Apple chose Corning's cover glass when looking for a scratch-resistant material for the screen of its first-generation iPhone. The success of iPhone prompted other manufacturers to adopt the same glass material, allowing Corning's cover glass to become a mainstay for touch-enabled electronic products. Corning has since developed even better scratch- and damage-resistant glass products.Scratch-resistant glass for mobile devicesIf the Apples iPhone is the pioneer of the smartphone market, then Corning, the creator of Gorilla Glass, is the leading manufacturer that opened up the scratch-resistant glass market. Steve Jobs' memoir revealed that six months prior to the launch of iPhone, he had asked Corning's CEO to mass produce Gorilla Glass for the iPhone.Gorilla Glass is made using Corning's proprietary furnace process that delivers unparalleled surface quality comparable to that of the company's LCD glass substrates. No heavy metals are used processing Gorilla Glass, which is environmentally friendly. Gorilla Glass is RF compatible, and has outstanding optical clarity. It can be applied to high-definition and 3D displays.Gorilla Glass has been adopted by many other devices, such as the iPad, Android smartphones and tablets. According to statistics, Gorilla Glass was used in 200 million cell phones in 2010, with a 20% market share. In 2012, Corning launched Gorilla Glass 2, which is 20% thinner than the first generation, with the same strength and increased sensitivity. Gorilla Glass 2 enables thinner devices and by the fourth quarter in 2012, it had been adopted by more than one billion mobile devices. So far, more than 1.5 billion devices have adopted Gorilla Glass 2.Gorilla Glass 3Corning is the leading manufacturer in specialty glass and ceramic materials. From manufacturing glass for incandescent light bulbs in the early days to producing LCD glass for the present FPDs, Corning has been eager to innovate and create value for customers. The popular Gorilla Glass has been adopted by numerous cell phone and tablet PC manufacturers. Now Corning has launched Gorilla Glass 3. Dr David Chen, director of the Asia Commercial Technology-Specialty Materials Department for Corning, introduced the new glass during the forum, and talked about the prospect of touch-enabled notebooks.Launched at CES 2013 and exhibited at Computex 2013, Gorilla Glass 3 is made using Corning's exclusive Native Damage Resistance (NDR) technology that allows the glass to absorb more force to prevent breaking. Compared to the second generation product, Gorilla Glass 3 is three times more scratch-resistant, and has a higher post-scratch strength. A video clip of testing on Corning's glass products was shown at the forum. Test results show that scratches will occur on Gorilla Glass 2 under 0.5kg of external force, but Gorilla Glass 3 will not produce visible defects even under the same force.Concore Glass for OGS touchFor touch panel solutions, there are currently double glass (G/G), glass/film (G/F), one glass solution (OGS), as well as on-cell and in-cell processing technologies. Because costs for G/G and G/F are higher and the market tends to prefer slimmer, lighter, and lower-cost devices, OGS and in-cell/on-cell solutions have become popular.OGS is suitable for larger screens. The technology is mature, and costs less than on-cell or in-cell solutions. It is suitable for touch-enabled notebooks. However, touch-enabled notebooks have relatively larger displays that are more prone to wear and damage than those of cell phones and tablets. Chen noted that a 2012 market survey found that touch-enabled notebook users often complained about scratches on the screens, which is twice more likely to occur compared to cell phones and tablets. Therefore, the market needs a more durable and scratch-resistant OGS touch panel solution.Corning has introduced Concore Glass. It is a full sheet ion-exchanged glass that enables integrated touch or one glass solution through ITO deposition on large-sized glass. Concore Glass enables smooth and seamless design, and its high touch sensitivity supports the most sophisticated electronic devices.Concore Glass supports full-screen lamination technology for OGS, which effectively reduces the display thickness. Compared to soda lime glass (SLG), Concore is eight to 10 times more scratch-resistant and five times higher in compressive strength. When a piece of CT30 Concore Glass (0.55 mm in thickness) is compared to a SLG glass of the same thickness, a force of 2N will shatter the latter while the former will remain unscathed.Chen also gave an on-site demonstration of the strength of Concore Glass. SLG will often crack if you accidentally poke the side of the display with a pen, or lift a notebook by the edge of the screen. However, these will not happen if the screen adopts Concore Glass. Chen even stamped on a piece of Concore Glass heavily, but it did not even show any scratches.Accordingly, G/G and G/F touch panels can adopt Corning's Gorilla Glass, and OGS panels can adopt Concore Glass.David Chen, director of Asia Commercial Technology-Specialty Materials Department for Corning
