Al Gore: Supercomputers can sway global warming ways
(03:23 PM EST, 11/20/09)
Supercomputers can do more to reverse the global warming trend, according to former vice president Al Gore who gave a keynote at the Supercomputer 2009 conference held here this week.

Make way for DDR3 transition, says iSuppli
(02:55 PM EST, 11/20/09)
Double Data Rate 3 SDRAM, the state of the art in commodity memory technology, is expected to rise to dominance by the second quarter of 2010, according to new projections from market research firm iSuppli.

Ten technologies, seven predictions lead weekly story ranking
(02:30 PM EST, 11/20/09)
Here are the top five online stories for the week beginning Sunday, Nov. 15, as ranked by EE Times readers, up to and including Friday, Nov. 20. The ranking is based on the number of reader "views" or "hits" on a particular article.

Applied-Semitool deal: What analysts are saying
(12:00 PM EST, 11/20/09)
As reported, Applied Materials Inc. and Semitool Inc. this week announced a definitive agreement for Applied to acquire the outstanding shares of Semitool for $11 per share in an all-cash tender offer.

Video: Al Gore stumps for smart grid
(11:19 AM EST, 11/20/09)
In between takes of guest appearances on TV's "30 Rock," Nobel prize winner and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore swept into Silicon Valley Thursday to stump for the smart electric grid and help hand out awards to technologists honored for their work in social justice.

East-West engineering salary gulf: Join the conversation
(09:47 AM EST, 11/20/09)
It has not evolved into a full blown revolt yet. But engineers in so-called low-cost Asian locations are sending strong signals to high-tech companies that they do not like the huge gulf between what they earn annually and compensations paid to their counterparts in western locations.

India 3G/WiMAX spectrum auction delayed till January
(09:18 AM EST, 11/20/09)
The auction of 3G spectrum and spectrum for WiMAX in India has been postponed from December to January next year.

iPhone is 'Eye-phone' for surgeons in India
(09:15 AM EST, 11/20/09)
Apple's iPhone has been found to be the best mobile handset when it comes to treating Retinopathy of Prematurity, an eye disease that can turn prematurely born babies irreversibly blind in days

Workers have gone on 'unlimited strike' at Atmel's fab
(06:06 AM EST, 11/20/09)
Angry workers at Atmel Corp.'s fab in Rousset, France, have gone on an unlimited strike.

Globalfoundries: Customers wanted
(03:11 AM EST, 11/20/09)
Globalfoundries needs to attract more customers to get its huge Fab1 (and subsequent fabs) utilized. In order to demonstrate its chip-making muscles, the company allowed a handful of journalists to visit their Dresden clean room. Our visual impressions can be seen here.

Qualcomm, MediaTek ink patent cross-licensing deal
(08:11 PM EST, 11/19/09)
Fabless chip vendors Qualcomm and MediaTek have agreed to let each other utilize technology covered by their respective patent portfolios.

Chip sector downgrade 'baseless,' says analyst
(07:36 PM EST, 11/19/09)
BofA Merrill Lynch's downgrade of the semiconductor industry is baseless, according to the editor of a technology and semiconductor investment newsletter.

Cisco seeks smart grid CTO
(06:33 PM EST, 11/19/09)
Cisco Systems is looking for a few good power engineers—including a chief technology officer for its new smart grid business unit.

Intel, Google take seats on smart grid board
(05:25 PM EST, 11/19/09)
Google, Honeywell, Intel and Panasonic are among the companies elected to a seat on the board of a broad new group chartered to help manage the evolution of smart electric grids.

Google open-sources operating system
(03:18 PM EST, 11/19/09)
Google announced the open-sourcing of code for Chrome OS, the cloud-based operating system the company is developing to power netbooks.

Startup propels MEMS oscillators into mainstream
(03:01 PM EST, 11/19/09)
Boston University startup Sand 9 propels micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) into high-precision mainstream computing applications like 3G, 4G, GPS and WiFi.

