Category Archives: Applications

The research team that announced the first optical rectenna in 2015 is now reporting a two-fold efficiency improvement in the devices — and a switch to air-stable diode materials. The improvements could allow the rectennas – which convert electromagnetic fields at optical frequencies directly to electrical current – to operate low-power devices such as temperature sensors.

Ultimately, the researchers believe their device design – a combination of a carbon nanotube antenna and diode rectifier – could compete with conventional photovoltaic technologies for producing electricity from sunlight and other sources. The same technology used in the rectennas could also directly convert thermal energy to electricity.

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new higher efficiency rectenna design. Here, the device’s ability to convert blue light to electricity is tested. (Credit: Christopher Moore, Georgia Tech)

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a new higher efficiency rectenna design. Here, the device’s ability to convert blue light to electricity is tested. (Credit: Christopher Moore, Georgia Tech)

“This work takes a significant leap forward in both fundamental understanding and practical efficiency for the optical rectenna device,” said Baratunde Cola, an associate professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology. “It opens up this technology to many more researchers who can join forces with us to advance the optical rectenna technology to help power a range of applications, including space flight.”

The research was reported January 26 in the journal Advanced Electronic Materials. The work has been supported by the U.S. Army Research Office under the Young Investigator Program, and by the National Science Foundation.

Optical rectennas operate by coupling the light’s electromagnetic field to an antenna, in this case an array of multiwall carbon nanotubes whose ends have been opened. The electromagnetic field creates an oscillation in the antenna, producing an alternating flow of electrons. When the electron flow reaches a peak at one end of the antenna, the diode closes, trapping the electrons, then re-opens to capture the next oscillation, creating a current flow.

The switching must occur at terahertz frequencies to match the light. The junction between the antenna and diode must provide minimal resistance to electrons flowing through it while open, yet prevent leakage while closed.

“The name of the game is maximizing the number of electrons that get excited in the carbon nanotube, and then having a switch that is fast enough to capture them at their peak,” Cola explained. “The faster you switch, the more electrons you can catch on one side of the oscillation.”

To provide a low work function – ease of electron flow – the researchers initially used calcium as the metal in their oxide insulator – metal diode junction. But calcium breaks down rapidly in air, meaning the device had to be encapsulated during operation – and fabricated in a glovebox. That made the optical rectenna both impractical for most applications and difficult to fabricate.

So Cola, NSF Graduate Research Fellow Erik Anderson and Research Engineer Thomas Bougher replaced the calcium with aluminum and tried a variety of oxide materials on the carbon nanotubes before settling on a bilayer material composed of alumina (Al2O3) and hafnium dioxide (HfO2). The combination coating for the carbon nanotube junction, created through an atomic deposition process, provides the quantum mechanical electron tunneling properties required by engineering the oxide electronic properties instead of the metals, which allows air stable metals with higher work functions than calcium to be used.

Rectennas fabricated with the new combination have remained functional for as long as a year. Other metal oxides could also be used, Cola said.

The researchers also engineered the slope of the hill down which the electrons fall in the tunneling process. That also helped increase the efficiency, and allows the use of a variety of oxide materials. The new design also increased the asymmetry of the diodes, which boosted efficiency.

“By working with the oxide electron affinity, we were able to increase the asymmetry by more than ten-fold, making this diode design more attractive,” said Cola. “That’s really where we got the efficiency gain in this new version of the device.”

Optical rectennas could theoretically compete with photovoltaic materials for converting sunlight into electricity. PV materials operate using a different principle, in which photons knock electrons from the atoms of certain materials. The electrons are collected into electrical current.

In September 2015 in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, Cola and Bougher reported the first optical rectenna – a device that had been proposed theoretically for more than 40 years, but never demonstrated.

The early version reported in the journal produced power at microvolt levels. The rectenna now produces power in the millivolt range and conversion efficiency has gone from 10-5 to 10-3 – still very low, but a significant gain.

“Though there still is room for significant improvement, this puts the voltage in the range where you could see optical rectennas operating low-power sensors,” Cola said. “There are a lot of device geometry steps you could take to do something useful with the optical rectenna today in voltage-driven devices that don’t require significant current.”

