Category Archives: New Products

Heraeus will present numerous product highlights with regard to bonding wires, assembly materials and sputtering targets at this year’s Semicon China, taking place on March 19-21, 2013 in Shanghai.

New bonding wire innovations

Regarding bonding wires, the company shows the new silver alloy wire AgUltra. The good reflectivity surface, as well as good mechanical and electrical properties make it particularly applicable for LED device and IC packaging. Especially, silver makes this wire a cost-effective alternative to gold wires.

The MaxSoft2 is the newest copper wire in the current product range of Heraeus Bonding Wires. Due to its better workability, it can be especially used for high pin count and fine pitch applications.

Assembly materials

Heraeus will be featuring another product in its series of solder pastes: the new water soluble halogen free solder past F590.

The water-soluble halogen free flux activation system provides excellent wetting. There is minimal void formation on a variety of substrates, component terminations and surfaces.

In its range of water cleanable fluxes, Heraeus has developed the WSD3890. It is a water soluble halogen free tack flux designed for bumping, BGA and CSP applications. Some key benefits include its excellent cleaning properties and long tackiness life.

Sputtering targets

Conference attendees can also expect to hear about Heraeus’ advances in the area of sputtering targets. These are used in markets such as hard disk drives, electronics/semiconductor, displays, glass or photovoltaics.

 

PNI Sensor Corporation and EM Microelectronic -Marin SA announce the introduction of the Sentral sensor fusion hub: a new, highly effective way to integrate complex motion sensors on mobile devices. The Sentral sensor fusion hub is the first hub designed specifically to manage sensor outputs on a low-power integrated circuit, making 9-axis motion sensing outputs both super-precise and practical to implement. Carrying top-of-the-line sensor fusion algorithms on an extremely low-power integrated circuit, Sentral eliminates the need for complex sensor configurations, calibrations and algorithm development. Further, it dramatically reduces power usage, offloading sensor fusion work from less efficient host CPUs or sensor CPUs onto an ultra-low-power IC tailor-made for sensor optimization.

This is welcome news for mobile device manufacturers, as Sentral makes the integration of 9-axis sensor systems faster and easier, and at the same time, improves the quality, reliability and utility of output from the accelerometers, gyroscope and geomagnetic sensors. Compatible with Android and Windows 8-based mobile products, Sentral delivers the most accurate (2º of heading accuracy), real-time motion-related data available.

Further, because it is designed and built specifically to meet the power needs of the mobile market, the Sentral IC is ultra-low-power and consumes less than 10% of the power used by other CPUs performing the task of sensor fusion. It maximizes battery life even for applications that need constant processing of sensor data.

Sentral makes sensor implementation more practical as well. It can support a wide variety of gyros, accels and magnetic sensors from multiple and changing vendors. This allows for separate placement of the sensors, and manufacturers are not tied to a single source or sensor type. Because it uses a mere 800mAmps of power in normal operation, it frees up valuable CPU power and battery life, and with a mere 1.6×1.6×0.5mm footprint, it takes up virtually no space.

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Toshiba Corporation today announced that it has developed an intelligent vital signs sensor module: Smart healthcare Intelligent Monitor Engine and Ecosystem with Silmee, that simultaneously senses information on key vital signs, Electric Cardio Gram, pulse, body temperature and movements, and that can deliver the data to smartphones and tablet PCs with wireless technology. Toshiba has fabricated a prototype of the sensor module that is small enough to wear, and will present and demonstrate it at the International Symposium on Medical ICT 2013, to be held at Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan on March 7.

Current healthcare cloud and services make use of already developed individual healthcare devices, such as sphygmomanometers or clinical thermometers. Such services face major challenges in achieving market penetration because the equipment is too big and handling a number of pieces of equipment it too complex.

The recently developed Silmee includes a Pseudo-SoC analog front end, a 32bit ARM processor chip and a dual mode Bluetooth bare chip in a 14.5mm x 14.5mm small package. Simply adding a few devices to the module, such as an antenna, battery and sensor heads, achieves a completely wearable vital signs sensor system. Among the chips included in the module, the flexible and compact Pseudo-SoC analog front end is a very effective approach to implementing vital signs sensors, and extends recent rapid progress in vital sign sensor technologies.

Toshiba will demonstrate a very compact prototype implementation of Silmee: a 25mm x 60mm and 10 gram patch-type able to monitor all vital signs. Toshiba will contribute to the promotion of smart personal healthcare services by deploying the module and prototype terminal in a wide variety of smart healthcare service development and field trials.