Analysis: Infineon not on safe ground yet
(01:55 PM EST, 11/19/09)
Infineon has managed to conclude a profitable quarter, but this does not mean the company is out of the woods now. EE Times explains which challenges the company has to master in the year ahead.

Infineon puts its bets on Asia, CEO Bauer says
(12:45 PM EST, 11/19/09)
Having returned to profitability in its Q4, Infineon explained how it hopes it will remain profitable in the mid-term. Basically, growth will come from Asia, and acquisitions cannot be ruled out, explained Infineon CEO Peter Bauer.

Altis to join foundry fray, Infineon says
(11:16 AM EST, 11/19/09)
Altis Semiconductor will have to make its money as an independent foundry services provider after it will be sold to a private investor. At the opportunity of its 2009 figures announcement, officials of parent company Infineon acknowledged that the sales contract closure is imminent.

Printed programmable logic startup secures support
(10:51 AM EST, 11/19/09)
Nano ePrint Ltd., a spin off from the University of Manchester in England, has secured a grant to help it develop and demonstrate a printed programmable logic device.

Tanner EDA, Tower expand collaboration
(08:17 AM EST, 11/19/09)
Tanner EDA, a division of Tanner Research Inc. (Monrovia, Calif.), and Tower Semiconductor Ltd., which trades as TowerJazz, have joined forces to meet analog/mixed signal customers' needs for high quality power management ICs.

Intel invests in Europe 'exascale' computing center
(06:35 AM EST, 11/19/09)
Intel's first joint lab in Europe focused exclusively on "exascale" computers that are able to process 1 trillion instructions per second.

Alcatel-Lucent, Motorola Ventures invest in Sequans
(05:34 AM EST, 11/19/09)
French WiMax chip supplier Sequans Communications SA (La Défense, France) announced that Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola Ventures, the investment arm of Motorola, led a round of financing to foster the company's Long Term Evolution (LTE) development program. Financial details remained undisclosed.

Avnet, Cinterion expand agreement
(03:40 AM EST, 11/19/09)
Avnet Embedded has expanded its distribution agreement with Cinterion Wireless Modules.

Infineon returns to profit in Q4
(03:17 AM EST, 11/19/09)
Being one of the last chip manufacturers to present its quarterly figures, Infineon reports a profit and a significant sales increase in the fourth quarter.

Video: VC John Doerr bullish on smart grid
(01:10 AM EST, 11/19/09)
The smart grid promises to be in some ways similar to and even bigger than the Internet, according to veteran venture capitalist John Doerr, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers who helped fund Google and Amazon.com but now focuses on green technology.

Semtech to buy Sierra Monolithics for $180 million
(07:21 PM EST, 11/18/09)
Analog mixed-signal chip vendor Semtech will acquire analog IC vendor Sierra Monolithics for $180 million in cash under the terms of a definitive agreement signed by the two companies.

AMD to retire $1 billion worth of debt
(07:03 PM EST, 11/18/09)
AMD plans to retire some of its debt using a portion of the $1.25 billion it received from Intel to settle legal disputes between the two companies, AMD said.

Supercomputer market growth hinges on 3D Web
(02:09 PM EST, 11/18/09)
Supercomputing needs to address the needs of the 3D web to grow into a profitable long-term business based on commercial applications instead of government handouts.

European chip distribution sees steep decline and a bit of hope
(12:22 PM EST, 11/18/09)
Having completed the first nine months of the year 2009, the European semiconductor distribution organization DMASS looks back to what it calls one of the worst years in the last two decades. Now the organization puts its hopes on a strong fourth quarter — but the real question is what comes after.

Ten emerging technologies to watch in 2010
(11:40 AM EST, 11/18/09)
EE Times has compiled a list of emerging technologies that we think will be worth watching out for in 2010.

Highest-density LatticeECP3 in volume production
(10:08 AM EST, 11/18/09)
Lattice Semiconductor announced that its LatticeECP-150 mid-range FPGA has been fully qualified and released to volume production.