The performance of notebooks relies on major components such as the CPU, memory, and the hard drive (HDD). Thanks to the advance in semiconductor processes, the first two components mentioned have become increasingly faster. That leaves only the last component, or the HDD, that cannot break through its speed bottleneck due to being based on mechanical parts. This forces the system to have to wait for hard drive access during the operating system boot-up or accessing a large volume of data, which reduces efficiency. Although HDDs can be replaced by pricier SSDs, manufacturers nonetheless have offered several solutions that not only reduce costs while providing large-capacity and high-performance; it can also make the price of notebooks more competitive as well.HDD is unbeatable and give data a safe homeThe HDD has always played a critical role of system storage in the history of computer development. The HDD stores the operating system, applications, and user data so that the computer can function normally. In response to different market needs, HDD manufacturers have developed a variety of products in response to different situations for consumers to choose from.The popularity of the mobile network has enabled notebooks to flourish, and various manufacturers have strived to introduce various notebook products to attract consumers. In recent years, under the influence of tablets, a lightweight and transformable trend for notebooks has been developing. The solid state drive (SSD) appears to be a good choice considering notebooks' emphasis on lightness, long battery life, and high performance. However, its capacity to price ratio ($/GB) is not cost-effective. Does the HDD industry have a better storage solution for the notebook industry? Lenny Sharp, Mobile Product Marketing & Planning, global director of HGST, introduced the latest solutions to participants of the event.Smart mobile devices stimulate demand for external hard drivesFormally known as "Hitachi Global Storage Technologies," it is now a fully owned subsidiary of Western Digital (WDC) under the name HGST. To follow the anti-trust regulations, HGST and WD operate as two separate companies under WDC with separate distinct brands and product lines. HGST is committed to developing high-capacity HDD products and has recently launched the 2.5-inch Travelstar 5K1500 in single-platter 7mm 500GB , two-platter 9.5mm 1TB, and the industry's highest capacity three-platter 9.5 mm 1.5TB HDDs.Sharp indicated that due to the popularity of mobile and cloud storage and under the influence of various smart mobile devices, notebook sales are flat. In contrast, the more smart mobile devices that people have, the better it is for the hard drive industry. Sales of the internal 2.5-inch HDDs is on the rise and IDC's research also found that this market will have an annual growth rate of 23.8% from 2012 to 2016.Thinner and lighter high performance notebooks have driven the trend of hybrid HDDsLightweight, thin, and transformable notebooks are the current trend for the industry. The latest Intel ultrabook specification requires HDDs slimmer than 7mm. Therefore, manufacturers will gradually abandon the 9.5mm HDD and adopt 7mm or even 5mm HDD instead. According to IDC market research and a HGST internal analysis report, less than 10% of notebooks use 7mm HDDs currently, and by the end of 2013, 20% of ultrabooks will adopt 7mm HDDs and 7mm HDDs will be the mainstream in the future.In terms of disk configuration, notebooks can use the total SDD solution, but small capacity and high cost can target the premium notebook segment only. Due to the considerations of cost reduction in the mainstream market, a lot of OEMs like the idea of dual drive (HDD and SSD) or hybrid drive (HDD with flash memory embedded, which is also known as the solid state hybrid drive (SSHD).Dual drive has more advantages over hybrid driveThe "dual drive" combines the advantages of a HDD's high-capacity and the SSD's rapid access. It allows the computer system to determine where to store the data. The "hybrid drive" provides built-in SSD cache directly on the HDD and uses the HDD itself to manage data storage. The two solutions are all faster than the pure HDD model.Sharp indicated that there are three considerations for the HDD combination design: "integration", "cost," and "performance." Dual drives and hybrid drives work quite similar on "integration" and "cost." As for "performance," the dual drives come with computer system chipset. Together with the driver and accelerator, it is able to deliver performance similar to SSDs. On the other hand, to the computer, the hybrid drive is like a disk drive, so its effectiveness depends on the speed of the processor inside the hybrid dive. That's why the performance level of a hybrid drive is not as good as a dual drive.HGST's test shows the comparisons for the two solutions and found that the 7,200RPM dual drive system can perform almost the same as the benchmark score to mainstream SSD, and performs 70% faster than the latest and fastest hybrid drives in the market.With the same degree of integration and cost, a dual drive is much faster than a hybrid drive. Furthermore, dual drive is more flexible than hybrid drive. Sharp also revealed that Asus will choose HGST Travelstar 7200RPM HDDs in all dual drive ultrabooks by the end of 2013. This configuration delivers the right balance among performance, cost and endurance.Lenny Sharp, Mobile Product Marketing & Planning, global director of HGST
Microsoft's Windows 8 platform has launched a new computer era of touch screen control. However, the cost of touch-control notebooks remains high and can only provide a 2D control experience - equivalent to that of a tablet - and cannot provide more intuitive somatosensory control. Microchip Technology, a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions launched its newly patented GestIC technology in November of 2012, which provides a wide range of new motion control technologies for an assortment of current computer terminal applications. Using the non-contact gesture control user interface, the 3D computer control experience is realized. More intuitive and touch-free gesture control technology The Apple iOS and Google Android platforms have introduced touch screen control technology in handsets, tablets, and other consumer products to successfully replace push-button designs. The Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Kinect technology, and Sony PS3 Move have also introduced somatosensory control into gaming consoles to create new video gaming methods where the human body becomes the controller. As for the computer market that primarily uses the keyboard and mouse (or trackpad), the introduction of Microsoft's Windows 8 has enabled a new touch screen control interface that accelerated the computer "tabletization" era. However, Windows 8 touch screen notebooks are expensive and only provide 2D control. It is tiring to use long-term and users end up with a screen full of fingerprints, while the practicality of the whole process is still under review. These conditions have prompted other control-technology vendors to target the computer market to provide new somatosensory control technologies. Andreas Guete, marketing manager of the Asia-Pacific Human Interface Division (HMID) and Advanced Input Devices of Microchip Technology, provided a further explanation and demonstration for next-generation 3D gesture computer control technology. GestIC adopts new electric near field sensing technology Guete introduced Microchip's GestIC 3D gesture control technology to transcend the limits described above. The single-chip MGC3130 based on GestIC technology is the world's first electric near-field (E-field) technology 3D gesture control microprocessor that provides free-space position tracking, 3D gesture recognition, proximity detection, and control functions. The technical principle of GestIC is to generate an electric near-field wave approximately 15cm that surrounds the IC and transmits a 100kHz carrier frequency at a corresponding wavelength of 3km. Because it is a radio wave, distances between electrodes are extremely small, and the magnetic field, as well as the amount of radiation, are actually zero. A quasi-static electric field – unaffected by mobile radio inferences such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and CDMA – can be created, and is also unaffected by surrounding environmental factors such as light, sound, skin tone, temperature, or humidity. The wave can accurately and rapidly detect and track hand positions to provide non-contact 3D gesture recognition. GestIC uses printed circuit board (PCB) traces or various conductive materials on the indium tin oxide (ITO) coating of the touch sensors to produce up to five electric near-field sensing electrodes. The technology can directly and subtly be integrated within the housing of products such as traditional notebooks, tablets, keyboards, electric drawing boards, handsets, or various remote control devices, which would not affect the aesthetics of industrial design. MGC3130 gesture control single-chip solution The GestIC technology