Cola believes the rectennas could be useful for powering internet of things devices, especially if they can be used to produce electricity from scavenged thermal energy. For converting heat to electricity, the principle is the same as for light – capturing oscillations in a field with the broadband carbon nanotube antenna.

“People have been excited about thermoelectric generators, but there are many limitations on getting a system that works effectively,” he said. “We believe that the rectenna technology will be the best approach for harvesting heat economically.”

In future work, the research team hopes to optimize the antenna operation, and improve their theoretical understanding of how the rectenna works, allowing further optimization. One day, Cola hopes the devices will help accelerate space travel, producing power for electric thrusters that will boost spacecraft.

“Our end game is to see carbon nanotube optical rectennas working on Mars and in the spacecraft that takes us to Mars,” he said.

This work was supported by the Army Research Office under the Young Investigator Program agreement W911NF-13-1-0491 and the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship program under grant DGE-1650044. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring organizations.

The worldwide race to create more, better and reliable quantum processors is progressing fast, as a team of TU Delft scientists led by Professor Vandersypen has realised yet again. In a neck-and-neck race with their competitors, they showed that quantum information of an electron spin can be transported to a photon, in a silicon quantum chip. This is important in order to connect quantum bits across the chip and allowing to scale up to large numbers of qubits. Their work was published today in the journal Science.

The quantum computer of the future will be able to carry out computations far beyond the capacity of today's computers. Credit: TU Delft

The quantum computer of the future will be able to carry out computations far beyond the capacity of today’s computers. Credit: TU Delft

The quantum computer of the future will be able to carry out computations far beyond the capacity of today’s computers. Quantum superpositions and entanglement of quantum bits (qubits) make it possible to perform parallel computations. Scientists and companies worldwide are engaged in creating increasingly better quantum chips with more and more quantum bits. QuTech in Delft is working hard on several types of quantum chips.

Familiar material

The core of the quantum chips is made of silicon. “This is a material that we are very familiar with,” explains Professor Lieven Vandersypen of QuTech and the Kavli Institute of Nanoscience Delft, “Silicon is widely used in transistors and so can be found in all electronic devices.” But silicon is also a very promising material for quantum technology. PhD candidate Guoji Zheng: “We can use electrical fields to capture single electrons in silicon for use as quantum bits (qubits). This is an attractive material as it ensures the information in the qubit can be stored for a long time.”

Large systems

Making useful computations requires large numbers of qubits and it is this upscaling to large numbers that is providing a challenge worldwide. “To use a lot of qubits at the same time, they need to be connected to each other; there needs to be good communication”, explains researcher Nodar Samkharadze. At present the electrons that are captured as qubits in silicon can only make direct contact with their immediate neighbours. Nodar: “That makes it tricky to scale up to large numbers of qubits.”

Neck-and-neck race

Other quantum systems use photons for long-distance interactions. For years, this was also a major goal for silicon. Only in recent years have various scientists made progress on this. The Delft scientists have now shown that a single electron spin and a single photon can be coupled on a silicon chip. This coupling makes it possible in principle to transfer quantum information between a spin and a photon. Guoji Zheng: “This is important to connect distant quantum bits on a silicon chip, thereby paving the way to upscaling quantum bits on silicon chips.”

On to the next step

Vandersypen is proud of his team: “My team achieved this result in a relatively short time and under great pressure from worldwide competition.” It is a true Delft breakthrough: “The substrate is made in Delft, the chip created in the Delft cleanrooms, and all measurements carried out at QuTech,” adds Nodar Samkharadze. The scientists are now working hard on the next steps. Vandersypen: “The goal now is to transfer the information via a photon from on electron spin to another.”

Accurately measuring electric fields is important in a variety of applications, such as weather forecasting, process control on industrial machinery, or ensuring the safety of people working on high-voltage power lines. Yet from a technological perspective, this is no easy task.

In a break from the design principle that has been followed by all other measuring devices to date, a research team at TU Wien has now developed a silicon-based sensor as a microelectromechanical system (MEMS). Devised in conjunction with the Department for Integrated Sensor Systems at Danube University Krems, this sensor has the major advantage that it does not distort the very electric field it is currently measuring. An introduction to the new sensor has also been published in the electronics journal “Nature Electronics”.

