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Nikkei Electronics

July 17 2006 Issue

Keyword .  .  .  p. 10

REACH

What’s New .  .  .  p. 32

• Technology for Quick and Inexpensive Manufacturing of Thin Backlights Appears
• A Stream of DLNA Compatible Middleware Products Appear
• Seiko Epson’s Patent Associated with a Suit over Remanufactured Cartridges Is Invalidated
• Ricoh Brings a Breakthrough in Understanding the Mechanism that Produces Whiskers
• Hitachi and Renesas Develop a Device for Measuring On-Chip Power Supply Noise
• Small Variable RF Amplifier for Multiband Cellular Phone Appears
  
  

Leading Trends

With a Myriad of Proposals for Mixed SRAM, a Dispersion of LSIs May Be Controlled.  .  .  p. 55
Manufacturing and design technology used to resolve the problem of variations in LSI characteristics gained a lot of attention at the 2006 Symposium on VLSI Technology/Circuits, an international semiconductor conference.
This is because the variability in threshold voltage between transistors on the same chip has emerged to be an enormous obstacle. Action will need to be taken, starting with mixed SRAM built with 65nm processes.

If Devices Evolve, Condensers Will Change .  .  .  p. 65
Capacitor selection is an unavoidable aspect of device development. Up until now, aluminum electrolytic capacitors have been widely used for capacitance values above 100μF. In recent years, however, these “limited-life” aluminum electrolytic capacitors are being increasingly avoided even for this capacitance range.

Cover Story

Reviving Electronics Starts with “Self”.  .  .  p. 89
The shift of students away from the electrical field has become a serious issue and is bound to have repercussions for electronics manufacturers a few years from now. On the other hand, the obvious shortage of engineers has broadened the career paths of engineers, who find themselves in great demand.
Companies must aim to build the sort of working environments that attract engineers, while individual engineers need to come up with work practices that will be an example for newcomers. In this way, companies can be revitalized, triggering a revival of popularity for electrical and electronics fields.


Part 1        The Issues.  .  .  p. 92
Universities confront the shift away from electrical studies
Companies to be affected in a few years

Part 2        The Individual.  .  .  p. 96
Broadening career paths—now is the time to plan your future

Part 3         The Organizations.  .  .  p. 102
Corporations and the state are making moves—first comes development of human resources
Interview: Minister of State for Science and Technology Policy, Iwao Matsuda

Part 4         The Organizations.  .  .  p. 110
Corporate restructuring slowing down—engineers beginning to sense stability

Interview

TDK’s President and COO Takehiro Kamigama: “A Complaint Is Food for the Engineer; a Difficult Problem Is All the More Worth Challenging”.  .  .  p.117

Tech Tale

Renewing Information Is the Key to a Car Navigation System (Part 1): “First Do a Trial”.  .  .  p. 120

Guest Paper

Adopting Inkjet Technology for Electronic Component Manufacturing Processes.  .  .  p. 125
Seiko Epson Corp. has applied its inkjet technology in the mass production of electronic components for the first time, specifically in forming alignment layers for liquid-crystal panels to be used in projectors. The quality of panel displays has improved greatly compared to panels whose alignment layers were formed using conventional methods, and environmental impact has even been reduced. Attention is now focusing on inkjet technology and developments concerning its industrial application as a next-generation manufacturing technology. Seiko Epson, by raising the level of technology still further, building upon the variety of know-how it has acquired through its adaptation of the technology for use in mass production, wants to quicken the application of inkjet technology to yet other fields.
In this article, Seiko Epson engineers give a detailed explanation of the technology enabling alignment layers to be formed on these liquid-crystal panels and outline upcoming developments in inkjet technology application.

NETs Buyers’ Guide

Illumination Sensors.  .  .  p. 136
Illumination sensors are used to detect the presence or absence and intensity of visible light and then automatically adjust the brightness of lighting equipment and liquid-crystal panels. Their suppression of sensitivity to infrared light distinguishes them from ordinary optical sensors such as silicon-based photodiodes. Cadmium sulfide (CdS) cells used to be employed for this sort of application due to their low cost, but the inclusion of cadmium meant their use was prohibited in Europe and elsewhere as of July 2006 in accordance with the RoHS Directive. Meanwhile, demand for illumination sensors is on the rise as the industry tries to reduce the energy consumed by products such as LCD televisions and mobile phones.
The products, including photodiodes and photo ICs, are competing fiercely on spectral sensitivity design and miniaturization and are expanding the scope of their application to beyond just being substitutes for CdS cells.

NETs Seminar

Factory Tour Report: Sharp’s Fukuyama Factory—Eliminating the Nitrogen from Semiconductor Wastewater.  .  .  p. 144
In July 2006, Sharp Corp. commenced operation of a treatment plant having developed technology for treating, without diluting, nitrogenous wastewater discharged during the LSI manufacturing process. We introduce the plant, which was opened to the press immediately prior to the commencement of operations, as well as the latest wastewater treatment technology supporting semiconductor production behind the scenes.

When Crystal Oscillators Won’t Work (Part 3): Disparities in Load Carrying Capacity Will Throw the Clock Off.  .  .  p. 149
Crystal oscillators are employed in the clock circuits of most electronic devices, but in order to keep accurate time, the load capacitance of the crystal oscillator and the oscillating circuit need to equate. This installment uses case examples to illustrate causes and solutions for when clocks start running too fast after replacement of a crystal oscillator.

The Latest on Quantum Encryption (Part 4): The Specifics of the Operation of a Quantum Encryption System.  .  .  p. 154
Quantum cryptography is a quantum key distribution technology that guarantees secure communication, making use of quantum properties to detect eavesdropping whenever it occurs, while allowing cryptographic keys to be shared securely between two communicating parties. In this installment, we explain in detail how an actual quantum cryptographic system utilizes the micro-level entities called quanta.

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Keyword:	10
News Ranking	12
What's New:	32
Selected Shorts:	45
Leading Trends:	55
Cover Story:	89
Interview:	117
Tech Tale:	120
Guest Paper:	125
NETs:	136
Calendar:	168
From the Readers:	172
From the Editors:	173