MGC3130 single-chip solution can create a 150 DPI mouse resolution equivalent with a 200Hz sampling rate that can accurately detect rapid hand gestures and finger movements. It also has an ultra-low noise simulation front-end. The device has an ultra-low current consumption of between 150 microwatts and a maximum of 70mW when in the sensing state, which is 90% more power efficient compared with the somatosensory recognition system of a general photographic lenses (of approximately 1200mW), and has an automatic wake-up capability that ensures the gesture sensing function of mobile devices is permanently activated. It can automatically self-calibrate to maintain high-precision detection capabilities, can instantly process hand gestures and x/y/z position data and comes with a built-in Colibri Suite gesture database, as well as a 32-bit digital signal processor and integrated flash memory and an upgradeable gesture database. The chip adopts a 70-130kHz frequency-hopping electric field and can eliminate radio-frequency, ambient light, and sound interferences. The MGC 3130 Colibri Suite has numerous built-in hand gesture databases, including wake-up methods, location tracking, fingertip gestures, hand rotation gestures, as well as symbolic gestures and can turn the machine on/off as well as execute applications, point, click, zoom, scroll, free-space mouse hover, and many other features. In addition, Microchip provides the GestIC API and the OverkeyUX (Windows 8 appearance) user interface (UI), complete deployment kits to allow manufacturers to develop a variety of 3D gesture applications. Extending touch experience of Windows 8 with 3D hand gesture control Guete indicated that for a Windows 8 notebook, desktop, and AIO PC systems, the only thing that hardware vendors have to do is to add GestIC technology into the keyboard (PCB electrode coating) in combination with the MGC3130 to enable hand gesture to control the new Windows 8 interface. For example, wave left to activate Charm Bar, wave down to close Apps and to easily control the system without touching the screen. Mass production of the MGC3130 chip began in April 2013 and comes with a single-zone evaluation kit to allow designers to easily use the MGC3130 to develop various 3D hand gesture control for IT products. Andreas Guete, marketing manager of Asia-Pacific HMID and Advanced Input Devices of Microchip Technology
Advantech, the embedded platform and integration services provider, announces the introduction of a new industrial-grade, Mini-ITX motherboard supporting the latest AMD R-Series processors. AMD R-Series feature intelligent performance, power efficiency, and integrated AMD Radeon HD 7000 graphics with DX11 and dual HD decoding 1080i+1080p support.AIMB-224 is capable of SATA RAID 0, 1, 5 & 10 to ensure reliable storage and system protection for gaming-intensive applications, retail, medical, digital signage and many more.Delivering Exceptional Performance in a Power Efficient PlatformAIMB-224 is designed with the AMD Embedded R-Series platform which delivers high-performance processing for a premium high definition visual experience (AMD eyefinity technology supports multiple independent display outputs simultaneously). With average power below 35 Watts and AMD Radeon graphics performance integrated into the AMD R-Series APU, the AIMB-224 allows full multimedia capabilities at resolutions up to 1920 x 1080 and 2048 x 1536 via DisplayPort. AIMB-224 Mini-ITX motherboard offers advanced 3D graphics and supports a total of three independent displays via dual DisplayPorts 1.2, VGA on the rear I/O, as well as onboard 24-bit dual channel LVDS interface supporting a 3.3V, 5V or 12V large sized panel.Maximum Connectivity for Minimum ResourcesThe AIMB-224 board comes with high connectivity and a variety of expansion options including: a single PCIe x8 and two miniPCIe x1 expansion slots (one full size/one half size), six serial ports, three SATA III 600 MB/s connectors, two USB3.0 and eight USB 2.0 ports. AIMB-224 also comes with software RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 support, offering abundant data storage and reliable data protection, as well as dual PCI Express based Gigabit Ethernet ports delivering up to 1000 Mbps of bandwidth for network-intensive applications. The platform also has two DDR3/3L 1333/1600MHz SO-DIMM slots which can support up to 16 GB of system memory. AIMB-224 accomodates both ATX12V and DC-in power to provide a low total cost solution. All this connectivity is packed into a space-saving, power-efficient, and cost-effective Mini-ITX form factor. For applications looking for more security protection, TPM 1.2 is also integrated into this board.Built-in Remote Management Technologies Increase ReliabilityAIMB-224 has