Tiny new sensor -- compared to a one-cent-coin. Credit: TU Wien

Tiny new sensor — compared to a one-cent-coin. Credit: TU Wien

Distorting measuring devices

“The equipment currently used to measure electric field strength has some significant downsides,” explains Andreas Kainz from the Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems (Faculty of Electrical Engineering, TU Wien). “These devices contain parts that become electrically charged. Conductive metallic components can significantly alter the field being measured; an effect that becomes even more pronounced if the device also has to be grounded to provide a reference point for the measurement.” Such equipment also tends to be relatively impractical and difficult to transport.

The sensor developed by the team at TU Wien is made from silicon and is based on a very simple concept: small, grid-shaped silicon structures measuring just a few micrometres in size are fixed onto a small spring. When the silicon is exposed to an electric field, a force is exerted on the silicon crystals, causing the spring to slightly compress or extend.

These tiny movements now need to be made visible, for which an optical solution has been designed: an additional grid located above the movable silicon grid is lined up so precisely that the grid openings on one grid are concealed by the other. When an electric field is present, the movable structure moves slightly out of perfect alignment with the fixed grid, allowing light to pass through the openings. This light is measured, from which the strength of the electric field can be calculated by an appropriately calibrated device.

Prototype achieves impressive levels of precision

The new silicon sensor does not measure the direction of the electric field, but its strength. It can be used for fields of a relatively low frequency of up to one kilohertz. “Using our prototype, we have been able to reliably measure weak fields of less than 200 volts per metre,” says Andreas Kainz. “This means our system is already performing at roughly the same level as existing products, even though it is significantly smaller and much simpler.” And there is still a great deal of potential for improvement, too: “Other methods of measurement are already mature approaches – we are just starting out. In future it will certainly be possible to achieve even significantly better results with our microelectromechanical sensor,” adds Andreas Kainz confidently.

Imec today announced that it will demonstrate its very first shortwave infrared (SWIR) range hyperspectral imaging camera at next week’s SPIE Photonics West in San Francisco. The SWIR range provides discriminatory information on all kinds of materials, paving the way to hyperspectral imaging applications in food sorting, waste management, machine vision, precision agriculture and medical diagnostics. Imec’s SWIR camera integrates CMOS-based spectral filters together with InGaAs-based imagers, thus combining the compact and low-cost capabilities of CMOS technology with the spectral range of InGaAs.

Semiconductor CMOS-based hyperspectral imaging filters, as designed and manufactured by imec for the past five years, have been utilized in a manner where they are integrated monolithically onto silicon-based CMOS image sensors, which has a sensitivity range from 400 – 1000 nm visible and near-IR (VNIR) range. However, it is expected that more than half of commercial multi and hyperspectral imaging applications need discriminative spectral data in the 1000 – 1700 nm SWIR range.

“SWIR range is key for hyperspectral imaging as it provides extremely valuable quantitative information about water, fatness, lipid and protein content of organic and inorganic matters like food, plants, human tissues, pharmaceutical powders, as well as key discriminatory characteristics about plastics, paper, wood and many other material properties,” commented Andy Lambrechts, program manager for integrated imaging activities at imec. “It was a natural evolution for imec to extend its offering into the SWIR range while leveraging its core capabilities in optical filter design and manufacturing, as well as its growing expertise in designing compact, low-cost and robust hyperspectral imaging system solutions to ensure this complex technology delivers on its promises.”

Imec’s initial SWIR range hyperspectral imaging cameras feature both linescan ‘stepped filter’ designs with 32 to 100 or more spectral bands, as well as snapshot mosaic solutions enabling the capture of 4 to 16 bands in real-time at video-rate speeds. Cameras with both USB3.0 and GIGE interface are currently in the field undergoing qualification with strategic partners.