Toshiba is a diversified manufacturer, solutions provider and marketer of advanced electronic and electrical products and systems.

Cree, Inc. introduces a game-changing series of LED bulbs, with bulbs starting at a new low price of $9.97 for a 40-watt bulb. The new bulbs shine as brightly as comparable incandescents, while saving 84% of the energy compared to traditional bulbs.

“The Cree LED light bulb was designed to offer consumers a no-compromise lighting experience at a compelling price,” said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. “Over the last couple of years we recognized that the consumer is instrumental in the adoption of LED lighting, but we needed to give them a reason to switch. We believe this breakthrough LED bulb will, for the first time, give consumers a reason to upgrade the billions of energy-wasting light bulbs. We could not think of a better way to get this bulb into consumers’ hands than through The Home Depot, a visionary partner who embraces innovation.”

The innovative bulb is illuminated by Cree LED Filament Tower Technology and provides a compact optically balanced light source within a real glass bulb to deliver consumers the warm light they love and want. With a shape that looks like a traditional light bulb, Cree LED bulbs can be placed in most lighting fixtures in the home. The new Cree LED bulb is designed to last 25,000 hours or 25 times longer than typical incandescent light bulbs – reducing the need to replace bulbs for years.

With a retail price of $9.97 for the warm white 40-watt replacement, $12.97 for the 60-watt warm white replacement and $13.97 for the 60-watt day light, the Cree LED bulbs save 84% of the energy compared to traditional incandescents.

The new LED bulbs turn on instantly and are free of the mercury that is found in CFL bulbs. Unlike many low-priced LED bulbs, Cree LED bulbs are easily dimmable with most standard incandescent dimmers.

The Cree LED light bulb (60-watt incandescent replacement) delivers 800 lumens and consumes only 9.5 watts and is available in warm white (2700K) and day light (5000K) color temperatures. The Cree LED light bulb (40-watt incandescent replacement) delivers 450 lumens and consumes only 6 watts and is available in 2700K color temperature.

The Cree LED bulbs are backed by a 10-year limited warranty and available exclusively at The Home Depot.

“As the leading retailer of energy-efficient LED lighting products, our customers look to us to provide them with the most advanced and most cost-effective lighting technologies available,” said Jeff Epstein, merchandising vice president, The Home Depot. “We diligently work with our manufacturing partners to offer consumers the most innovative alternatives that also help save money and energy. We are pleased to expand our relationship with Cree. It has enabled us to be the first in the market to offer a technologically advanced and affordable LED light bulb in the market today.”

ams AG (SIX: AMS), a designer and manufacturer of high-performance analog ICs for consumer and communications, industrial and medical and automotive applications, today introduced a new intelligent LED driver for mobile phone cameras that maximizes the brightness of the flash without causing the phone’s battery to fall below its minimum operating voltage.

The AS3649 LED driver uses an innovative “diagnostic pulse” – a burst of controlled high current lasting a few milliseconds – immediately before every flash operation. During this pulse the device measures the momentary voltage across the terminals of the phone’s battery. On the basis of this measurement, it reports a value for the highest flash drive current the battery can sustain, up to a maximum of 2.5A, without dropping below its minimum voltage and triggering the phone to reset itself during the main flash.

Drawing on analog sensing technology developed by ams, the AS3649 measures the battery voltage and current with high accuracy, enabling it to precisely calibrate the optimal LED drive current under any given conditions.

Mobile phones that use the AS3649 can therefore generate the brightest possible flash light, without the need for a bulky auxiliary power source such as a super-capacitor. Users can then benefit from higher image quality and higher resolution. When taking pictures of fast-moving objects, a brighter flash enables the use of faster shutter speeds for sharper, clearer pictures.

The introduction of the LED driver AS3649 also allows mobile phone manufacturers to markedly reduce the engineering and software development effort involved in flash LED implementation. Today, manufacturers exhaustively test the operation of each mobile phone model’s LED flash system under all possible operating conditions, and at all operating voltages. The results of these tests are encoded in a software look-up table stored on the phone. Whenever the camera calls for the flash to be operated, the phone’s processor must read from the look-up table an estimate for a safe drive current value.

The diagnostic pulse technique implemented by the AS3649 eliminates virtually all of this engineering effort, since it is able to measure the actual behavior of the battery at the time of use, instead of estimating it beforehand on the basis of sampled test results.

The AS3649 supplies up to 2.5A to a single LED or up to 1.25A each to two LEDs.  The device’s current-source architecture provides for thermal management, and an on-board NTC (temperature sensor) automatically reduces the current to the LED if it exceeds a programmable temperature threshold.