SUSIAccess remote device management software built in. It provides device monitoring, automatic alerts by email/SMS, system recovery and protection, and remote KVM features to help your application be more reliable and smart.Integrated Intelligent Software APIAdvantech provides drivers and APIs for different operating systems including GPIO, SMBus, watchdog timer, hardware monitor, panel backlight on/off, and brightness control. Supported operating systemsinclude Windows 7, Windows XP, XP Embedded, Windows CE, and Linux—hardware drivers for these OS are readily available. AIMB-224 is available now; please contact your local sales or visit the website for more information.Features- Supports AMD Mobile R-series Quald Core / Dual Core processor- Two 204-pin SODIMM up to 16GB DDR3/DDR3L 1333 MHz SDRAM- Supports VGA/LVDS/dual DisplayPorts- Dual LANs, 6COMs, 2 x Mini PCIe, and 10 x USB ports- Supports embedded software APIs and utilitiesAIMB-224Finding more case study articles
In the 21st century, the ubiquitous Internet of Things (IoT) technology has already generated many new applications that improve human life, bringing us the comforts, convenience, and efficiencies of digital signage, bank queuing systems, bus arrival prediction systems, and automobile parking service systems, to name just a few. These applications are usually carried out by thin-client computers and devices hooked to a network with a centralized server. Many of the terminal-end computers are deployed in commercial, industrial, or transportation spaces, indoors or out, and they need to be rugged and durable; smaller form factors and less power consumption are desirable, with a view to saving space, cost, and energy.Advantech, a world-renowned industrial computer manufacturer, is rolling out its newest palm-size fanless intelligent system, ARK-1122, powered by Intel Atom dual core N2600/N2800 CPU. ARK-1122 reduces power consumption to 10W with higher performance and higher specifications in terms of CPU and memory, storage capacity and I/O support, delivering more powerful computing and graphic performance with additional display interfaces. ARK-1122 comes in three SKUs with varied I/O designs suited for different embedded application scenarios.ARK-1122H supports dual displays for bank queuing systemWith VGA and HDMI outputs, ARK-1122H supports independent dual displays, and provides rich I/O options (4 x USB + 1 x COM). So it's suited for commercial digital signage applications which require connection with electronics devices. A typical scenario is a bank queuing system, which often has two displays at the bank counter - one for showing queuing numbers and the other for broadcasting videos or other information. ARK-1122H also featured palm-sized design weighing less than one kilogram, can easily be installed behind a display with a VESA bracket or in a hidden corner with DIN rail or wall mount. It is extremely competitive on cost, and on space and power requirements.ARK-1122C provides rich peripheral connections for parking lot kioskFor applications that need to connect with more peripheral devices, many of which still use serial data transfer interfaces, ARK-1122C is a good option, as it provides rich I/O connections in both serial and USB ports (4 x COM + 4 x USB). A typical application scenario, for example, is that of a parking facility management system, where ARK-1122C can be installed in a kiosk to integrate automatic toll collection, receipt printing and cash machine. ARK-1122C, with a VGA output, can support a kiosk display that shows parking info and also provides rich peripheral connections. More to the point, Computers used in such outdoor applications need to be ultra-rugged and reliable. The ARK-1122C provides wide temperature support of -20 ~ 60o C, and featuring a metal chassis with special anti-corrosion treatment. Its clean, fanless design enhances system longevityARK-1122F delivers rich network support for bus arrival prediction systemMany traffic applications need to communicate with mobile vehicles, and wireless connection becomes an important requirement. ARK-1122F provides rich I/O including two GbE ports for cable connections well as mini-PCIe expansion for wireless 3G/Wi-Fi communications, and supports dual displays (VGA + HDMI), all of which make it well suited for deployment in outdoor information systems such as those for bus arrival prediction. Such a bus arrival prediction system can be enabled by a small ARK-1122F hidden in the equipment box at each bus stop. Each ARK-1122F can support a VGA display that shows bus arrival information and an HDMI display that displays advertisements or service information. A GPS system installed on each bus reports its position in real time to a central server, which in turn