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Nikkei Electronics

February 27 2006 Issue

Keyword .  .  .  p. 10

CMOS Sensor

What’s New .  .  .  p. 32

• U.S. Patent Office Starts the Re-Examination of Forgent’s JPEG Patent
• RF CMOS Technologies Make Great Strides at ISSCC 2006
• Sanyo Starts to Sell a Washing Machine that Doesn’t Use Water
• Toyota Uses Speakers that Can’t Be Seen in the Roof of a Car
• Nokia and Sanyo Set Up a New Company for CDMA2000 Mobile Phones
• IBM Japan Starts a Development Support Service for Devices Using Cell
• A Certification Exam for Software Test Engineers Is Establishedt
  
  

Leading Trends

Sony’s Extremely High Speed CMOS Sensor Blows by Camera Applications.  .  .  p. 55

The Fate of the Large Scale Investment War in Flat Panel Displays.  .  .  p. 65
Since the beginning of 2006, a number of manufacturers of LCD panels and plasma display panels (PDPs) for televisions have successively announced plans to implement major production hikes.
While flat panel televisions are enjoying strong demand, the ultimate battle of strengths in this survival struggle is beginning to unfold with a series of investments valued in the hundreds of billions of yen being put on the line. In this kind of fierce competition involving large-scale investments, even Sharp Corp, a company regarded as being on the winning side for LCDs, is facing pressure to come up with a new strategy.

[Contribution]
An Analyst’s View—Using Numbers to Predict the War of Investments.  .  .  p. 68
Market expansion favors but a few
Yasuo Nakane, Director and Analyst, Equities Research, Deutsche Securities Inc.

The market for flat panel televisions is rapidly expanding, but it looks as if only a handful of manufacturers will be able to secure a decent profit. In this field of global competition, just how are Japanese panel and television manufacturers going to fare? Yasuo Nakane considers this using the latest forecasts and analysis data.

Cover Story

Reviving Audio.  .  .  p. 93
Music resounding through a concert hall; the chirping of birds in the wild. Soon you will be able to enjoy those sounds as you please, when at home or out and about, as if you were really there. Acoustic technology, which until now has been applied only to movie theaters, as well as home theater systems, is about to appear in flat panel home televisions and portable music players.
From 2006, quality of sound is going to be one of the major points of competition among televisions and portable devices. The pursuit of a “strong sensation of reality” will no doubt continue, as will progress in “feel-good music.”


Part 1: General Overview.  .  .  p. 96
First you were amazed by high resolution video—now be amazed by realistic sound

Part 2: High-Quality Sound.  .  .  p. 102
Manufacturers create their own sound through meticulous efforts

Part 3: Spatial Effect.  .  .  p. 110
Ready and realistic sound via your TV or mobile

Interview

Technology Alliance Investment’s President, Masamitsu Yoshizawa: “‘Curve Out’ Is a New Way to Nurture Start-Ups”.  .  .  p. 123

Tech Tale

The Trajectory of Hand Motion Compensation Technology (Part 2): “The Dance and Passport”.  .  .  p. 126

Guest Paper

Developing a 10A Output DC-DC Converter that Can Be Implemented Like an IC.  .  .  p. 131
Linear Technology Corp. of the U.S. has developed the LTM4600, a DC-DC converter module with half the mounting area of previous circuits of similar type. The module outputs a 10A current, the industry’s greatest for a DC-DC converter in which the inductor and other key components have been enclosed in the one package.
The input voltage range, from 4.5V to 28V, is wide. Power conversion efficiency is high, at 91%, when operating under a 12V input voltage, a 3.3V output voltage and a 10A output current, which removes the need for a cooling fan or heat sink. The module is targeted at a broad range of applications besides just servers and communication devices, including industrial and automotive equipment.
This article introduces the background to development of the DC-DC converter and the impact it will have on devices. In addition, it explains the low thermal resistance package developed to allow the fitting of components into a small package, the voltage control technology that enabled the use of compact, built-in components, and also the heat-moderating power MOSFET.

NETs Buyers’ Guide

Circuit Boards for Mobile Phones.  .  .  p. 140
Printed circuit boards (PCBs) are found in a variety of electronic devices. Mobile phones, which face the strictest requirements for size and thinness, use thin PCBs employing cutting-edge microscopic circuitry. Full-scale commercial production will begin in 2006 of mobile phones employing a 0.4mm pitch chip scale package (CSP) for the chip that bears the basic mobile phone functions, such as the application processor and the baseband LSI. In line with this, PCB manufacturers will mass produce products on to which 0.4mm pitch CSPs can be mounted.
On the mainboard, 200-250µm diameter lands and line width/space of 50-75µm/50-75µm will become mainstream. In terms of board thickness, mass production of a 0.5mm 8-layer PCB is expected to get underway, the thickness of one layer dropping below 0.1mm. (Mayuko Uno)

NETs Seminar

Validation Method for Embedded Software (Part 5): Creating Test Cases from State Transition Tables.  .  .  p. 147
In this installment we explain dynamic testing, a method of validating software through the execution of it. By deriving test cases from a state transition model, testing can be implemented in an efficient and thorough manner.

Even if a R&D Space Is Brightened Up, Engineers’ Dissatisfaction with Their Compensation Will Gradually Increase.  .  .  p. 152
Results from our latest annual survey, in which we ask about engineers’ working environments and attitudes toward their jobs, revealed a rising number of new employers and development projects.
This reflects growing momentum in the development scene. However, in terms of working conditions, salaries, and the like, dissatisfaction among engineers is in fact mounting.

Next 2 Weeks	8	For further information, please contact: Nikkei Electronics 1-17-3, Shirokane, Minato-ku, Tokyo 108-8646, Japan Vox: +81-3-6811-8141, Fax: +81-3-5421-9100 http://ne.nikkeibp.co.jp/
Keyword:	10
News Ranking	12
What's New:	32
Selected Shorts:	45
Leading Trends:	55
Cover Story:	93
Interview:	123
Tech Tale:	126
Guest Paper:	131
NETs:	140
Calendar:	200
From the Readers:	204
From the Editors:	205