Recently in semiconductors Category

Qualcomm announced it is expanding the Snapdragon platform with a next-generation chipset that uses 45 nanometer (nm) process technology to provide faster processing,  battery life improvements and other enhancements for the user experience on Snapdragon-powered smartphones and a new category the call "smartbooks."

The new Snapdragon QSD8650A chipset - scheduled for sampling before the end of 2009 - has a 1.3 GHz processor for 30 percent higher performance as well as enhanced multimedia and 2D/3D graphics. Utilizing 45nm technology also allows power consumption improvements such as up to 30 percent lower dynamic power than previous-generation Snapdragon products and an unmatched standby power of less than 10 millwatts.

Skyworks Solutions, Inc. introduced a suite of front-end modules (FEM) with breakthrough power control performance for quad band cellular handsets. The unique power control scheme is based on a coupler detector which greatly enhances the total radiated power (TRP) performance. These small footprint and highly efficient GSM, GPRS and EDGE solutions support Broadcom's, Infineon's and MediaTek's 2.5G and 3G platforms.

"Skyworks' highly integrated front-end modules utilize a small footprint and unique power control scheme to improve total radiated power performance - a key factor in today's advanced handsets," said Thomas Richter, Skyworks' director of product marketing for front-end solutions. "Our complete transmission to antenna solution with integrated electrostatic discharge network is the perfect combination for today's mobile handset manufacturers as they look to reduce bill-of-materials and printed circuit board footprint."

CSR and Murata have produced 200 million modules that combine CSR and Murata technology. 

CSR  worked with Murata on its breakthrough Connectivity Centre product, CSR9000.

Launched this year at Mobile World Congress, CSR9000 is the world's smallest Bluetooth and Wi-Fi solution and supports a long list of connectivity technologies: Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy, Wi-Fi (IEEE 802.11abgn) and FM receive and transmit. CSR9000 enables the world's smallest connectivity modules and offer wireless performance and coexistence.

"When it comes to choosing a module for their device," said Matthew Phillips, Senior Vice President of the Handset Business Unit at CSR, "OEMS have come to associate Murata's name with build-quality, performance and power-efficiency that is second-to-none. Murata's designs are also held in high regard as being very compact and cost-effective. Like CSR, Murata takes a customer-centric approach, doing everything it can to minimize costs and time-to-market. Having shipped our own billionth chip a few months ago, we're proud to be marking this joint milestone with our valued long-term partner."

Software that controls Braodcom'sg Wi-Fi/Bluetooth/FM combo chip is now a standard component of the latest Android operating system.

This is the first time that the Android platform includes native support for a multi-functional wireless connectivity solution (or "combo" chip) which could mean lower cost, smaller Android smartphones

The Broadcom BCM4325 is the best-selling Bluetooth and Wi-Fi combo chip on the market, offering best-in-class space, power, cost and coexistence features. Adding Broadcom's BCM4325 drivers to the Android platform simplifies the integration of these connectivity technologies and accelerates platform development cycles.

Rambus has launced a Mobile Memory Initiative. This development effort focuses on high-bandwidth, low-power memory technologies targeted at achieving data rates of 4.3Gbps at best-in-class power efficiency.

With that kind of promised performance, designers could realize more than 17Gigabytes per second of memory bandwidth from a single mobile DRAM device, notes their news release.

Consumers can expect High Definition video, multi-megapixel  digital still cameras, 3D games, and media-rich web applications from such fast smartphones/devices.

Sandbridge Technologies released the SB3500 flexible baseband processor which facilitates the implementation of 4G mobile handsets entirely in software.

Capable of operating any radio protocol required for a common (universal) multi-mode, multi-function mobile platform, the SB3500 meets critical power consumption specifications of wireless carriers and significantly reduces time-to-market and overall development costs for OEMs.

Broadcom Corporation announced a new combination chip that integrates a complete BluetoothVersion 2.1 + enhanced data rate (EDR) baseband, radio and software, along with a high performance FM stereo radio transceiver, on a single piece of silicon. Extending Broadcom’s successful line of wireless combo chips, this next generation host controller interface (HCI) solution targeted for mobile devices adds FM transmit capabilities, enhanced voice and stereo audio processing, and industry-leading embedded software functionality. All of these advanced capabilities are delivered on a 65 nanometer (65 nm) chip that saves power and space.

Combined satellite-cellular communications will be easier  for consumers, enterprise, government and public safety due to an agreement announced today by and among Mobile Satellite Ventures LP , a subsidiary of SkyTerra Communications, Inc.  ICO Global Communications, and Qualcomm Incorporated

This agreement will enable devices to have ubiquitous mobile communications coverage from anywhere in North America, including areas where traditional cellular service is currently unavailable or unreliable. 

Qualcomm will integrate satellite and cellular communication technology in select multi-mode mobile baseband chips, enabling satellite connectivity in mass-market wireless handsets and devices and handset vendors to produce satellite-capable devices at comparable scale and cost.

Intel's Centrino 2 platform was released yesterday after a three-week delay. The platform was also supposed to include WiMAX which is not included in the first version of the of the platform.

