&st=&of=&nwof=&conttype=&tm=1&type=&hotissue=&sdate=&eflag=&spno=&tt=

Simultaneously, MtekVision completed development of a new 3D graphic multimedia processor, the MV8601BOI, an improved version of a 3D graphic multimedia processor which the company unveiled in 2004. The new multimedia chip for 3D applications measures 9 mm x 9 mm, and is claimed to be the smallest in commercially available 3D graphic multimedia chips. With its 1 million polygon performance (claimed as five times faster than commercially available 3D graphic chips), the new chip enables powerful 3D game playing and the use of 3D screens on a cellular phone screen. The chip also supports multimedia functions including MP3 player, camcorder, and digital camera. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Samsung Electronics of South Korea began volume production of a 2.5Gbit MCP (Multi Chip Package). It was originally announced in September 2004 and is targeted to 3G wireless phones.

The device incorporates two 1Gbit NAND flash for data storage and two units of 256Mbit mobile DRAM serving as a temporary buffer. As a four-chip MCP product, it has the largest capacity on the market. The new component operates on 1.8V and can store about four hours of high quality video (QVGA grade), the equivalent of two movies.

Following the commercial production of the 2.5Gbit MCPs, Samsung Electronics plans to develop an 8Gbit or larger MCP in 2005 to continue to lead the market and technology in the field.

See an image of the new 2.5Gbit MCP at:

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20050222/300700000020050222114736E2.html

[M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Large volume user prices of white LEDs during January - March 2005 have fallen even further, Nikkei Sangyo reported on February 16, 2005. Slow demand of cellular phones and intensified price competition of new models are making handset suppliers demand price reductions. White LEDs are commonly used as lighting for cellular phones.

January-March prices of white LEDs, which are negotiated and determined between cellular phone manufacturers and LED suppliers, are around 40 yen (36 cents @ yen 110/$US 1) for the type made into a lamp, 5 yen (4 cents) cheaper than the previous quarter.

The price drop is affected by price reduction competition of new handset models such as 3G handsets. Sales of handsets slowed down in Japan and outside of Japan as the replacement cycle is over. Handset manufacturers, who are trying to secure profits, have been requesting price reductions to LED manufacturers. LED manufactures accepted the price reduction requests saying "Some discounting is necessary for further market expansion.", quoted by a major system manufacturer.

Prices of Blue LEDs, too, dropped by 3 yen (3 cents). In 2004, non-Japanese manufacturers forayed into LED manufacturing. For this reason, low-luminosity medium-grade and low-grade LEDs are facing tough price competition. Prices of LEDs are expected to drop further as many cellular phone manufacturers are expected to keep output down until the middle of 2005. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) confirmed a defect in the square button on the main unit of some of the PSP game devices. The button does not retreat when pressed and SCE announced free repair on its web site. When the company was made aware of this problem, details of the defect were published on its official web site. The company explained that the cause of the defect was a problem in the manufacturing process and defective units cannot be identified by lot or serial number. It is offering free repair for the PSP units which have this problem.

The manufacturing process has been improved and "Shipments after 2005 are not affected by this problem." explains SCE. The company received repair requests on about 0.6 percent of the 510,000 PSP units (about 3,000 sets) that were shipped in 2004. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]