I have a new one up at ECN Magazine, I Love The Sound Of Hetrodyne Whistles. It is an evaluation of an electronics kit suitable for kids (perfect for the holiday season). And I also discuss how my love of electronics came about.
Cross Posted at Classical Values
My latest article on the revival of crystal radios can be read at Solid State Radio. It is a treasure trove of links and nostalgia for those interested in crystal radios.
Cross Posted at Classical Values
I have a post up at ECN Magazine discussing the tools I use to do electronic design. Free tools of course.
If you have a budding technician/engineer in your family may I suggest that they get the tools mentioned in the article. There is nothing like getting your ideas into makeable form for helping you clarify any design issues you may have. Plus it is way more fun than video games because it can have an effect on the real world.
I'm putting together a work bench to do experiments on the GA 144 processor. I dug my oscilloscope out of (warm, dry) storage and powered it up for about an hour. Everything was fine at the beginning and then I hear a crackling and smoke is pouring out of the unit. And you know how those things are. Once the magic smoke escapes they stop working.
If anyone has a spare scope they could part with I'd be mighty obliged. Or if you know where I can get a low cost repair of a Tektronix 2215.... I used to have a Tek 465 too but it seems to have disappeared in all my travels. Bummer.
Update: Here is a picture of the scope with the missing smoke.
Just below the scope are a pair of 100MHz Oscilloscope Probes
Cross Posted at Classical Values
I have an article up at ECN Magazine about some new innovations in chip design that look to reduce power requirements by a factor of twenty to one hundred for a given level of computing power. There is an example of this chip in production that can do over 90 Billion Instructions Per Second (BIPS) for a power cost of just a little over six tenths of a watt. Compare that to your current desktop or laptop machine.
It was invented by Chuck Moore of FORTH fame.
Details and links can be found at ECN.
Cross Posted at Classical Values
I have been going hot and heavy and getting a lot of things done. Board layouts and such. I had figured out how to get around $15 or $20 worth of parts to get the job done. Quite elegant too. And then I started thinking. And looking at a $1.40 (singles) microprocessor (with some special circuitry inside) that could replace my $20 in parts. Of course the software is a little more complicated but the circuit is much simpler.
Needless to say a redesign is in order. I'm starting with a prototype set up using a commercial board (with some special add ons) and will migrate to the single chip design if interest warrants. The commercial board has extensive debugging features which will make getting things working easier. I hope.
Want to know something about digital quadrature phase detectors? Just ask me.
Which is to say the project is coming along very nicely. Plus I have learned a few things which might be useful elsewhere.
Legendary analog electronics guru Bob Pease has died in a car accident at age 70. Bob and I exchanged e-mails from time to time. One long exchange was on the proper way to implement a PID control loop in software.
He will be greatly missed. RIP Bob.
Bob's latest column (there will be a few more). What’s All This Solo Hiking Stuff, Anyhow?
Long time power house in the analog semiconductor area National Semiconductor is being bought by Texas Instruments.
Texas Instruments has announced that it intends to acquire National Semiconductor for $25 per share, or about an 80 percent premium over the $14 and change at which NYSE:NSM was trading at earlier in the day. The combined entity will be a major force in the analog semiconductor market, as TI will add NatSemi's analog business to its own, which was already considerable.It will be sad to see National go. I have been using their analog power parts such as the LM7805 5 volt regulator since the early 70s. But TI has always had a much better sales and marketing force.
"Our two companies complement each other very well," said Don Macleod, National's chief executive officer, in a statement. "TI has much greater scale in the marketplace, with its larger portfolio of products and its large global sales force. This provides a platform to enhance National's strong and highly profitable analog capability, power management in particular, leading to meaningful growth."
I have a couple of prognostications on the effect of the Japanese earthquake on semiconductors. Here is the first. There are several bullet points. I'm going to list those plus the final conclusion.
1. GDP will fallThat seems about right. Disruptions will decline through 2011 and then if no further disasters strike (like Tokyo getting a big dose of radioactive fallout) things will be back on track in 2012.
2. Electronic systems will take a hit
3. There will be no change in IC forecast
4. Supply chain issues will be resolved
5. Supply will be constrained but impact on demand will be slight
"In the final analysis, there is no doubt that supply will be constrained in numerous areas relating to the electronic system and semiconductor industries due to the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. However, on a worldwide basis, demand for electronic systems and semiconductors is expected to be only slightly lessened due to the disaster in Japan. Moreover, any lessening of system or semiconductor demand in 2011 due to the earthquake is forecast to be delayed and pushed into 2012, but not destroyed."
The disaster, including the earthquakes, a tsunami and an ongoing crisis they caused at the country's nuclear power plants, has not only damaged semiconductor manufacturing facilities, but also affectedJapan's electrical supply and transportation infrastructure.So things may not be as rosy as the first report indicates.