controls the content displayed at the individual bus stops. Such applications require rugged industrial computers with excellent data handling ability, networking connection capabilities and display support. With its small form factor and modest power requirements, the ARK-1122F is well positioned to enable these applications.Outstanding hardware plus intelligent managementIn addition to the benefits of superior hardware, Advantech also offers stronger firmware and software support. SUSIAccess, a package of embedded software API and utilities that enable remote management and maintenance, is preloaded free with ARK-1122 series. With SUSIAccess or similar firmware/software, the control center can access remote embedded systems via the Internet, monitor device status, and administer remote diagnosis and trouble shooting. With the intelligent management tools, application systems can be scheduled to shut off during office closed hours to eliminate unnecessary power use.Resource saving palm-sized fanless intelligent system
Cloud and mobilization trends in recent years have triggered the third industrial revolution. The hot selling tablets have also accelerated the computer industry's introduction to a wide variety of tablets or transformer (tablet + laptop) products. Functionality of tablets has also gradually evolved from mostly entertainment functions into commercial application productivity features. These features have prompted the industry to develop faster processor performances and larger storage capacities. The leaders in flash memory production have responded to the future development trend of the tablet industry by accurately grasping the speed acceleration demands of mobile terminal devices to provide a full range of flash memory solutions.PC "Tabletization" revolutionTarun Loomba, vice president of marketing and client storage solutions for SanDisk, made an opening remark on how to design the popular tablet PC products. He presented some market research reports indicating that on-demand content and social media sharing, coupled with the prevalence of the wireless network, has changed the consumer habits of using entertainment electronic products and gradually switched to tablets instead. At present, tablet users spent 86% of their tablet usage time playing video games, visiting social networking sites, and enjoying multimedia entertainment. Cross-room applications allowed tablets to gradually replace or affect other designated application products such as video game consoles, IP video devices, and the often used desktop PCs.The hot sales of tablets has affected the sale for other devices as well. An IDC report estimated that shipments for tablets would reach 190 million units in 2013, with an annual growth rate that reaches 48.7%. By 2017, sales of tablets will exceed those of desktops and various portable computer combinations. According to the tablet market sales breakdown, 49.8 million, 23 million, 35 million, and 25.6 million tablets were sold in the Americas, Western Europe, Asia, and other regions in 2012, respectively. Prices for tablets range from US$150 for 7-inch media tablets to US$800 for high-end 11-inch productivity tablets. Tablets also come in Android, Windows, and iOS operating systems.Design for today's tablets focus on either portability or comfort. In terms of performance, tablets are moving toward 4 or even 8 core processors to provide higher resolutions and larger storage capacities. Tablets have also been promoted for professionals and business users in terms of consumer groups. Looking back at 2010, design features for notebooks (13 to 17 inch) and tablets (under 10 inches) were sharply divided. However, after 2012/2013, tablets became more powerful and have influenced notebook designs to trend toward removable, transformable, ultra-thin, and multi-touch control capabilities in design.Tablets have evolved from entertainment to productivityTablets that emphasize low power consumption are popular in the consumer market; however, consumers are expecting to do more on tablets and enjoy the comforts of tablets while using productivity software. This was acknowledged by the industry by efficient "commercial tablets" being born. The Gartner report also estimates that 13 million commercial tablets were sold in 2012, and that number will reach 53 million in 2016 (300% growth). It is possible that up to half of enterprise employers will formulate the bringing of your own mobile device (BYOD) to work policy by 2017.If you want a tablet that acts like a PC and has multiple program, multitasking, as well as independent foreground and background running capabilities; then you should not buy an entertainment tablet and should purchase a good performance, lighter, less power-consuming, and reasonably