“The InGaAs imager industry is at a turning point,” explained Jerome Baron, business development manager of integrated imaging and vision systems at imec. “As the market recognizes the numerous applications of SWIR range hyperspectral imaging cameras beyond its traditional military, remote sensing and scientific niche fields, the time is right for organizations such as imec to enable compact, robust and low-cost hyperspectral imaging cameras in the SWIR range too. Imec’s objectives will be to advance this offering among the most price sensitive volume markets for this technology which include food sorting, waste management and recycling, industrial machine vision, precision agriculture and medical diagnostics.”

The first SWIR range hyperspectral imaging cameras will be demonstrated through Feb. 1 at SPIE Photonics West, booth #4321 in the North Hall of Moscone center in San Francisco.

Technavio market research analysts forecast the global reset IC market to grow at a CAGR of close to 12% during the forecast period, according to their latest report.

The report further segments the global reset IC market by end-user (consumer electronics, telecommunication, automotive, industrial, and healthcare), by type (1-5 V, 5-12 V, and above 10 V), and by geography (the Americas, APAC, and EMEA).

Technavio analysts highlight the following three market drivers that are contributing to the growth of the global reset IC market:

  • Growth of smart grid technology
  • Increasing need for external brownout protection
  • Growth of IoT

Growth of smart grid technology

Due to their reliability and real-time information, smart grids have become an important trend in the energy industry. A smart grid is an electricity supply network integrated with digital communications technology to detect and react to local changes in the consumption of electricity and it is equipped with computational intelligence and network capabilities.

According to a senior analyst at Technavio for embedded systems research, “Smart grids are developed to improved operations and the maintenance of electric grids by allowing smooth exchange of data between various components. Transmission lines, generators, transformers, smart meters, smart appliances, and energy-efficient devices are components of a smart grid.”

Increasing need for external brownout protection

Restriction or reduction in the availability of electrical power in an area or locality is known as brownout. Voltage is limited or regulated in a brownout, unlike a blackout where the supply of voltage is completely removed for a period of time. Voltage overload on power grid and aging electrical system are some of the causes of brownouts. A reset IC sometimes integrates a brownout detector (BOD). It helps in preventing a reset if the voltage drops unexpectedly for a short duration of time.

Growth of IoT

The significant growth of IoT proved to be a major driver for the global reset IC market. IOT is a system of interrelated computing devices, machines, objects, and people, which are provided with unique identifiers. Without the need for any human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction, IoT allows the transfer of data over a network. IoT is also driving the demand for connected devices, which has significantly increased the bandwidth requirements. Vendors in the market are working together to satisfy the need for connecting several products, including gateways, home appliances, entertainment systems for smart homes, by a common networking standard that provides interoperability with a wide range of smart devices.

IoT will drive the need for enabler technologies which will have an impact on semiconductor foundries. An enabler technology can be classified as an invention, product, or technology which can provide a radical change in a user or an application. IoT shows great potential in several applications, which will drive the market.

Illinois researchers have demonstrated that sound waves can be used to produce ultraminiature optical diodes that are tiny enough to fit onto a computer chip. These devices, called optical isolators, may help solve major data capacity and system size challenges for photonic integrated circuits, the light-based equivalent of electronic circuits, which are used for computing and communications.

Isolators are nonreciprocal or “one-way” devices similar to electronic diodes. They protect laser sources from back reflections and are necessary for routing light signals around optical networks. Today, the dominant technology for producing such nonreciprocal devices requires materials that change their optical properties in response to magnetic fields, the researchers said.

“There are several problems with using magnetically responsive materials to achieve the one-way flow of light in a photonic chip,” said mechanical science and engineering professor and co-author of the study Gaurav Bahl. “First, industry simply does not have good capability to place compact magnets on a chip. But more importantly, the necessary materials are not yet available in photonics foundries. That is why industry desperately needs a better approach that uses only conventional materials and avoids magnetic fields altogether.”

In a study published in the journal Nature Photonics, the researchers explain how they use the minuscule coupling between light and sound to provide a unique solution that enables nonreciprocal devices with nearly any photonic material.

However, the physical size of the device and the availability of materials are not the only problems with the current state of the art, the researchers said.

“Laboratory attempts at producing compact magnetic optical isolators have always been plagued by large optical loss,” said graduate student and lead author Benjamin Sohn. “The photonics industry cannot afford this material-related loss and also needs a solution that provides enough bandwidth to be comparable to the traditional magnetic technique. Until now, there has been no magnetless approach that is competitive.”