Thus, many companies are having trouble getting important supplies and shipping out the products they have manufactured.
And it could be four to six months before semiconductor production fully resumes in Japan, said Dale Ford, a senior vice president with IHS iSuppli, a research firm. And that will have a major impact on worldwide supply since Japan is a major cog in the global semiconductor manufacturing process.
Actually, Ford noted that a few of Japan's production facilities are so badly damaged that they may never come back online again.
"This is the biggest impact on the electronics supply chain in the history of the semiconductor industry," said Ford during a Webinar that iSuppli hosted Friday. "We've had other disasters but this is the most significant supply chain impact that the industry has ever experienced."
iSuppli reported last month that the disaster in Japan is currently putting a pinch on 25% of the worldwide production of silicon wafers used to make computer chips. But the trouble is going further than that, according to Ford.
Silicon wafer production has been affected, along with the production of LCD screens, silicon and chemicals, like hydrogen peroxide, used in the manufacturing of computer chips.
Len Jelinek, a director and chief analyst with iSuppli, said that 75% of the global supply of hydrogen peroxide has been affected by the disaster in Japan. The chemical is used to build semiconductor wafers.
"This is a critical situation in that numerous manufacturing fabs that use this chemical are unable to get adequate supplies, which results in slow downs," said Jelinek. "This is rapidly turning into a very concerning issue."
Ford noted that three Japanese facilities that make silicon have not yet been able to return to operation since the earthquake hit on March 11.
If you are planning RAM (memory) upgrades for your computer wait until the second half of 2011 to buy. Prices will be dropping drastically.
There are four phases in the semiconductor cycle. During a shortage, prices stabilize and manufacturers become profitable. They invest these profits in wafer fabs, avoiding steep taxes on retained earnings. Invariably, this level of investment is too high and results in an oversupply two years after the company’s original commitment to add capacity. This oversupply drives prices into a collapse, evaporating profits.So the reason the market is so unsteady is taxes. Just another entry in "the power to tax is the power to destroy" file. The smart investor takes advantage of these known cycles - when he can.
As long as manufacturers are unprofitable, they can’t expand production to meet the needs of a steadily growing market. This creates a shortage a couple of years later, and the market enters another period of stable prices and profits.
I note that Barnes and Nobel is offering the Nook e-Reader. I wonder if it is safe for children? I wonder what they were thinking? I can just hear the conversations: "Not tonight dear, but the Nook e is fully charged."
Amazon sells them if you have to have a look:
Barnes and Noble NOOK e-reader
Cross Posted at Classical Values
IBM Research has demonstrated a 100GHz transistor. Fabricated on new 2-inch graphene wafers and operating at room temperature, the RF graphene transistors are said to beat the speeds of all but the fastest GaAs transistors, paving the way to commercialization of high-speed, carbon-based electronics.Big transistors are are not too hard. You essentially lay down a sheet of graphene, dope it (or dope it while it is part of the SiC substrate), and then put a gate pattern over it. You get a power transistor. At 100 GHZ that probaly is indicative of the ability to work at 50 GHz.
"There are all kinds of extraordinary claims being made every day for graphene semiconductors, but this is the first demonstration of a RF graphene transistor that was made under technologically relevant conditions and scale," said IBM Fellow Phaedon Avouris, who oversees carbon-based materials efforts at IBM Research.
The graphene RF transistors were created for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency under its Carbon Electronics for RF Applications (CERA) program. Almost four times faster than previous demonstrations, the graphene transistors were fabricated at the wafer scale using epitaxially grown graphene processing techniques that are compatible with those used to fabricate silicon transistors.
There are several relatively easy steps to further widen the gap between graphene and silicon. For instance, graphene suspended over an air gap and supercooled has achieve carrier mobilities of up to 200,000cm²/Vs compared to silicon's 1400cm²/Vs.Computers are a little different. Take the top speed and divide it by 4. Then allow for 6 levels of logic (AND, OR, and NOT) plus wiring delays and you can divide that number again by 10. So 1 THz/40 = 25 GHz. About 10X faster than today's computers. If they can cut the heat load by a factor of 5 to 10 they will have one screaming machine. Who will be the early adopters? Gamers, server farms, and of course the guys who funded it. The military through the CERA Program.
IBM's demonstration of room-temperature graphene on an insulating substrate only achieved 1500cm²/Vs.
The gate length of IBM's graphene transistor was 240nm, nearly 10x larger than the smallest gate lengths achievable with current lithographic techniques (under 35nm). By optimizing its process to increase mobility and shortening the gate length, IBM will next aim to increase the speed of its graphene transistor up to 1THz, which is the goal for the CERA program.