“Consumers look carefully at camera performance when choosing a mobile phone – it is a key differentiator,” said Ronald Tingl, senior marketing manager at ams. “By using the AS3649, handset manufacturers can achieve the best possible lighting for pictures taken in dark conditions, and at the same time benefit from eliminating the huge effort involved in qualifying all components stressed by high LED flash drive currents.”

200mm wafer processingDeposition Sciences, Inc. (DSI), manufacturer of highly durable thin film optical coatings, today introduced an enhanced capability to manufacture patterned optical filters. DSI has increased its capacity and resolution with the introduction of a new photolithography production line capable of patterning 200mm diameter wafers.

 “We are very excited to announce this enhanced capability,” said Michael Newell, director of sales and marketing.  “This new manufacturing line brings us better resolution, increased capacity, an ability to yield and coat more parts per wafer, and ultimately better pricing for our customers. And we are keeping pace with the semiconductor industry. Customers are looking to integrate their electronics with the optical filters. DSI can pattern populated wafers containing active devices, and semi-conductor fab houses are doing more and more at the 200mm wafer scale.”

The new patterning capability provides an enhanced view or enhanced detection in multi-spectral imaging tasks by fusing together information from different wavelength bands.  Other applications include satellite imaging, UAV overhead reconnaissance, machine vision, food and industrial inspection, automotive, biomedical sensing, color filter arrays for CCD and CMOS cameras, reticles, and more. 

For over 25 years, Deposition Sciences has produced optical thin film filter coatings.  DSI’s coating capability ranges from the ultraviolet (UV), through the visible and includes near-infrared (NIR), midwave-infrared (MWIR) and out to the longwave-infrared (LWIR). 

laser for wafer processingCoherent, Inc. (Nasdaq: COHR) has expanded its family of industrial ultrafast lasers with the new Talisker 1000 series. This new series of high power picosecond lasers is designed for high-throughput, precision materials processing applications in the semiconductor, solar (photovoltaics), medical devices, consumer electronics and automotive industries. The Talisker 1000 has three single wavelength versions available – near infrared (1064 nm), green (532 nm) and ultraviolet (355 nm) – all at 1000 kHz.  The near IR is ideal for scribing and engraving stainless steel and other metals.  The green wavelength delivers higher precision, perfect for several high value exotic metals.  The UV is optimal for processing glass and other transparent or brittle materials.  Specific examples include glass cutting for smartphone touchscreens; drilling injector nozzles for automotive and medical dispensing; processing plastic electronics such as OLEDs; engraving steel for printing fabrics and currency, or patterning metals on ceramic substrates for high power RF electronics.

Picosecond lasers enable precision materials process with superior spatial resolution and virtually no peripheral thermal effects. The new Talisker 1000 offers pulse repetition rates as high as 1 MHz, which helps enable higher throughput in many applications.  With average powers as high as 25 Watts, this new laser series is identical in form, fit and function to earlier lower power Talisker models, simplifying tool redesign cycles.

Founded in 1966, Coherent, Inc. provides photonics-based products to the commercial and scientific research markets, and is part of the Standard & Poor’s SmallCap 600 Index and the Russell 2000. 

Mentor Graphics Corp. (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced availability of the Kronos Cell Characterization and Analysis platform. The Kronos platform quickly produces accurate performance models for standard cells, I/Os, and complex cells within an advanced, integrated environment. Without correctly characterized libraries, an entire design project may be at risk, and designing at the wrong environmental corner or not taking advantage of a special operating voltage may lead to slower, larger designs that waste power or take longer to close on timing.

Accurate Models

At 45nm and below, speed and power consumption are much more sensitive to environmental conditions including voltage and noise. Therefore, producing accurate models at the appropriate conditions is critical to achieving design success. The Kronos platform quickly generates accurate and complete timing/power models and incorporates unique methods for noise immunity and signal integrity to avoid design problems that otherwise might not be detected until failure analysis.

High Throughput

The Kronos Platform’s advanced algorithms and efficient job distribution reduces characterization time from weeks to days. During characterization, SPICE simulations are continuously monitored, and numerous data checks and recovery mechanisms significantly improve turn-around time by pinpointing specific model results and simulations if a problem is detected.

Kronos Characterizer

Kronos Characterizer is a high-throughput, general purpose cell library characterization tool for standard cells, complex cells, IO pad, and custom macros. The Kronos platform features high-performance integration with the best-in-class Eldo Classic SPICE simulator. Eldo Classic has been extensively optimized for cell characterization, offering quick simulation turnarounds and the industry’s most accurate results. The tight integration of Kronos Characterizer with Eldo Classic delivers improved performance for shorter total characterization time through dedicated features in the Eldo simulator that support library characterization.