The new device is only 200 by 100 microns in size – about 10,000 times smaller than a centimeter squared – and made of aluminum nitride, a transparent material that transmits light and is compatible with photonics foundries. “Sound waves are produced in a way similar to a piezoelectric speaker, using tiny electrodes written directly onto the aluminum nitride with an electron beam. It is these sound waves that compel light within the device to travel only in one direction. This is the first time that a magnetless isolator has surpassed gigahertz bandwidth,” Sohn said.

The researchers are looking for ways to increase bandwidth or data capacity of these isolators and are confident that they can overcome this hurdle. Once perfected, they envision transformative applications in photonic communication systems, gyroscopes, GPS systems, atomic timekeeping and data centers.

“Data centers handle enormous amounts of internet data traffic and consume large amounts of power for networking and for keeping the servers cool,” Bahl said. “Light-based communication is desirable because it produces much less heat, meaning that much less energy can be spent on server cooling while transmitting a lot more data per second.”

Aside from the technological potential, the researchers can’t help but be mesmerized by the fundamental science behind this advancement.

“In everyday life, we don’t see the interactions of light with sound,” Bahl said. “Light can pass through a transparent pane of glass without doing anything strange. Our field of research has found that light and sound do, in fact, interact in a very subtle way. If you apply the right engineering principles, you can shake a transparent material in just the right way to enhance these effects and solve this major scientific challenge. It seems almost magical.”

Engineers worldwide have been developing alternative ways to provide greater memory storage capacity on even smaller computer chips. Previous research into two-dimensional atomic sheets for memory storage has failed to uncover their potential — until now.

A team of electrical engineers at The University of Texas at Austin, in collaboration with Peking University scientists, has developed the thinnest memory storage device with dense memory capacity, paving the way for faster, smaller and smarter computer chips for everything from consumer electronics to big data to brain-inspired computing.

Illustration of a voltage-induced memory effect in monolayer nanomaterials, which layer to create "atomristors," the thinnest memory storage device that could lead to faster, smaller and smarter computer chips. Credit: Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

Illustration of a voltage-induced memory effect in monolayer nanomaterials, which layer to create “atomristors,” the thinnest memory storage device that could lead to faster, smaller and smarter computer chips. Credit: Cockrell School of Engineering, The University of Texas at Austin

“For a long time, the consensus was that it wasn’t possible to make memory devices from materials that were only one atomic layer thick,” said Deji Akinwande, associate professor in the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “With our new ‘atomristors,’ we have shown it is indeed possible.”

Made from 2-D nanomaterials, the “atomristors” — a term Akinwande coined — improve upon memristors, an emerging memory storage technology with lower memory scalability. He and his team published their findings in the January issue of Nano Letters.

“Atomristors will allow for the advancement of Moore’s Law at the system level by enabling the 3-D integration of nanoscale memory with nanoscale transistors on the same chip for advanced computing systems,” Akinwande said.

Memory storage and transistors have, to date, always been separate components on a microchip, but atomristors combine both functions on a single, more efficient computer system. By using metallic atomic sheets (graphene) as electrodes and semiconducting atomic sheets (molybdenum sulfide) as the active layer, the entire memory cell is a sandwich about 1.5 nanometers thick, which makes it possible to densely pack atomristors layer by layer in a plane. This is a substantial advantage over conventional flash memory, which occupies far larger space. In addition, the thinness allows for faster and more efficient electric current flow.

Given their size, capacity and integration flexibility, atomristors can be packed together to make advanced 3-D chips that are crucial to the successful development of brain-inspired computing. One of the greatest challenges in this burgeoning field of engineering is how to make a memory architecture with 3-D connections akin to those found in the human brain.

“The sheer density of memory storage that can be made possible by layering these synthetic atomic sheets onto each other, coupled with integrated transistor design, means we can potentially make computers that learn and remember the same way our brains do,” Akinwande said.

The research team also discovered another unique application for the technology. In existing ubiquitous devices such as smartphones and tablets, radio frequency switches are used to connect incoming signals from the antenna to one of the many wireless communication bands in order for different parts of a device to communicate and cooperate with one another. This activity can significantly affect a smartphone’s battery life.