The delay was supposedly due to the FCC certification of 802.11n Wi-Fi with five times faster wireless connections

New energy saving  HUGI, "Hurry Up and Get Idle" will allow the new 2.8GHz processor to consume 60 percent less electricity than its 2.33GHz processor per task, and which will done 30 second faster.

Future versions of Centrino 2 will include built-in WiMAX, hopefully in time for Sprint's commercial WiMAX. Centrino 

NVIDIA Corporation ) introduced the Tegra family of processors, the world’s first single-chip computer capable of the rich high definition and internet experiences we’ve come to expect from our PCs, but on small pocket type devices. NVIDIA Tegra is a tiny computer-on-a-chip, smaller than a US dime (10-cent piece), designed from the ground up to enable the “visual PC experience” on a new generation of mobile computing devices while consuming the smallest amount of power. These chips will compete with the Intel’s Atom.

NVIDIA Tegra 650 also features:

• All-day media processing, for 130 hours audio, 30 hours HD video playback
• HD image processing for advanced digital still camera and HD camcorder functions
• Optimized hardware support for Web 2.0 applications for a true desktop-class internet experience
• Display support for 1080p HDMI, WSXGA+ LCD and CRT, and NTSC/PAL TV-Out
• Direct support for WiFi, disk drives, keyboard, mouse, and other peripherals
• A complete Board Support Package (BSP) to enable fast times to market for Windows Mobile-based designs

There have been several reports from interviews from  Intel's CEO Paul Otellini that Intel is planing to enter the mobile chip market again with a mobile version of it's low power Atom chip, code-named Pineview, in late 2009.

Steve Lhor at The New York Times wrote:

The low-cost Atom processor, Mr. Otellini said, is Intel's bid to supply the processing engines that will help vastly expand the reach of the Internet beyond personal computers. He noted "four big new markets for our products" that will total $10 billion over the next few years. The four, he said, were consumer electronics, cellphones, embedded controllers and low-cost computing.

Kodak has developed a new chip for camera phones that improves picture and video quality the  Kodak KAC-05020 Image Sensor, a 1.4 micron, 5 megapixel device.

Kodak’s new sensor enables a new level of resolution in small optical formats, using significantly smaller pixels. But unlike other small-pixel sensors which can produce poor images, especially under low light conditions, the 1.4 micron pixel used in the KAC-05020 Image Sensor changes this convention, providing image quality that can equal or surpass what is available from current devices using larger, 1.75 micron pixel CMOS designs.

CSR announced that it has halved the cost of embedded GPS solutions through a collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics Company (Samsung). The resulting products, based on CSR’s GPS software and Samsung’s module hardware, bring best in class location-based services to mobile phones, media players and personal navigation devices, while taking the guesswork out of GPS RF design and allowing OEMs an exceptionally short route to market.

The 9.8x9.8x2.15 mm Samsung module is based on the SiGe Semiconductor SE4120S GPS RF IC and is a complete GPS RF subsystem, including voltage regulation, RTC and TCXO, SAW filter and LNA. When combined with CSR’s GPS software running on a typical applications processor, the system achieves tracking sensitivity of -159 dBm and has a cold start acquisition time of under 40 seconds.

Samsung announced today the development of its new single-chip radio frequency identification (RFID) reader for mobile devices. Embedded RFID reader chips can provide consumers with product or service information retrieved from RFID tags incorporated in items such as movie posters, clothing, and museums or tourist exhibits.

According to market research firm RoA Group, the global demand for mobile RFID is expected to grow from $26.9 billion in 2007 to $701 billion by 2010, for a compound annual growth of 196 percent.

Atheros Communications, Inc. announced the Atheros ROCm™ single-chip AR6002 family which features breakthrough low-power for mobile Wi-Fi. The AR6002 draws near-zero standby power and has nominal impact on battery life even in active mode. This great great performance eliminates the the power consumption challenge for mobile designers when deciding whether to include Wi-Fi in devices like smartphones, personal media players, digital still cameras, gaming and other portable consumer devices.

The chips are available as samples and will be in volume production in the first quarter of 2008.

Qualcomm announced a new computer chip that can provide wireless access over EV-DO(Sprint, Verizon) or HSPA (AT&T) technologies. Notebooks featuring the multi-mode Gobi solution can take advantage of the high-speed mobile Internet services offered by leading network operators in virtually all parts of the world, as well as GPS.

Broadcom Corporation , announced a new single-chip HSPA (high-speed packet access) processor that integrates all of the key 3G (third generation) technologies on an extremely low power chip.

The 3G “Phone on a Chip” supports four cellular networks, can transmit and receive FM radio for playing music on a car stereo, features advanced multimedia processing, Bluetooth technology and up to five megapixel camera support. Phones with the processor, will enable consumers to download content at up to 7.2 Megabits per second (Mbps), and upload content such as pictures and videos at up to 5.8Mbps, all directly from their phone.

“With what we believe is more than a full year’s lead over similar competing products, this new 3G solution should place Broadcom squarely at the head of the hyper-competitive 3G chip race,” said Yossi Cohen, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Broadcom’s Mobile Platforms Group. It is also believed that the chip will reduce the cost of new 3G phones.