Kronos Analyzer

Kronos Analyzer is a library analysis and verification tool for ensuring high quality libraries whether qualifying libraries from an external supplier or developing library models internally. The tool enables design engineers and library qualification teams to compare and validate complex ASIC cell libraries for design-critical characteristics such as performance, area, and power. Kronos Analyzer can be used with any cell characterization solution for library validation and optimization.

“Our customers know that sophisticated and robust Standard Cell Library analysis and characterization are of critical importance,” said Robert Hum, vice president and general manager, Deep Submicron Division (DSM), Mentor Graphics. “Our SPICE simulator, Eldo, has been optimized for cell characterization and used to drive this type of solution for many years. Now we have the opportunity to deeply integrate Eldo into a best-in-class characterization technology for optimal accuracy and performance.”

 

advanced electronics packagingEngineered Material Systems, a global supplier of electronic materials for circuit assembly applications, debuts its DB-1568-1 low-temperature cure die attach adhesive for attaching semiconductor die in temperature-sensitive devices. Applications include smart cards, camera modules, flex circuits and more.

The DB-1568-1 is more than 90 percent cured after 30 minutes at 80°C, but has a dispensing work life greater than 48 hours (measured as a 25 percent increase in viscosity), while maintaining optimized rheology for stencil printing and excellent damp heat resistance and conductivity stability. DB-1568-1 features extreme flexibility that is ideal for flexible applications with high peel strength to withstand the stresses induced in flexible electronics and display applications. Also, this material can be fast cured at elevated temperatures (1 minute @ 180°C).

DB-1568-1 is the latest addition to Engineered Material Systems’ extensive line of electronic materials for semiconductor, circuit assembly, photovoltaic, printer head, camera module, disk drive and photonic applications.

KLA-Tencor Corporation (NASDAQ: KLAC) announced its SpectraShape 9000 optical critical dimension (CD) metrology system and BDR300 backside defect inspection and review module at the SPIE Advanced Lithography conference this week. The SpectraShape 9000 is a new metrology system capable of monitoring the shapes of three-dimensional transistors, memory cells and other key structures that enable high-performance memory and microprocessor chips. The BDR300 inspects and reviews the back side of the wafer for defects that can cause patterning problems on the wafer’s front side. The two new systems are designed to enable volume production of integrated circuits at sub-20nm design rules.

“In this era of highly extended 193nm immersion lithography, our customers are innovating on several fronts to deal with process tolerances in lithography and etch that have become remarkably tight,” said Brian Trafas, Ph.D., chief marketing officer at KLA-Tencor. “The two products we have launched today tackle two key process control issues in this area: scanner focus-related defects and failure or underperformance of finFETs, vertically stacked NANDs, and other three-dimensional structures, caused by small deviations in shape. The BDR300 and SpectraShape 9000 are designed to help our customers navigate the monumental challenges they are facing today in lithography and etch.”

The new SpectraShape 9000 introduces a laser-driven plasma light source and several other significant advances that enable dimensional metrology capability for a broad range of materials and structures. The SpectraShape 9000 features higher sensitivity and throughput than its predecessor in order to accommodate the industry’s need for tighter process control at sub-20nm nodes—a need to measure more sites per wafer on an increasing number of layers. It also supports innovative metrology targets designed for multiple-patterning lithography.

The new BDR300 back-side inspection and review module for the CIRCL cluster tool features a dramatic improvement in defect sensitivity over that of its predecessor, allowing fabs to find and classify sub-micron back-side defects, which can agglomerate and affect yield at advanced nodes. The CIRCL cluster is now available as a stand-alone back-side inspection and review system, a configuration designed to support an increasing industry requirement to inspect the back sides of wafers before wafers enter the scanner. Clean wafer back sides reduce the probability of contaminating the scanner chuck and affecting subsequent product.

Multiple SpectraShape 9000 shape metrology systems have been installed at leading logic and memory chip manufacturers, where they are replacing existing CD/shape metrology tools for new technology development and ramp or fulfilling requirements for additional metrology capacity. The first CIRCL tools containing the BDR300 module have also been installed and are being used for proactive scanner monitoring as well as traditional after-develop defect inspection. To maintain the high performance and productivity demanded by leading-edge production, the SpectraShape and CIRCL tools are backed by KLA-Tencor’s global, comprehensive service network.