Xilinx unveils platform for broadcast connectivity
(09:09 AM EST, 11/18/09)
Programmable logic vendor Xilinx introduced the latest of its targeted design platforms, this one targeting broadcast connectivity applications.

Butterfly research to improve RFID technology
(08:44 AM EST, 11/18/09)
QinetiQ and the University of Exeter have started a three-year project to develop new anti-counterfeit and radio-frequency technologies based on a portfolio of patented technology.

EC found guilty of maladministration in Intel antitrust case
(08:24 AM EST, 11/18/09)
The European Ombudsman, Nikiforos Diamandouros, has gone public in saying he has found the European Commission Competition Directorate guilty of maladministration on one count in a complaint brought by Intel Corp. However, the ruling is unlikely to alter case.

PicoChip raises $20 million
(07:40 AM EST, 11/18/09)
picoChip has unveiled its roadmap to include complete femtocell solutions, integrating PHY, stack and femtocell system software in a end-to-end femtocell reference solution.

Recovery remains uncertain but China is key, says survey
(07:04 AM EST, 11/18/09)
A recovery is coming in 2010 but many things about it remain uncertain, according to a global survey of semiconductor executives conducted by tax and advisory firm KPMG LLP during September and October.

Video: Duke Energy CTO calls for open smart grids
(09:24 PM EST, 11/17/09)
Electric utilities need to cut a path to open smart grid networks and China's burgeoning energy sector could lead the charge, said an executive from a large electric utility as the U.S. Department of Energy is gearing up to release details on a second round of grants for smart electric grids.

Pin-fin heat sink integrates fan
(08:14 PM EST, 11/17/09)
Thermal management solutions vendor Cool Innovations is offering a new line of integrated fansinks composed of a pin-fin heat sink and a fan that is embedded into the heat sink's pin array.

Former semiconductor execs charged with fraud
(07:11 PM EST, 11/17/09)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged two former executives from semiconductor vendor Tvia with improperly inflating the company's financial results.

Intel invests $25 million in seven companies
(04:44 PM EST, 11/17/09)
Intel Capital has invested a total approximately $25 million in seven companies ranging from developing cloud computing infrastructure to enabling Chinese web portals.

After design loss in Sony TV, what's next for Amimon?
(02:22 PM EST, 11/17/09)
Betting its survival, Amimon, a developer of WHDI technology running at 5 GHz, is making dramatic changes in its product focus.

NEC expands infotainment SoC family
(11:16 AM EST, 11/17/09)
Two new iterations extend NEC Electronics' NaviEngine chip family towards the low end. The devices contain multicore processors along with the peripherals and interfaces necessary to be used in car infotainment systems, in particular for navigation and telematics systems.

Counterpoint: The case for 'telepresence' in space
(11:10 AM EST, 11/17/09)
The lack of funding for manned spaceflight has underscored the growing importance of unmanned probes and rovers. John Merchant makes the case for telepresence in space exploration.

Applied Materials to spearhead OLED lighting research project
(09:36 AM EST, 11/17/09)
The next generation in lighting technology clearly will be LEDs — but the next but one is already in sight: Organic LEDs (OLEDs) offer even more design options than conventional LEDs. Now the German government is funding a research project aiming at developing manufacturing processes for large-area OLED illuminants.

Smart cards buck economic trend
(07:11 AM EST, 11/17/09)
The smart card industry is demonstrating resilience to the economic downturn and continued to grow in volumes shipped.

Semiconductor industry close to sold out, says SICAS
(06:58 AM EST, 11/17/09)
Chip manufacturing capacity is falling and as demand is increasing the chip industry is becoming close to being sold-out. Manufacturing capacity utilization has climbed above 90 percent in several leading-edge sectors, according to the Semiconductor International Capacity Statistics organization.