priced commercial tablet.SATA µSSD – the highly efficient tablet storage device designTablets that are currently on the market are divided into two major categories: the entertainment tablet that focuses on low power consumption, uses the ARM processor architecture, and runs on the Android platform; and the high-performance commercial tablet/notebook that uses an x86 processor architecture and runs on the Windows platform. As for storage device choices, the former tends to use Flash memory, and the latter mostly used hard disk drives (HDDs) or hybrid HDDs due to cost considerations.He noted that most people know that compared to HDDs, flash is more efficient, consumes less power, and is more reliable. If tablet products are designed to use flash, not only would it consume 20% less energy compare to that of HDD, it can also increase battery life by 2-3 hours and strengthen product competitiveness.In terms of flash transmission interface options, laptops and desktops are presently SATA based and will advance toward PCle in the future. Regarding high-performance mobile devices (such as the commercial tablets), the current mainstream eMMC 4.51/5.0 can only reach up to 200 MB/s. The faster UFS or PCle interfaces have not yet matured, and the tablet transmission interface will face bottlenecks in the future as a result. Current SATA III can reach a high-performance of 600 MB/s. STAT III is mature, supports a variety of sizes, and has low power consumption, as well as advanced multitasking scheduling features. Using SATA for commercial tablet designs would be a good solution.Therefore, Loombe recommended the µSSD (microSSD) of SanDisk, which has the ultra-small size/low power consumption of eMMC and the high-performance of SATA and complies with JEDEC MO-276 mechanical design specifications. The µSSD standard specification was finalized in August 2012. It has 2-3 times higher performance compared to that of the eMMC and is sold at the similar price level as the eMMC.When the price of the µSSD and the traditional 500GB HDD are compared, a 32GB µSSD costs approximately 40% of the price of a 500GB HDD and a 64GB µSSD costs approximately 30% more than the price of a 500GB HDD. Therefore, based on the performance, size, and power consumption considerations, the µSSD would be a pretty good choice for commercial tablets.Tarun Loomba, VP of marketing and client storage solutions for SanDisk
Founded in Fuzhou, Fujian, Rockchip Electronics has launched a full range of mobile application processor chips – from the single-core CPU/dual-core GPU, to the dual-core CPU/quad-core GPU, and to the quad-core CPU/quad-core GPU. Rockchip has provided overall solutions ranging from chips to SOC software and hardware to allow the industry to seize the market opportunities for tens of millions white box tablets.WINTEL duopoly gradually being brokenFeng Chen, CMO of Fuzhou Rockchip, compared the historic market caps of processor manufacturers Intel and ARM, and found that after the burst of the 2000 Internet bubble, Intel's total market cap jumped by 100-200x over its initial market cap. In contrast, after ARM was listed in 1998, it market cap has grown 800x. Looking at Microsoft, since becoming listed in 1985 and after reaching the highest point of 500x the initial market cap in 2000, Microsoft's growth has hovered between 400-450x in 2013. In contrast, after listing in 2004, Google had a 500x growth in market value by 2005 and its rate of growth has far exceeded that of Microsoft. By 2013, Google had a total market value growth of 2,500x, 5x higher than Microsoft's growth.Chen pointed out that the PC is no longer just a personal computer, it should be defined as personal computing – an application architecture based on networked devices such as notebooks, mobile phones, tablets, or smart TVs connected to the Cloud. In the 1960's, approximately one million large mainframes had been accumulated. In the 1970's, that number grew to 10 million. The rise of PCs started in the 1980's, and the number of PCs exceeded 100 million by the 1990's. By 2000, mobile phones, mobile Internet devices, and notebook computers flourished and the combined market size of these devices topped one billion. The mobile Internet era has flourished since 2010, and the number of networked devices such as e-Readers, tablets, home automation units, smartphones, and car electronics will exceed ten billion by 2020.Chen also listed the shipment volumes of the various digital devices five years after they became available in the market, as measured by various research firms. Notebook PCs had a growth rate of 61% per annum after they became available, but its shipment volume reached only 50 million units annually in the first five years. MP3 devices were the first to break