A pick of the main stories crossing the ElectronicsWeekly.com News Index this week, from TSMC cheering up the chip industry and the University of Southampton combining nanomachining and single-electron transistors, to consumer electronics keeping semi sales strong and calls for the UK government to back plastic electronics...
Friday 4 July 2008
court win in Linear case" href="http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2008/07/04/44068/monolithic-power-systems-claims-court-win-in-linear-case.htm">Monolithic Power Systems claims court win in Linear case
According to MPS, a US court has found that the company had not willfully infringed the patent claims asserted by Linear against its MP1543 synchronous rectified step-up converter product.
Thursday 
3 July 2008
Nanomachine senses with single electron transistor
University of Southampton's School of Electronics and Computer Science is combining nanomachining and single-electron transistors, aiming to make sensitive sensors. "This is the first time that anyone has combined these two nanotechnologies to develop a smart sensor," says project leader Professor Hiroshi Mizuta.
TSMC cheers up chip industry
Good news for the stability of the chip market is that the leading foundry, TSMC, reckons Q3 sales will be better than Q2 and that the semiconductor market will grow 5 per cent this year.
Surrey nano tool will improve solar cell efficiency
Surrey NanoSystems has won an order to supply Ludwig-Maximilians University (LMU) with a sputtering tool to support fundamental research into the fabrication of hybrid solar cells.
Wednesday 2 July 2008
UK government urged to back plastic electronics to the hilt
The government's former chief scientific advisor Sir David King has told MPs the government must "back to the hilt" British investment in plastic electronics engineering.
I2C sets 16 channel LED flasher
An open-drain port expander for microcontrollers, the Catalyst Semiconductor CAT9552, is aimed at switching and flashing LEDs for advertising and industrial control.
Tuesday 1 July 2008
Anomalies puzzle chip industry
"The global economy is unsettled, but the semi market is holding its own", writes Malcolm Penn, CEO of Europe's leading chip industry analysts, Future Horizons, in its June market report, pointing out a series of anomalies prevailing in the semiconductor industry.
Imperial heart implant pulses RF piezo oscillator
Imperial College is developing an implantable passive blood pressure monitor based around a SAW (surface acoustic wave) oscillator.
Consumer electronics keep semi sales strong - SIA
The Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) has reported solid growth in the worldwide sale of semiconductors, despite the continuously rocky economic environment in the United States.
Monday 30 June 2008
Via improves Pico-ITX I/O
x86 processor maker Via Technologies has up-graded its 100x72mm Pico-ITX motherboard, and simplified its connections easing industrial use.
Dialog looks for analogue designers in Edinburgh
Dialog Semiconductor, the analogue and mixed signal company, wants to add another 30 analogue designers to its Edinburgh design centre over the next three years, and is also looking for designers to boost its teams in Swindon and in Germany.
UK manufacturer opens sales hub in China
"With European design-ins moving to China for manufacture, it is important to ensure our products get used in China," Nicola Kay, Camden Electronics' owner told EW.
Let the latest news - and jobs, products and blogs - come to you, instantly. Get the Electronics Weekly News Feed via RSS, delivering stories as they are posted, whether to your browser or Feed Reader.