April 7, 2008

April 7, 2008

Vol. 975

 

This English-language summary provides a guide to the April 7 issue of Nikkei Electronics.

 

 

News     p. 11

 

Kodak Launches Pocket-sized Organic EL TV

 

Sanyo’s Electric Bicycle Stores Recovered Power in Li-ion Rechargeable Battery

 

Report from the New York Motor Show

 

Intel Reveals Intent to Compete against ARM with Move into Cell Phone Market

 

Hitachi Develops Special Material Boasting High Thermal Conductivity for Semiconductor Packaging

 

 

NE Interview

 

Funai Executive Vice President Yoshio Nakajima: “Stable Supply of LCD Panels Is an Absolute Prerequisite to a Successful Flat-panel TV Business”      p.34

 

2007 was going to be a year of dramatic leaps and bounds for Funai Electric Co., Ltd.  With the United States flat-screen television market moving into full swing, all indications pointed to a favorable year for the company, which is strong in affordably-priced products.

As it turns out though, Funai had a miserable 2007.  Earnings forecasts were revised downward on a number of occasions.  Operating profit for the fiscal year ending March 2008 is expected to be in the red for the first time since the company’s listing on the stock exchange in 1999.  What went wrong?

 

 

Key Person

 

LoiLo COO Ryutaro Sugiyama: “I Want to Astonish the World with Our Video Editing Software”      p.39

 

 

Keyword

 

MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems sensor)      p.41

 

 

World Report

 

From United States: Complete Changeover to Digital Terrestrial Television Moving Ahead—All that Remains is Consumer Education and the Necessary Preparations by TV Networks     p.43

 

 

Cover Story

 

Electronics Manufacturers Must Visualize CO₂ Emissions     p.47

 

Global warming initiatives involving suppliers and users

How should appliance manufacturers achieve the target of halving CO₂ emissions by 2050 as a way to combat global warming?  And what will that mean for suppliers and users?

 

Local Environments Are also National and International Issues     p.48

Declaration     p.50

 

All Involved—Parts and Materials Manufacturers, and Consumers—to Participate in Reduction Efforts

 

To achieve the long-term goal of halving CO₂ emissions by 2050, environmental controls, particularly in developed countries, will need to be significantly strengthened.  While global warming has presented a prime opportunity for companies in possession of advanced energy-saving technologies, electronic appliances are increasingly running the risk of being blamed for rising CO₂ levels. CO₂ emissions released by appliance manufacturers, suppliers and users need to be made visible so that efforts can be made to reduce such emissions across the board.

 

Global Warming Q&A     p.57

 

Initiatives for Households      p.60

 

“You’ll save energy without realizing it”—gradually coaxing users over

Energy consumption by households in Japan is increasing.  Power consumption, in particular, has risen 53.7% from FY1990 levels, the main contributing factors being climbing power consumption caused by greater functionality of home appliances and increasing numbers of such appliances. Without improvements, current measures are unlikely to bring about a dramatic reduction in CO₂ emissions.

As there are limits to improvements that can be made to the home appliances themselves, the focus is shifting to methods of energy conservation within entire systems.  Integrating appliances allows us to pick up on inefficiencies that went unnoticed when appliances were separate.  The eventual aim is a departure from energy supply frameworks that emit large volumes of CO₂, such as thermal power generation.

 

 

Special Feature

 

Ever Changing Vehicle HMI—Focus Is on Sensory Stimuli and Greater Information Relevancy     p.73

 

Human-machine interfaces (HMI) employed in automobiles are changing. The reason?  Automakers are alarmed at the volume of information that drivers now have to, and struggle to, keep track of.  Information should be processed smoothly, hence the emergence of devices that provide warnings through force feedback in the accelerator pedal and car navigation systems that are simpler to operate due to careful selection of content.  Expect to see the increasing application of new technologies that aim to cut the time it takes for drivers to alter controls after receiving the relevant information.

 

 

Guest Paper

 

More Ultra Precise Mounting of LCDs on Portable Devices     p.81

 

COG technology achieves both a finer pitch and lower costs

Seiko Epson Corp. has developed a mounting technology to satisfy manufacturers of portable devices that want to incorporate liquid-crystal displays (LCD) with higher resolution into their products.  The new technology is the result of a complete review of chip-on-glass (COG) technology, which is used to mount the LCD driver IC on to the glass substrate of the LCD panel.  Pitches will be able to be shortened by as much as a third compared to conventional COG mounting technology.  Cost reductions will also be realized.  In this paper, the developers explain the new mounting technology and outline future developments.

 

 

Documentary

 

Super Hacker gNiibe’s Hunt for the Bug Afflicting Embedded Linux Software (Part 1)      p.89

 

 

NE Plus

 

Sensor Engineering for Device Developers

 

 

Tutorial

 

High-speed Transmission Related Design and Evaluation (Part 3): The Effect of Common-Mode Voltage in Differential Systems—Careful Consideration is Necessary of Substrate Structure and Wiring Layout     p.120

 

In addition to differential-mode voltage (signal) fluctuations, signal transmission via differential transmission lines is sometimes accompanied by common-mode voltage swings.  The impact of common-mode voltage will be a concern for future transmission systems boasting extremely high speeds.  Additionally, as the signal-to-noise ratio increases with higher speeds, the effect of randomly-occurring noise and jitter cannot be ignored.

 

Decay Analysis of Red/Infrared Light Emitting Device (Part 2): Delayed Decay Can Affect Device Longevity—Materials, Configuration and Usage are All Important Factors     p.129

 

Degradation of red/infrared light-emitting diodes (LED) and laser diodes, which are found in a wide range of devices, can generally be divided into three types: rapid degradation, slow degradation and impact degradation.  Slow degradation is the one that causes problems for users.  The second installment in the series explains the mechanism of slow degradation and related prevention methods.