December 04, 2006

Keyword .  .  .  p. 10

4004

What’s Inside .  .  .  p. 38

The Exception to the Simply Designed Wii Is Sophisticated Electromagnetic Noise Counter Measures

What’s New .  .  .  p. 42

• The LSI Packaging Used in the PS3 Achieves Low Cost
• Startup Company Develops a Method to Form GaN LEDs on Si Substrate
• Microsoft Finally Moves on Linux and Patents
• Operators and Device Manufacturers Cooperate to Realize IP Broadcasting
  
  

Leading Trends

It’s Not Just Hon Hai; Now More Than Ever EMS Companies Can Be Skillfully Used.  .  .  p. 67
Most consumer appliance manufacturers playing the global market cannot ignore the utilization of electronics manufacturing services (EMS) as a way to improve price competitiveness. Citing Taiwanese and European companies as case examples, we sum up the essentials required to make full use of EMS.

Leading Trends

Understanding the Design Philosophy of the PS3 and Wii.  .  .  p. 79
Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s “PlayStation 3” and Nintendo Co., Ltd.’s “Wii” have been launched and are charged with the task of expanding the market for game consoles. The two new machines highlight for us the differences between the strategies of the two companies.

Buyers’ Guide

Low Priced FPGAs .  .  .  p. 97
The market for low-priced—1000 yen a piece and under—field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) is rapidly expanding. The functionality demanded of low- priced FPGAs, too, is changing fast and the number of types has soared over the 2-3 years since the products first appeared. This is due to Actel Corp., Lattice Semiconductor Corp. and others attempting to carve out a larger share of the FPGA market by offering functions the two major players, Altera Corp. and Xilinx, Inc., have not. At the same time, countermeasures to the lingering inrush current and power consumption issues troubling mainstream FPGAs have progressed. The FPGA product itself continues to evolve. In this article, we explain the features of low-priced FPGAs containing 2,000-100,000 registers and the most recent variations, as well as the approaches taken by each of the manufacturers.

Cover Story

The Chinese Version of the RoHS Directive Is Waiting in the Wings.  .  .  p. 117
The Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) Directive, effective in Europe from July 2006, is sparking similar developments in other regions of the world. It is the beginning of an era in which environmental regulations are established worldwide. Attracting particular attention is the “China RoHS,” which will come into effect on March 1, 2007, although part of the law’s substance remains veiled in secrecy. As they spread around the world, the content of environmental regulations is changing in line with evolving environmental technology. It is no time to breathe a sigh of relief as compliance with the RoHS Directive is only the beginning.


Part 1 . . . p. 120
China RoHS Still Vague
Labeling obligations and measuring methods prescribed

Part 2 . . . p. 123
European and Japanese Systems Backtrack
Catching up on issues of the past

Interview

THine Electronics, Inc.’s President and CEO, Tetsuya Iizuka: To Feed and Grow a Startup, There Aren’t Enough “Effective People” .  .  .  p. 139

Tech Tale

Making W-ZERO3 in 8 Months (Part 3): “This Time It’s 6 Months?” .  .  .  p. 142

Guest Paper

The Vital Point to Thoroughly Bring Out the Performance of Cell Is Parallel Processing Programming.  .  .  p. 147
The Cell is a microprocessor with an asymmetric multi-core architecture and equipped with a general-purpose CPU core—PowerPC Processor Element (PPE)—and multiple signal processors—Synergistic Processing Elements (SPE). As well as being employed in the PlayStation 3 console of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc., the Cell could possibly find its way into workstations, home servers and digital televisions. When it comes to incorporating Cell into these appliances, programming technology that can fully exploit a multi-core microprocessor’s potential will be essential. Working out how to use the multiple SPEs to perform parallel processing will be central to extracting that capability. Engineers from Toshiba Corp. and Fixstars Corp. who were involved in development of systems employing the Cell refer to the drawing of 3D graphics in explaining to us the methods of programming for implementation of software best suited to the Cell.

NETs Seminar

Performance and Sound Quality of Audio D-A Conversion Circuits (2nd Half).  .  .  p. 158
In the second installment of our series looking at the connection between the performance of digital-to-analog conversion LSI circuits for audio and sound quality, we introduce “Advanced Segment” D-A conversion LSIs, which combine one-bit conversion, for extracting clarity and detail, with multi-bit conversion, to produce power.

The Chinese Mobile Phone Market Has Stabilized .  .  .  p. 166
The Chinese mobile phone business is leveling out. Units sold in 2006 will number around 115 million units, up 5% on the previous year. Mobile phone production by Chinese manufacturers is also weak. Output is forecast to be 56.37 million units in 2006 (a 3.4% year-on-year increase), but this is a 16.2% decrease compared to production at its peak.

Learning New Methods of Eliminating Power Supply Noise (Part 2): Power Separation Using 4 Terminal Capacitors Suppresses Voltage Variation .  .  .  p. 168
The lowering of high-frequency noise has become a priority with the heightening of clock frequencies of CPUs and other components. We perform the “decoupling” approach using the “Proadlizer” four-terminal capacitor and examine the results. In addition, we look back at the development of the Proadlizer capacitor to explain the mechanisms of capacitors suited to decoupling.