Electronix Express Newsletter

July 2006 Issue

Welcome to the July 2006 Issue of the Electronix Express Newsletter

STORIES

Microrobot Crawls Under Remote Control

Revolutionary Medical Technology Increases Demand For Flexible Interconnects

Hidden Schematic

Intel Keen to Invest Outside U.S.

Scientists Promise Interplanetary Broadband

More CEOs Getting the Boot?

Dell To Double Its Staff In India

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1. Microrobot Crawls Under Remote Control

Engineers and computer scientists at Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH) have developed what they claim is the world's smallest steerable, untethered robot. The machine, which measures approximately 250×60×10 microns, integrates a wireless power and control-signal receiver, two actuators, and onboard state memory. The robot's forward movement resembles that of an inchworm. The robot turns by pressing down its cantilevered steering arm and then pivoting around it. The average step measures just 12 nanometers, but the robot takes more than 10,000 steps per second and can cover more than a foot of distance in about 30 minutes.

For now, the robot operates only on a special surface: an electrode array that generates the power and control signals. However, the researchers foresee versions that could operate on a variety of surfaces. Potential uses include exploring hazardous environments, manipulating tissues in biotech applications, and repairing ICs.

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2. Revolutionary Medical Technology Increases Demand For Flexible Interconnects

Rapidly advancing semiconductor technology is creating opportunities for revolutionary applications within medical electronic devices. Smaller electronic footprints allow designers to increase device functionality while simultaneously decreasing package sizes. The combination of high density surface mount technology (SMT), micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) and nano-scale construction enables a new wave of medical devices that benefit from increased use of flexible circuits. Pacemakers, once the size of a pack of cards, are now about the size of a stopwatch.

The industry is evolving towards flexible circuits populated with components on both sides and folded back upon itself to increase the vertical component density. Thinner and lighter than rigid circuits, the flexible circuits fit 3D packaging constraints, permitting designers to create medical devices smaller than ever before. The trends of the medical device market are favorable for increased use of flexible circuits. It can be expected that the trend toward smaller and denser packages will continue. Flexible circuits meet the technical demands of the applications in a cost-effective manner.

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3. Hidden Schematic

Your schematic is lying. It shows only the intended flow of signal power. It masks details crucial to the operation of unintentional signal pathways, such as crosstalk and EMI. To understand these factors, you must uncover the hidden schematic operating behind your logic diagram.

The hidden schematic represents, among other things, the flow of physical current in your pc board. As logic diagrams show current never flows one way, it always makes a loop out to the load and returns back to the source. For EMI purposes, the returning current path is as important as the intended signal path. The radiation patterns from the two currents cancel as long as you keep the outgoing and returning signal paths closely aligned. Serious negative effects on the EMI/EMC performance of a pc board are a result of interruptions to the returning current path. Even slight deviations in the returning current path can dramatically increase emissions. Thus, logic diagrams completely omit the returning signal path. They presuppose a perfect common reference node or ground for all signals. This idealized node maintains the same voltage at all points of use.

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4. Intel Keen to Invest Outside U.S.

Intel Capital, the venture capital investment arm of Intel Corp., wants to extend its reach. In order to achieve this goal, Intel Capital over the past year announced the formation of a series of geographic investment funds focusing on technology centers outside the US. The breakdown of funds to be invested are specifically $250 million in India, $200 million in China, $50 million in the Middle East and Turkey, and $50 million in Brazil. In 2005, Intel Capital invested more than 60 percent of its $265 million total in companies outside the United States.

President of Intel Capital Arvind Sodhani states, "The world has changed significantly since Intel Capital was first formed in 1991. The hub of global technology innovation is no longer limited to Silicon Valley, but is found in startups around the world. Intel Capital, as part of Intel Corporation, is poised to promote and support innovative technology start-ups and companies."

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5. Scientists promise interplanetary broadband

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a light detector that they claim could drastically increase the data rate of communications between spacecraft and earthbound receivers. The device detects extremely low light or laser signals in the infrared spectrum. The detector triples the 20% efficiency of current optical detectors, achieving 57% efficiency for single photons at 1550 nm, according to the researchers. Such efficiency is critical for spacecraft, given their extraordinary power constraints. Also, higher efficiency equates directly to the delivery of more scientific data.

The design owes its light-grabbing acumen to a photon-trap structure, a cavity featuring a nanowire detector, a precise gap of glass, and a mirror. The nanowire becomes a superconductor that detects absorbed photons when cooled to just above absolute zero. By tightly coiling the nanowire, the researchers increase its chances of catching photons from the impinging laser. Photons that the device doesn't absorb immediately bounce around between the mirror and the nanowire, thus creating more chances for detection.

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6. More CEOs getting the boot?

Studies show that CEO departures reached new heights in 2005. Worldwide, CEO turnover reached its highest level with 15.3 percent of the 2,500 public companies surveyed replacing their CEO last year. That translates to one in seven companies ousted their CEO. The study also found that performance-related turnover set a new record in North America, and merger-driven successions were at their highest level globally of any year other than 2000.

Some industries experienced higher turnover than others. For example, 19 percent of CEOs in consumer staples changed or lost their jobs. Other high-turnover markets included consumer discretionary (18.4 percent) and information technology (16.8 percent). Between 1995 and 2005, telecommunications had the highest overall CEO turnover rate (13.1 percent), followed by industrials (12.6 percent) and consumer discretionary (12.4 percent). The materials industry was the safest for CEOs in 2005, with an overall succession rate of 10.9 percent during the year. Other industries with low rates of CEO turnover in 2005 included healthcare (11.7 percent) and energy (14.2 percent).

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7. Dell to Double Its Staff in India

Dell's recent announcement that it intends to double its staff in India, to more than 20,000 people by 2009, was widely recognized as a vote of full confidence in the country's development. For Dell, India represents not only a rapidly growing consumer market but also a huge talent pool for transaction processing, R and D, and IT operations, as well as a potential manufacturing base. Its annual demand for five million PCs is expected to double by 2010.

The managing director of Dell's Indian operations, Romi Malhotra, has guided the development of its three customer service centers there, from the early beginnings, when it sought to outsource some of its activities, to the current program, with Indian operations representing its best practice. Malhotra, who came to Dell after helping GE and Standard Chartered Bank set up their Indian back-office operations, has focused on improving the company's recruitment, retention, and employee-development programs in order to turn Dell into an employer of choice in India's highly competitive labor market. He believes that in India, the company can leverage a pool of extremely gifted workers and managers, in numbers far greater than would be possible anywhere else.

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