Microwave Engineering Europe - October 2008 - (Page 12)

12 NEWS By JP Joosting, Microwave Engineering Europe IN BRIEF Solar business to drive GaAs substrates market The photovoltaics sector is emerging as the fastest growing and best prospect for suppliers of GaAs bulk substrates, according to Strategy Analytics. According to the market research group, demand for semiconducting GaAs bulk substrates from photovoltaic markets has the potential to grow at a CAAGR (compound annual average growth rate) of 79 percent through 2012, representing over 20 percent of demand. In the short term, Strategy Analytics (Milton Keynes, England) suggests LEDs will continue to represent the largest end market for SC GaAs bulk substrates, accounting for 39 percent of demand. Overall, the merchant market for SC GaAs bulk substrates is expected to grow at a CAAGR rate of 7 percent through 2012 in terms of area. www.mwee.com/210700012 IQE joins 90-GHz graphene transistor research program Specialist semiconductor wafer supplier IQE plc (Cardiff, Wales) has announced that its Pennsylvania based operation is to take part in the development of carbon-based, radio-frequency integrated circuits as part of the U.S. government’s Carbon Electronics for RF Applications (CERA) program. The work, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is seeking to exploit the properties of graphene to create components that will enable unprecedented capabilities in high-bandwidth communications, imaging, and radar systems. IQE is part of a team consisting of commercial, university and military research establishments chartered under the CERA program to develop wafer-scale graphene synthesis approaches focused on enabling ultra-high-speed, low-power graphene-channel ﬁeld effect transistors (FETs). The CERA program will culminate in a demonstration of high performance W-band (greater than 90-GHz) low-noise ampliﬁers, making use of graphene transistors on wafers with diameters greater than or equal to 8 inches and with cross wafer yields of better than 90 percent. Graphene has been referred to as a “semimetal” or “zero-gap semiconductor” and comprises a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms that are densely packed in a honeycomb crystal lattice. The program team proposes to use advanced epitaxial processes to grow an organized layer of bandgap-engineered graphene carbon crystals on silicon-based wafers to create more efﬁcient, scalable, and cheaper-to-manufacture transistors. www.mwee.com/210603826 Startup samples 1.5-GHz FPGA targeting high-end applications Achronix Semiconductor Corporation (San Jose) is using asynchronous circuitry to deliver a 1.5 GHz FPGA now sampling. The startup hopes to use its three-fold lead in data rates to grab ASICs sockets in high-end communications, test and other systems beyond the reach of existing parts from Altera, Xilinx and others. Whether Achronix can deliver on the promise of its technology remains to be seen. It is lining up a suite of tools and silicon intellectual property for its part which it says will be in production in the ﬁrst half of 2009. This latest 65 nm device represents a second attempt at a commercial product. About a year ago, the company killed its so-called Ultra chip — a 90 nm, 1.93 GHz version announced in 2006, saying that it lacked the mix of features users wanted. www.mwee.com/210602627 Researchers highlight GPS vulnerability A group of Virginia Tech and Cornell University researchers have underlined a vulnerability in GPS navigation by “spooﬁng” GPS receivers. “Spooﬁng” is a term used in the radar community for the transmission of fake GPS signals that receivers accept as authentic ones. The researchers modiﬁed equipment to send out a false signal, which a navigation device took for the real thing. By demonstrating the vulnerability of receivers to spooﬁng, the researchers believe that they can help devise methods to guard against such attacks. “Our goal is to inspire people who design GPS hardware to think about ways to make it so the kinds of things we’re showing can be overcome,” said Mark Psiaki, Cornell professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. “GPS is woven into our technology infrastructure, just like the power grid or the water system,” said Paul Kintner, electrical and computer engineering professor and director of the Cornell GPS Laboratory. “If it were attacked, there would be a serious impact.” www.mwee.com/210700017 OBSAI forum and RapidIO Trade Association partnership doubles speed in RP3 standard The Open Base Station Architecture Initiative (OBSAI) has announced a doubling of the maximum data rate capability of its baseband to RF module (RP3) interface. This new higher data rate further enhances OBSAI’s support for emerging 4G architectures and services and also allows both existing and future RF modules to be ‘daisy-chained’, thereby saving cabling costs in distributed base-station deployments. This has been achieved by incorporating aspects of the Serial RapidIO (SRIO) standard within the OBSAI RP3 speciﬁcation, thereby leveraging the considerable industry support already in place for the SRIO standard. To accommodate a higher data rate, the existing OBSAI electrical speciﬁcation has been extended to include relevant parts of the SRIO standard and it can now support a data rate of up to 6144 Mbps. The need for higher line-rates for the RP3 link were also driven by the desire to ‘daisy-chain’ remote radio heads, for both 3G and 4G applications. Daisy chaining allows remote radio heads to be connected in series rather than each one requiring a direct connection back to the base station — this saves signiﬁcantly on electrical cable or ﬁbre optic cable in such installations. www.mwee.com/210604663 Microwave Engineering Europe ● October 2008 ● www.mwee.com 012_MWEE.indd 12 6/10/08 11:40:20 http://www.mwee.com/210603826 http://www.mwee.com/210700012 http://www.mwee.com/210602627 http://www.mwee.com/210700017 http://www.mwee.com/210604663 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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