I have a new article up at ECN Magazine on experiments testing out the possibilities of a Mach-Einstein Drive. I call it: Maching Einstein.
Why is this important? If the experiments work (and even if they don't) we will learn more about how our universe is constructed. If they do work we can get propulsion without having to build huge rockets. Earth to Mars travel in a few days would be a definite possibility. If it works really really well faster than light speed travel is a definite possibility.
Cross Posted at Classical Values
Wretchard and his commenters are discussing what to do before there is a breakdown in civilization. Of course there is the usual - buy guns and ammo. But what else could help?
Stock up on tools. Even cheap Chinese stuff if it is not too junky. Voltmeters and for those who are somewhat adept – oscopes.
A good shortwave radio. This is good at under $150
Sony ICF-SW7600GR AM/FM Shortwave World Band Receiver with Single Side Band Reception
This is good for $60
Kaito KA1101 - Worldband radio
This is a good disaster radio for $30
American Red Cross FR150 Microlink Solar-Powered, Self-Powered AM/FM/Weatherband Portable Radio with Flashlight and Cell Phone Charger (Red)
and don't forget an antenna for your shortwave radio:
Kaito AN-03L - Radio antenna
Once you get your radio buy spare alkaline batteries and practice using your radio. Like any tool, the more experience you have with it the better it will serve you when you really need it.
If you can fix things or make thing – good. Plumbing, house wiring, simple house repairs. Auto repairs.
Tools, tools, tools. Most of them that will be useful don’t have a rifled barrel.
Cross Posted at Classical Values
This year will experience a negative global GDP (-0.8%), which Bill McClean, president of IC Insights (Scottsdale, Ariz.), said is the worst performance since 1946 in the aftermath of a world war that devastated most of the planet's production centers. "To put things in perspective," he said, "since a global recession is defined as 2.5% growth or less, the situation is pretty bad."There are other signs that electronics is a growth leader.
The good news is that things are looking up. "In our forecasts we warned people to think quarterly, not to look at 2009 in total," McClean said. "The world GDP may be negative, but Germany has announced that it is out of the recession. They had growth in the second quarter, as did France and Japan. These countries were not expected to show a positive GDP until 2010. The U.S. will show growth in the 3Q09 GDP."
As a result, semiconductors are experiencing up to a 4% growth this quarter, and McClean said next year we can expect a 3.4% GDP. Meanwhile, the economists' forecasts for 2010 keep creeping upward. "The long-term average is 3.6%, so 3.4% is not that great, but it is a heck of a lot better than -0.8%."
Global recessions are nothing new; they have happened before. However, the current one has been steeper than most. "If we go by the past history of these cycles, after every global recession we have had two great years of semiconductor growth," McClean said. "We are looking at at least a 15% growth next year, probably over 20%. Global recessions are times of pent up demand; they do not crush or eliminate demand for electronic systems. As soon as things look better, companies and people start buying — new PCs, cell phones, new servers, TVs, and other appliances."
Call it a power surge. The worldwide digital power IC market -- including controller ICs, converter ICs, and system management ICs -- is expected to grow from more than 5 billion units in 2009 to 12.3 billion units in 2014, a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 19.8%, according a report released recently by the Darnell Group.Translation into layman's terms: microprocessors are going into power supplies to reduce power loss and increase reliability. If the price is right, that sounds like a win all around.
The research house said the surge of growth will be spread out over a diverse market of power supplies, including external ac-dc and embedded ac-dc power supplies, dc-dc modules, embedded dc-dc converters, telecom rectifiers and external dc-dc, lighting ballasts, and inverters.
“Although digital solutions are still primarily being used in high-performance applications, the pervasive emphasis on energy efficiency is pushing digital from high-end-only into the mainstream,” Linnea Brush, senior analyst at Darnell Group, said in a statement. “Digital control is now implemented in just about all application segments, from catalog power supplies to power supplies used in medical, solid-state lighting, and consumer devices."
Well not actually. It was the 153 Anniversary of his birthday. So I'm a day late. No matter. Tesla is always interesting.
If you would like to read some Tesla in his own words (plus some other really whacked out sh*t) I really like this book:
The Fantastic Inventions of Nikola Tesla (The Lost Science Series)
It also shows the limits of Tesla's understanding of what he was doing. For those of you into electricity/electronics the deal is that he did not understand Q multiplication and circulating currents in resonant circuits. It doesn't matter. His invention of three phase generators and motors (still in use for power distribution to this day) would be enough of a contribution to civilization for any man.
And what would a (late) celebration of Tesla's Birthday be without a Tesla coil?
Enjoy:
You may have noticed that I added a current radio propagation and solar statistics chart to the sidebar.
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. I can use the money - well actually I will use the proceeds to buy something from Amazon. I get a better deal that way.