Startup formed to print animated graphics
(06:21 AM EST, 11/17/09)
Computer animations on CD and DVD packages, sales packaging or even on the tarpaulin of a truck can soon be reality: Startup company Lumoza (Hasselt, Belgium) has developed a technology to print electronic displays on a large variety of surfaces including plastic foil, paper or cardboard.

Toshiba claims EUV photoresist breakthrough for 20-nm era
(05:12 AM EST, 11/17/09)
Toshiba Corp. has said it has developed a photoresist suitable for use with extreme ultraviolet lithography and proved its viability in the world's first 20-nm generation process technology.

Actel announces IP core enhancements
(04:49 AM EST, 11/17/09)
Following on from its acquisition of Pigeon Point Systems last year, Actel has announced IP core enhancements to its Fusion mixed-signal FPGAs that cater to platform management applications, particularly xTCA.

Infineon takes ARM inside security chips
(04:40 AM EST, 11/17/09)
Infineon Technologies AG has signed a licence agreement with microprocessor IP vendor ARM. The Munich-based chip maker plans to use the ARM architecture in a new family of high-security chip cards aimed at multimedia applications.

VESA updates embedded DisplayPort specification
(03:28 AM EST, 11/17/09)
The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has issued its updated Embedded DisplayPort (eDP) specification, a companion standard to DisplayPort version 1.1a.

U.K. design house offers configurable processor cores
(02:20 AM EST, 11/17/09)
EnSilica boosts its front-end IC design services with the launch of new eSi-RISC configurable processor cores, offering a scalable architecture for low-cost feature-rich embedded applications.

IBM biochip allows fast diagnosis of many diseases
(02:01 AM EST, 11/17/09)
In its Zurich research laboratory, IBM has built what it calls a point-of-care diagnostic test device based on a silicon chip. One chip detects up to 16 pathogens — and it does so faster and requiring less material than conventional labs-on-a-chip.

Indian IT group offers mobile TV based on DVB-H on OMAP
(01:43 AM EST, 11/17/09)
Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd. (L&T Infotech) has announced its DVB-H-based mobile TV solution based on the TI OMAP3530 reference platform.

NASA looks to SiGe for radiation-immune circuits
(12:01 AM EST, 11/17/09)
The shielded circuitry in current-generation spacecraft meets requirements for radiation hardness.

ARM, Aricent jump on Android bandwagon
(12:01 AM EST, 11/17/09)
In separate moves, ARM Ltd. has launched a new Web site and contract design company Aricent Inc. has announced a new development team both dedicated to helping engineers design systems with Google Android in further indications of the intense interest in Android and the challenges using it.

Accounting glitch may force SunPower to restate
(07:54 PM EST, 11/16/09)
Solar panel provider SunPower might restate financial results from 2009 and 2008 after the discovery of possible accounting irregularities, the company said.

Samsung regains lead in U.S. LCD-TV market
(07:13 PM EST, 11/16/09)
South Korea's Samsung Electronics recaptured leadership of the U.S. LCD-TV market from competitor Vizio in the third quarter, according to market research firm iSuppli.

MRAM chips go serial in smart meters
(05:37 PM EST, 11/16/09)
Serial peripheral interfaces could enable simpler devices to harness nonvolatile MRAMs.

Powervation gains extra dollars from energy VC
(12:23 PM EST, 11/16/09)
Powervation Ltd. (Limerick Ireland) a provider of digital control ICs for power supplies, has said it has obtained additional funding from Braemar Energy Ventures of New York.

Dolphin Integration enhances ROM generator
(11:55 AM EST, 11/16/09)
EDA and IP company Dolphin Integration SA (Meylan, France) said it has enhanced its Cassiopeia architecture for single via programmable Read-only memory (ROM) with a capability to operate from nominal voltage down to 1.1 V in the TSMC 130 nm low power process.

Supercap material company gets grant and CEO
(11:27 AM EST, 11/16/09)
Y-Carbon Inc., a nanomaterials company founded in 2004, working on nanoporous carbon, has announced that it has been awarded research funding from the National Science Foundation and the Department of Defense under the SBIR grant program.