The atomristors are the smallest radio frequency memory switches to be demonstrated with no DC battery consumption, which can ultimately lead to longer battery life.

“Overall, we feel that this discovery has real commercialization value as it won’t disrupt existing technologies,” Akinwande said. “Rather, it has been designed to complement and integrate with the silicon chips already in use in modern tech devices.”

2018FLEX, the Flexible Hybrid Electronics (FHE) Conference and Exhibition, will bring together more than 600 experts from around the world for business-critical insights and the latest technology in both flexible electronics and MEMS and sensors. 2018FLEX – February 13-15 in Monterey, California – will spotlight FHE innovation drivers in smart medtech, smart automotive, smart manufacturing, Internet of Things (IoT) and consumer electronics. The event, hosted by SEMI FlexTech, will feature more than 100 market and technical presentations, 60 exhibits, short courses and opportunities to connect with industry visionaries.

This year 2018FLEX will co-locate with the MEMS & Sensors Technical Congress (MSTC). February 13-14, MSTC will highlight leading-edge MEMS and sensors system-level solutions, technology and applications. Click here to register for both events.

The flexible and printed electronics markets are expected to reach $20 billion by 2022, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.5 percent from 2016 to 2022, according to Zion Research. Flexible hybrid electronics and printed electronics enable new form factors and economics for a diverse set of applications. Examples include minimally invasive implantable systems that treat major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the ability to repair or reproduce failed devices during space exploration, and head-up displays (HUDs) that will use ultra-thin holographic films to project transparent images on car windshields for safer driving.

“Global demand for technical expertise on materials, manufacturing and component technologies in FHE and printed electronics is rapidly growing,” said Melissa Grupen-Shemansky, CTO, Flexible Electronics and Advanced Packaging, SEMI. “2018FLEX offers the latest business and technology insights into applications such as flexible biosensors, flexible displays, drones, smart packaging, 3D printing and human-machine interfaces.”

2018FLEX will also showcase the latest technologies and solutions developed by contractors involved in the public/private research and development funding programs in FlexTech, NanoBio Manufacturing Consortium (NBMC), and NextFlex.

Keynotes headlining 2018FLEX will include:

  • Cortera Neurotechnologies – Minimally invasive implantable biosensors for treating major psychiatric illnesses
  • NASA – In-Space Manufacturing, a multi-material Fab Lab for the International Space Station
  • Luminit – Holographic Optical Element technologies for automotive HUD
  • Panasonic – Flexible hybrid electronics applications for lithium-ion batteries
  • Draper Labs – Flexible drones

2018FLEX will also highlight these exciting technologies:

  • Bonbouton – Graphene-based smart insoles for preventative diabetic healthcare
  • PARC – Latest application projects in environmental monitoring, wearables and supply chain solutions
  • Tekscan – Thin, flexible, tactile sensing technology for intelligent surgical, diagnostic and home healthcare applications

About 2018FLEX

The Flexible Electronics Conference and Exhibition (2018FLEX), now in its 17th year, will be held at the Hyatt Regency Monterey Hotel & Spa in Monterey. Highlights will include significant technical achievements, opportunities and challenges within the FHE and printed electronics industries.

Worldwide PC shipments totaled 71.6 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 2 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2016, according to preliminary results by Gartner, Inc. For the year, 2017 PC shipments surpassed 262.5 million units, a 2.8 percent decline from 2016. It was the 13th consecutive quarter of declining global PC shipments, as well as the sixth year of annual declines. However, Gartner analysts said there were some signs for optimism.

“In the fourth quarter of 2017, there was PC shipment growth in Asia/Pacific, Japan and Latin America. There was only a moderate shipment decline in EMEA,” said Mikako Kitagawa, principal analyst at Gartner. “However, the U.S. market saw a steep decline, which offset the generally positive results in other regions.

