Sanyo Electric Commercializes SD Card MP3 Player
NTT DoCoMo to Launch Bone Conductive Receiver
New Japan Radio Begins Sample Shipment of LNA for Cellular Phones
Mirics Semiconductor Announces Mobile TV Tuner IC
LG Electronics Adopts Infineon's MP-E in EDGE Phone
KEC Launches Flash LED Driver IC
Samsung Electronics Begins Commercial Production of 60nm 8Gbit NAND

Sanyo Electric of Japan will commercialize the DMP-M400SD (S), a portable audio player equipped with an SD card slot on August 1, 2006. It is expected to retail for around 7,000 yen ($60.34 @ yen 116/$US 1).

The portable audio player supports SD memory card (64MB-2GB) and does not come with onboard memory. It is compatible with MP3/WMA and supports WMA DRM9. It is capable of replaying repeatedly or randomly. It features a preset equalizer, supports USB and is compatible OS or Windows Me/2000/XP. It comes with an LCD display screen with backlight and Japanese language support.

One AAA battery provides for about 12 hours of replay time. The unit measures 69 mm x 55 mm x 15 mm and weighs 29g (excluding battery). An image of the DMP-M400SD (S) is available at: http://www.watch.impress.co.jp/av/docs/20060724/sanyo1.htm [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NTT DoCoMo, Japan's largest wireless service operator, has developed the Sound Leaf, a receiver microphone used with a cellular phone. It utilizes bone conductive technology providing the elderly and the hearing impaired with an optimal communication environment.

The Sound Leaf complies with T-Coil, which is used in some hearing aid products. The Sound Leaf is expected to hit the Japanese market in August 2006 and retail for about 10,000 yen ($86.21 @ yen 116/$US 1). It can be used with DoCoMo's W-CDMA phone series, the FOMA or the PDC phone series Mova. The Sound Leaf was showcased at Wireless Japan 2006 held July 19 - 21, 2006. The dimensions are 115 mm x 30 mm x 26.5 mm at 52g of weight. The unit runs on two AAA batteries. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

New Japan Radio of Japan began sample shipment of LNA (Low Noise Amplifier) for W-CDMA 2.1GHz cellular phones.

The NJG1126HB6 can be switched between High gain mode (LNA operated) and Low gain mode (electric current saving mode). Its characteristics include low power consumption, high gain, low noise, and low distortion. The power consumption is 2.2mA typ. at High gain mode and 1 micronA typ. at Low gain mode. By changing the external matching circuit, the amplifier will be compliant with 1.9GHz band. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Mirics Semiconductor of the U.K. announced a tuner IC, the MSI001, which supports multiple mobile digital TV standards. The fabless semiconductor supplier claims that it is the first quad-band compliant tuner and could be considered a universal receiver for portable broadcasting devices. The supported frequencies are 100kHz to 1.9GHz and supported broadcasting standards are DVB-H, T-DMB, ISDB-T, DAB-IP, MediaFLO and DAB. It also supports AM/FM broadcasting.

The power consumption is 46mA when receiving DVB-H broadcasting in the L-band (1.670-1.675GHz). The MSI001 is available on sample basis. At volume production, it is expected to cost $3.50 apiece for 10,000 units or more. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

LG Electronics of South Korea selected Infineon Technologies' MP-E for its latest EDGE phone, the German semiconductor supplier made an announcement on July 17, 2006. The MP-E is Infineon's proprietary multimedia platform and is supplied as a reference design. It contains a base band processor, an RF transceiver supporting four frequency bands, a power management IC, a Bluetooth chip and comprehensive EDGE software. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

KEC of South Korea announced on July 24, 2006 that the company has developed a charge pump flash LED driver IC, the KAC3305DN, for cellular phone and digital still camera applications. The company will begin mass production in August 2006.

The Flash LED driver IC is a semiconductor device which controls the flash LED operation of camera phones and digital still cameras. With the increased popularity of camera phones, the demand for flash LED driver ICs is growing rapidly with a market size estimated at 150 billion won ($158.73 million @ won 945/$SU 1).

The new charge pump flash LED driver IC has a small footprint compared to the existing high capacitor method, while driving flash with one microceramic capacitor. It can minimize external component counts.

It can also achieve a maximum 700mA instant electric current drive, and more than 300mA continuous current drive. It is not only for driving the flash in digital still cameras but also for capturing sequential frames in the dark or as a backlight unit for large LCDs which require more than 10 white LEDs.

KEC commercialized the first Korean-made charge bump white LED driver IC in 2005. It commercialized 4 channel and 6 channel products in April 2006. It began focusing on white LED driver ICs when it started development work on flash driver ICs. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Samsung Electronics launched the volume production of 8Gbit NAND flash memory on a 60nm generation semiconductor manufacturing process targeted to cellular phones, portable audio players and game machines. With use of the 60nm generation process rule, productivity at production will improve by about 25 percent compared to the previous 70nm generation rule.

With the introduction of 8Gbit products, Samsung says that it will be able to encapsulate 8GByte memory capacity into a semiconductor package. In other words, stacking four 8Gbit chips achieves 4GByte and stacking two 4GByte chips achieves 8GByte in capacity. Samsung plans to roll out an 8GByte product in the third quarter 2006. A memory capacity of 8GByte enables storing 2,000 MP3 audio files or 225 minutes of DVD quality video.

In regards to NAND flash memory production, the Micron and Intel alliance began sample shipment of 50 nm NAND flash memory, the announcement was made on July 25, 2006. IM Flash Technologies, the joint venture of Micron and Intel, manufactures flash memories. IM Flash Technologies began sample shipment of 4Gbit NAND flash memory on 50nm process. The company will start volume production in 2007. Micron and Intel founded IM Flash Technologies in January 2006. Its NAND chips are manufactured at Micron's Boise plant in Idaho.

IM Flash Technologies plans to launch NAND memory production at its Manassas plant in Virginia in the latter half of 2006. The company will begin NAND production at its Lehi plant in Utah in early 2007. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]