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Electronix Express Newsletter

January, 2005 Issue

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Welcome to the first edition of the RSR Newsletter! We hope you find it to be both interesting and useful. Also, we invite you to submit any hints, tips, news-bits or articles of your own.

To subscribe to this newsletter, go to: http://www.elexp.biz/subsr_ys.htm

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STORIES

1. U.S. Leadership in Nanoscience
2. Semiconductor Sales Top $19B for November
3. Wi-Fi Service at Barnes and Noble
4. Data in the Home
5. Computers: How Fast?
6. A Bluetooth-ache?
7. Transistors: Bipolar of MOSFET?
8. Electronics Links
9. China Buys More Semis

1. U.S. Leadership in Nanoscience

According to Lane Bailey, director of public affairs and manager of Washington, D.C.-based GolinHarris' nanoscience practice, "Americans clearly understand the importance of U.S. global leadership in technology. While most Americans know little about nanoscience, when the applications of current research and the strong global competition are detailed, they feel strongly that the U.S. must increase federal research spending to ensure American leadership in nanotechnology".

According to the Bush administration's 2003/2004 budget, current U.S. spending on nanotechnology research is $900 million per year,. on that year. But the U.S. may not be keeping in this new area of technology since in 2002 spending outside the U.S. for nanotechnology research was twice what the U.S. government spent

2. Semiconductor Sales Top $19B for November

Led by strong growth of MPUs, DSPs, DRAMs and flash memory sales, worldwide sales of semiconductors grew to more than $19 billion in November. That's 18% higher than October 2003, the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) reported Friday.

"Sales of Personal Computerss typically peak at the end of year. Strength in microprocessors and DRAMs indicate PC sales reflect normal seasonal patterns. The wireless handset market has been somewhat stronger than recent forecasts, as evidenced by growth in DSP and flash memory products," SIA President George Scalise said in a statement.

"Capacity utilization declined modestly, but remains above 90 percent. Actions taken by both customers and semiconductor manufacturers to address excess inventories in some market sectors appear to have been effective," he continued. The industry group expects that excess inventories will not be a significant concern by the end of Q1.

3. Wi-Fi Service at Barnes and Noble

Barnes and Noble Inc. will make Wi-Fi service available at more than 600 of its bookstores using SBC's FreedomLink system. Barnes and Noble customers will link to a wireless network at their local bookstore and café at $3.95 for two hours. Users can also sign up for annual membership with unlimited access to more than 5,000 SBC Wi-Fi hot spots, including Barnes & Noble bookstores, for $19.95 per month.

4. Data in the Home

Ultra Wideband (UWB), with speeds fast enough to distribute data in the home, will be available in 2005. Consumers could see streaming HDTV and video without wires sooner than many in industry have thought.

Like Bluetooth, UWB runs at low power with a range of about 230 feet. Speeds for UWB are can go up to 480 Mbps, but falls with increased distance between the base and appliance. For that reason, UWB will first be implemented in printers, desktops, and consumer electronics within the same room.

Unfortunately, two groups have proposed different standards to the IEEE for UWB. One is the Multiband OFDM Alliance (MBOA), which includes Intel, Philips and Samsung. The other is the Ultra Wideband Forum that includes CoWare and Freescale. It could be like the old Beta vs. VHS fight of years ago.

5. Computers: How Fast?

In September of 2004, IBM's "Blue Gene" supercomputer claimed the title of world's fastest by running at 36 TFLOPS (tera floating point operations per second). But now NEC claims its new SX-8 computer can run at 65 TFLOPS. Not to be outdone, IBM is working on a 360 TFLOPS computer for the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory to be delivered in 2005. By the way, tera stands for 1012 or 1 trillion.

6. A Bluetooth-ache?

Bluetooth is a popular standard for wireless personnel networks that allows things like PCs, PDAs, and cell phones to communicate with each other over short distances. (Don't confuse Bluetooth with Wi-Fi (802.11) which is meant for wireless LANs.) While security measures are designed into Bluetooth, it's sometimes not implemented in a device. Or, if a Bluetooth device does has security, it's not used properly. The result is that users of Bluetooth devices can be "Blue-snarfed" when someone else hacks into their network and reads private files. Worse yet, a hacker may gain access to your cell phone to make long distance calls. But don't let this information make you blue. Fore-warned is fore-armed. Be careful out there.

7. Transistors: Bipolar of MOSFET?

In many applications, we need to use a transistor as a switch. No fancy biasing is needed: it's just on or off. So, for example, to drive a relay coil from a microcontroller, we would drop in something like the NPN 2N3906. But there is another choice: a small MOSFET device such as the N-channel 2N7000. Both devices can conduct 200 mA continuously. Both devices can withstand 40 Volts (60 Volts for the 2N7000). But while the 2N3906 requires a resistor between the port pin and the base, the 2N7000 does not. The gate of the 2N7000 can be connected directly to the port pin of your microcontroller. While resistors are cheap, they do require space on a circuit board.

8. Electronics Links

A few links to interesting sites with information on electronics:
http://www.epanorama.net/index.php
http://www.ee.calpoly.edu/courseware/ee319/newnotes.html
http://astrosun.tn.cornell.edu/staff/loredo/ee.html
http://www.nutsvolts.com/
http://www.amasci.com/
http://www.mhennessy.f9.co.uk/pic/

14. China Buys More Semis

According to iSuppli, China bought 14% of the world's semiconductors in 2004. By 2008, China is expected to buy 22% world-wide.

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