“The fourth quarter results confirmed again that PCs are no longer popular holiday gift items. This does not mean that PCs will disappear from households,” Kitagawa said. “Rather, the PC will become a more specialized, purpose-driven device. PC buyers will look for quality and functionality rather than looking for the lowest price, which will increase PC average selling prices (ASPs) and improve profitability in the long run. However, until this point is reached, the market will have to go through the shrinking phase caused by fewer PC users.”

HP Inc. moved into the No. 1 position in the fourth quarter of 2017, as its shipments grew 6.6 percent, and its market share totaled 22.5 percent (see Table 1). The company showed year-over-year growth in all regions, including the challenging U.S. market. For the fourth consecutive quarter, Lenovo experienced a decline in shipments. Lenovo had moderate growth in EMEA and Asia/Pacific, but shipments declined in North America.

Table 1
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q17 (Thousands of Units)

Company

4Q17 Shipments

4Q17 Market Share (%)

4Q16 Shipments

4Q16 Market Share (%)

4Q17-4Q16 Growth (%)

HP Inc.

16,076

22.5

15,084

20.7

6.6

Lenovo

15,742

22.0

15,857

21.7

-0.7

Dell

10,841

15.2

10,767

14.7

0.7

Apple

5,449

7.6

5,374

7.4

1.4

Asus

4,731

6.6

5,336

7.3

-11.3

Acer Group

4,726

6.6

4,998

6.8

-5.4

Others

13,990

19.6

15,599

21.4

-10.3

Total

71,556

100.0

73,015

100.0

-2.0

Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels.
Source: Gartner (January 2018)

Dell’s shipments grew slightly in the fourth quarter of 2017. Dell did well in EMEA, Asia/Pacific and Latin America, but it had weak results in North America. Generally, Dell has put a higher priority on profitability over market share.

Steep PC shipment decline in the U.S.

In the U.S., PC shipments surpassed 15.2 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, an 8 percent decline from the fourth quarter of 2016 (see Table 2). Four of the top five vendors experienced a decline in U.S. PC shipments in the fourth quarter of 2017. HP Inc. was the only vendor to increase shipments in the quarter. The decline was attributed to weak consumer demand despite holiday season sales.

“U.S. consumer confidence was high in the fourth quarter of 2017, but that did not influence PC demand. U.S. holiday sales were filled with popular products, such as voice-enabled speakers, and newly released smartphones,” Kitagawa said. “PCs simply could not compete against these gift items during the holiday season. We did see some consistent growth of gaming and high-end PCs.”

Table 2
Preliminary U.S. PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 4Q17 (Thousands of Units)

Company

4Q17 Shipments

4Q17 Market Share (%)

4Q16 Shipments

4Q16 Market Share (%)

4Q17-4Q16 Growth (%)

HP Inc.

5,130

33.7

5,049

30.5

1.6

Dell

3,691

24.3

4,209

25.4

-12.3

Apple

1,972

13.0

2,003

12.1

-1.6

Lenovo

1,792

11.8

2,344

14.2

-23.6

Acer Group

587

3.9

661

4.0

-11.2

Others

2,042

13.4

2,276

13.8

-10.3

Total

15,214

100.0

16,543

100.0

-8.0

Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels.
Source: Gartner (January 2018)

PC shipments in EMEA totaled 21.8 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 1.4 percent decline year over year. PC demand in the U.K. was still ailing and unit shipments into Germany were weaker than expected. PC revenue is expected to be up year over year in Western Europe. The rise in ASPs is due to currency fluctuations, the need for vendors to offset rising component costs, and a product-mix shift toward higher-value items, such as gaming systems and high-performing notebooks.

The Asia/Pacific PC market totaled 25 million units in the fourth quarter of 2017, a 0.6 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2016. The consumer market stabilized with fourth-quarter online promotions in many countries, which drove demand for gaming PCs and thin and light notebooks. China experienced its first positive PC shipment growth since the first quarter of 2012. The success of the 11.11 shopping festival and the continuing demand for PCs in the commercial market drove the China PC market to 1.1 percent growth in the quarter.

PC market consolidation in 2017

For the year, worldwide PC shipments totaled 262.5 million units in 2017, a 2.8 percent decrease from 2016 (see Table 3). As the PC industry continues to consolidate, the top four vendors in 2017 accounted for 64 percent of global PC shipments. In 2011, the top four vendors accounted for 45 percent of PC shipments.