Sematech appoints former IBM executive to CEO post
(10:36 AM EST, 11/16/09)
Sematech, a consortium of semiconductor manufacturers, has announced the appointment of Daniel Armbrust to serve as its president and chief executive officer.

ST to enhance chip security
(08:52 AM EST, 11/16/09)
STMicroelectronics NV and Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI) have formed an agreement regarding to the use of CRI's patents to protect ST's tamper-resistant chips against Differential Power Analysis (DPA) and related attacks.

AMD, Asian packager license Irish micro-cooler
(07:52 AM EST, 11/16/09)
Researchers at the Stokes Institute in the University of Limerick have announced two licensing agreements that could see 'micro-cooler' technology used in computers and mobile phones; with AMD and Asian Vital Components.

NXP to ship sub-dollar Cortex-M0 MCUs through distribution
(06:15 AM EST, 11/16/09)
NXP BV (Eindhoven, The Netherlands) has said its Cortex-M0 based microcontroller will be available from distributors in December.

PV market continues to suffer from glut, iSuppli says
(05:54 AM EST, 11/16/09)
Despite a surprisingly strong demand in Germany, the global solar panel market suffers from extreme oversupply. For the next few quarters, much will depend on the demand development in Germany as the world's largest single solar panel market, finds a study from market researcher iSuppli.

European distribution sees signs of improvement
(04:53 AM EST, 11/16/09)
The European electronic components distribution market is returning to growth according to the latest figures from the International Distribution of Electronics Association (IDEA).

Magma extends chip-based navigation to circuit, board-level debug
(04:35 AM EST, 11/16/09)
EDA vendor Magma Design Automation has introduced a software solution that is said to extend CAD navigation and circuit debug from ICs to PCBs and multichip modules.

Gartner revises '09 chip forecast again
(01:17 AM EST, 11/16/09)
Market research firm Gartner has again raised its 2009 semiconductor sales forecast due to improving market conditions.

Power source innovation-- batteries included
(12:01 AM EST, 11/16/09)
"Batteries not included." Remember when those words, printed on the side of a box, could quickly deflate your enthusiasm for a shiny new toy?

DRAM: the field for material and process innovation
(12:01 AM EST, 11/16/09)
Since its introduction, DRAM technology has been a commodity product driven by cost and razor-thin profits.

AMD tops, Intel dominates Top500 list
(12:01 AM EST, 11/16/09)
Advanced Micro Devices powers the world's three largest supercomputers according to the lasted version of the Top500 list, but archrival Intel Corp. still dominates the list with processors now in 80 percent of the systems.

IEEE revises membership rules
(12:01 AM EST, 11/16/09)
The IEEE Standards Association has revised its membership rules in an effort to ease the financial hurdles to participating in the group's many standards efforts.

Lost in space? The future of manned spaceflight
(12:01 AM EST, 11/16/09)
The future of U.S. manned spaceflight and exploration of the solar system looks bleak unless political and budget barriers can be overcome.

ZigBee system is powered by harvested energy
(11:11 PM EST, 11/15/09)
Jennic has demonstrated the capability of its JN5148 to perform multiple Zigbee packet transmissions using only 100 microjoules per packet of energy harvested from an electro-mechanical switch using Proxy Server Routers.

VisualSim used to model ray tracing system
(10:22 PM EST, 11/15/09)
Designers at TOPS Systems here have used the Mirabilis Design VisualSim tools to model, simulate and analyze the performance of a Real-Time Ray Tracing system with distributed software and a heterogeneous Multi-Core processor.

Comment: Do the math OR those casual power extrapolations drive me crazy
(12:00 PM EST, 11/14/09)
The ease with which numbers are tossed around, especially those related to power and energy, really annoys me--and often leads to wrong conclusions

DAC launches call for contributions
(09:47 AM EST, 11/13/09)
The Design Automation Conference has made a call for contributions to the technical program.