Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008 - (Page 10)

10 NEWS By JP Joosting, Microwave Engineering Europe IN BRIEF Avago buys Inﬁneon’s BAW interests for USD 21 million Chipmaker Avago Technologies Pte. Ltd. has acquired Inﬁneon Technologies AG’s bulk acoustic wave (BAW) business, based in Munich, Germany for approximately 21.million Euros (about $30.3 million), according to the company. Avago said the acquisition would complement the company’s existing ﬁlm bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) ﬁltering technologies. The acquisition provides Avago with a strong intellectual property portfolio, the company said, and a strong R&D team that forms the core for Avago’s recently established wireless R&D center in Munich. www.mwee.com/210700015 Freescale to focus on core units, exit mobile IC business Freescale Semiconductor has conﬁrmed speculation that it plans to eventually exit the wireless handset chip set business and is weighing several options for the unit. They include selling or merging the unit with a rival operation as part of plans to increase its focus on other core markets, including automotive and networking ICs where it has a dominant position. To achieve its objective, Freescale said it has updated a previous arrangement with Motorola (Schaumburg, Illinois) under which the communications equipment company would “provide certain considerations in exchange for eliminating their remaining minimum purchase commitments” with Freescale. Freescale’s move comes on the heels of similar actions by rivals like STMicroelectronics and NXP Semiconductor, both of which recently teamed up to form a wireless handset IC joint venture in response to changing market conditions and the need to pool R&D as well as manufacturing resources to secure or gain market share. Freescale (Austin, Texas) said it would prefer to pour its resources into other market areas while seeking strategic alternatives for the wireless IC business, which represents approximately 20 percent of the company’s annual revenue, according to chairman and CEO Rich Beyer. www.mwee.com/210700020 Groups to collaborate on WiMedia radio tesing The WiMedia Alliance, which promotes the adoption, standardization and multi-vendor interoperability of ultra-wideband (UWB) worldwide, has teamed with the Wireless Alliance for Testing Experiment and Research (Walter) grouping to focus on European development of the technology needed for measurement, calibration and testing of UWB radio products. The so called Wallter project aims to create a pan-European interconnected testbed, and to boost European efforts to develop applications and services based on high capacity networks. The collaboration will give researchers working on Walter related projects more direct access to members of the WiMedia Alliance who are involved in the development of the speciﬁcations, providing them with instantaneous access to test speciﬁcations. WiMedia will have access to regulatory tests and to three Walter independent testing labs in Europe and China, helping drive international acceptance and adoption of WiMedia standards. www.mwee.com/210700014 Strains in sapphire’s growth for electronics The sapphire substrate market for electronic applications reached 4.61 million wafers (2 inch equivalent) for LEDs last year, as well as tens of thousands of 6 inch wafers for SoS RF applications in 2007, according to report from Yole Development (Lyon, France). Yole estimates the total sapphire material market will grow at an annual rate of 21 percent to be worth $402 million by 2012. Up till now, Gallium Nitride LED has been the main driver for the sapphire business, and this should continue at a CAGR of 15 percent through 2012, representing sales north of $100 million. The researchers note Siliconon-Sapphire (SoS) applications have ramped-up tremendously since 2006, notably with the success of parts from Peregrine Semiconductor. 2007 revenues at the substrate level were in the sub-$35 million range but this is anticipated to cross the $100 million mark in 2011. The researchers say SoS Ultra-CMOS technology is gaining momentum in the cell-phone business, trying to shift market share away for parts such as PiN diodes and GaAs pHEMT switches. www.mwee.com/210700016 Satellite-cell combination connects anywhere A combination satellite-cellular communication device recently emerged at the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association conference, where Elektrobit (Oulunsalo, Finland) demonstrated reference designs for a PDA smart phone and a proof-of-concept “connectivity module.” Elektrobit claimed its connectivity module prototype will enable laptops, automobiles, remote users with a USB port to maintain Internet connectivity regardless of location by automatically switching between cellular and satellite networks. Elektrobit also demonstrated its new module connected to a laptop computer via a USB port to provide voice-over-IP, streaming video, Web browsing and e-mail access that can be switched between cellular and satellite connections. OEMs are currently evaluating the reference designs, according to Jani Lyrintzis, director of wireless solutions at Elektrobit. “Applications for the connectivity module include everything from laptops to service vehicles to remote meters that can be read wirelessly,” Lyrintzis said. The company also showed its combination quad-band GSM and tri-band WCDMA/HSPAcompatible PDA reference design, which requires no external antenna, along with its satellite-terrestrial mobile handset reference design. www.mwee.com/210700024 Microwave Engineering Europe ● October 2008 ● www.mwee.com 010_MWEE.indd 10 6/10/08 12:44:18 http://www.mwee.com/210700020 http://www.mwee.com/210700015 http://www.mwee.com/210700014 http://www.mwee.com/210700016 http://www.mwee.com/210700024 http://www.mwee.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008

Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008 Contents Comment News Cover Feature: AWR's AXIEM Software Brings 3D Planar Electromagnetic (EM) Simulation "Up Front" RFID: Augmented Reality: Beyond RFID and QR Codes for Mobile Phone Platforms Filters & Frequency Synthesis ZigBee Goes Green with Support for Smart Energy Simplify Mobile Data Applications and Services Test Enabling the State-of-the-Art in Automatic Test Equipment National Physical Laboratory Test Facility Aids Development of Next-Generation Antennas Selecting the Synthetic Test Environment for Transmit-Receive (T-R) Modules in a Phased Array Radar System Products Calendar

Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008

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