“The top vendors have taken advantage of their volume operations to lower production costs, pushing small to midsize vendors out of the market,” Kitagawa said.

Table 3
Preliminary Worldwide PC Vendor Unit Shipment Estimates for 2017 (Thousands of Units)

Company

2017

Shipments

2017 Market

Share (%)

2016

Shipments

2016 Market Share (%)

2017-2016 Growth (%)

HP Inc.

55,162

21.0

52,734

19.5

4.6

Lenovo

54,714

20.8

55,951

20.7

-2.2

Dell

39,871

15.2

39,421

14.6

1.1

Apple

19,299

7.4

18,546

6.9

4.1

Asus

17,967

6.8

20,496

7.6

-12.3

Acer Group

17,088

6.5

18,274

6.8

-6.5

Others

58,435

22.3

64,683

23.9

-9.7

Total

262,537

100.0

270,106

100.0

-2.8

Notes: Data includes desk-based PCs, notebook PCs and ultramobile premiums (such as Microsoft Surface), but not Chromebooks or iPads. All data is estimated based on a preliminary study. Final estimates will be subject to change. The statistics are based on shipments selling into channels.
Source: Gartner (January 2018)

These results are preliminary. Final statistics will be available soon to clients of Gartner’s PC Quarterly Statistics Worldwide by Region program. This program offers a comprehensive and timely picture of the worldwide PC market, allowing product planning, distribution, marketing and sales organizations to keep abreast of key issues and their future implications around the globe.

 

Luc Van den Hove, president and CEO of imec

Luc Van den Hove, president and CEO of imec

SEMI today announced that Luc Van den hove, president and CEO of imec, has been selected as the 2018 recipient of the SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award, inspired by Bob Graham. He will be honored for outstanding achievement in semiconductor equipment and materials marketing during ceremonies at ISS 2018 on January 17 in Half Moon Bay, California.

Van den hove will receive the 21st SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award for his contributions and leadership in consortia that made the imec model of collaborative research using pooled infrastructure self-sustaining. The model enables companies of all sizes and position in the value chain to participate in collaborative research that advances industry technology.

Inspired by the power of technology to improve lives, Van den hove transformed research from its focus on participation cost to an emphasis on collaboration to produce greater value. Under his leadership, imec brings together brilliant minds from established companies, startups and academia worldwide to work in a creative and stimulating environment with imec serving as their trusted partner. imec’s international research and development drives innovations in nanoelectronics and digital technologies by leveraging its world-class infrastructure and local and global ecosystem of diverse partners to accelerate progress towards a connected, sustainable future. Van den hove joined imec in 1984 and has led the technology innovation hub since 2009.

“Luc Van den hove is recognized both for his innovative marketing leadership and his resolve to deepen industry collaboration for the common good. Today, SEMI and its membership honor Van den hove for his contributions to the success of the semiconductor manufacturing industry,” said Ajit Manocha, president and CEO of SEMI.

The SEMI Sales and Marketing Excellence Award was inspired by the late Bob Graham, the distinguished semiconductor industry leader, who was a member of the founding team of Intel. Graham also helped establish industry-leading companies such as Applied Materials and Novellus Systems. The Award was established to honor individuals for the creation and/or implementation of marketing programs that enhance customer satisfaction and further the growth of the semiconductor equipment and materials industry.

Eligible candidates are nominated by their industry peers and selected after due diligence by an award committee. Previous recipients of this SEMI award include: Toshio Maruyama (2017), Jim Bowen (2016), Terry (Tetsuro) Higashi (2015), Winfried Kaiser (2014), Joung Cho (JC) Kim (2013), G. Dan Hutcheson (2012), Franz Janker (2011), Martin van den Brink (2010), Peter Hanley (2009), Richard Hong (2008), Richard E. Dyck (2007), Aubrey (Bill) C. Tobey (2006), Archie Hwang (2005), Edward Braun (2004), Shigeru (Steve) Nakayama (2003), Jerry Hutcheson and Ed Segal (2002), Jim Healy and Barry Rapozo (2001), and Art Zafiropoulo (2000).