News

Panasonic has produced a range of micron-accurate industrial distance measuring sensors. Unlike its earlier similar sensors, digital output devices in the new HL-G2 series include interfaces for both Ethernet and RS-485 in each unit, selected by the cable used to connect them to the host system. They can communicate using EtherNet/IP, SLMP (seem-less message protocol), Modbus TCP or Modbus RTU. ...

Moxa is aiming at industrial Ethernet with Layer 3 rack-mount switches. There are two types of MRX Series 64 port Layer 3 switches (left in photo): MRX-Q4064 have 16 and up to 48 2.5Gbit/s ports MRX-G4064 have 8 10Gbit/s Ethernet ports and up to 56 Gbit/s ports “Commercial Ethernet switches are seldom tailored for industrial applications,” said Moxa product manager ...

Onsemi has signed a multi-year deal to supply silicon carbide power assemblies to Volkswagen for its traction inverters. “The solution features silicon carbide-based technologies in an integrated module that can scale across all power levels, to be compatible for all vehicle categories,” according to Onsemi. It will have three integrated half-bridge modules mounted on a liquid cooling channel. “We are very ...

The SiC device market is expected to reach nearly $10 billion by 2029, at a 25% CAGR 23-29, says Yole Group, with SiC’s market share in the power electronics market forecast to double in the next 5 years to 26%. Yole Group and SERMA Technologies have combined  to provide an analysis of the SiC MOSFET industry. They compare the performance ...

DRAM and NAND Flash revenues are expected to see 2024 increases of 75% and 77% respectively, driven by increased bit demand, an improved supply-demand structure, and the rise of high-value products like HBM, says TrendForce. Revenues are projected to continue growing in 2025, with DRAM expected to increase by 51% and NAND Flash by 29%, reaching record highs. DRAM ASPs ...

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Earth Return Orbiter – the first spacecraft that will rendezvous and capture an object in space, to bring the first Mars samples back to Earth – has passed a key milestone. The agency says the critical design review for the spacecraft’s platform has been completed, with the involvement of European industry partners and NASA. The ...

The US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced an open competition for a new Manufacturing USA institute focused on the use of  AI to increase the resilience of U.S. manufacturers. The Notice of Funding Opportunity is  published on Grants.gov. NIST anticipates funding up to $70 million over a five-year period, subject to the availability of federal funds, ...

PLA – poly lactic acid – is a 3d printable polymer that can be made from maize and is biodegradable. Except, it is seldom publicised, that it is only biodegradeable in industrial-scale high temperature processes, and will last of years in the open environment. Now researchers at the Toulouse Biotechnology Institute have engineered a designer enzyme – hyperthermostable PLA hydrolase ...

Ash Madni shares his thoughts on industry figure Jack Pekarik, a Master Inventor at GlobalFoundries, who he describes as “a true scholar, a gentleman and a SiGe genius”. As designers, our interface to a foundry occurs via a third party, so many of us don’t get to meet the brains behind silicon processing. Most of us have to settle with ...

City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) has developed another approach to quell the self-destructive tendencies of perovskite solar cells in the face of moisture. It is a corrosion inhibitor that tackles ionic defects in the perovskite layer within the solar cell stack, even those created after manufacture. “Applying a living passivator on the perovskite surfaces enhances their resistance to environmental ...