the 100 million unit shipment mark during the first five years. Shipments for smartphones broke the 100 million unit mark after the fourth year, and exceeded 300 million by the fifth year. It was anticipated that annual shipments for tablets can reach an optimistic estimate of 441 million units, with the conservative estimate of 373 million units, or the worst estimate of 300 million units, within five years after they became available in the market.Post-PC era revolution WINTEL replaced by GooARMWhy has the shipment rate of PCs remained at 300 million units, Chen believes that in addition to economic factors, the open architecture of GooARM (Google + ARM) has released the 90% bundled costs/profits of the WINTEL (Microsoft + Intel) duopoly that had strictly controlled hardware capacity and licensing to maintain high profits. Concerning the status of tablets, Chen believes that Apple's iPad initially had oligopoly and domination, and it would be difficult for other brand manufacturers to shake Apple's position. He suggested that the white box tablet manufacturers should take the path of eight-three-two law; have 80% of Apple product performance, are sold at one-third of the price of Apple, and enjoy twice the white box market growth rate. Besides the Android tablets launched by brand manufacturers, there are also the low-priced US$149 Amazon Kind Fire tablets and US$199 7-inch Google Nexus7 tablets. Chen estimates that non-Apple Android tablets also have a scale of 80 million units in market share.Quite a large proportion of Google's revenue came from Internet advertisements. However, the ratio of an advertisement that has been clicked and read by mobile phones and tablets is only 10% of those clicked and read by users using notebooks or desktops. Therefore, Google and brand manufacturers have spared no effort to promote low-cost Wi-Fi Internet Chromebooks at a price range between US$299-399. In the future, there is much speculation in the market whether Android 5.0 will include Office, and whether Android 6.0 will use the multi-tasking Windows architecture.Focusing on tablets to release diversified AP processorsChen indicated that the competitive advantages of Rockchip are innovation, focus, and speed. Rockchip launched the high-speed language learning/language repeater chip in 2002, the MP4 video playback chip in 2005, and tablets and related application processors at the same time as Apple's iPad in 2010. In 2012, it was the first to adopt Globalfoundries' advanced 28nm HKMG process to manufacture high-end AP processors. Its company goal is also clear cut – focus on tablets. In terms of R&D speed, Rockchip has manufactured countless multi-project wafers (MPW) for design applications for use by up to 30 customers and provided turnkey solutions for OEMs to shorten development time. Rockchip only requires one month from the first mass production wafer to the launch of the end-product.Finally, Chen also introduced Rockchip's processor family. The RK292x adopts the 1GHz single-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture with a 400MHz quad-core Mali-400 GPU design. It supports multiple 1080p video decoding formats but only 1080p H.264 encoding. Most of the white box tablets in China use this chip.The RK3066 chip adopts a 40nm process and a 1.2GHz dual-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture with a built-in 400MHz quad-core Mali-400 GPU. It supports multiple 1080p video decoding and 1080p H.264/VP8/MVC encoding. The RK3168 adopts a 28nm process and the dual-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture. It has a working clock frequency of 1.2GHz, and its 600 MHz quad-core PowerVR SGX540 GPU supports 1080p multiple format decoding and playback, as well as the 1080p H.264/VP8/MVC video encoding.The newest RK3188 chip adopts a 28nm High K Metal Gate (HKMG) process technology and the quad-core ARM Cortex A9 architecture. It has a working clock frequency of 1.6GHz, as well as built-in 600MHz quad-core Mali-400 GPU, DDR3 and LP DDR3 memory controllers, and embedded GPS baseband. The chip supports dual LCD screen outputs with the maximum resolution of 2048 x 1536, the OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 and Open VL 1.1 graphics standard, and the multiple format decoding and playing as well as the 1080p H.264/VP8/MVC video encoding.Rockchip has declared that its entire line of chip processors has been upgraded to support H.265/VP9 and HDPC2.0. Its 4G tablet PCs and digital TV tablet products with ISDB-T/DVB-T will be mass produced and shipped starting next month.Feng Chen, CMO of Fuzhou Rockchip
A low-cost and high-transmittance multi-touch solution is now available for 11- to 36-inch devices, ranging from ultrabooks to all-in-one (AIO) PCs running Windows 8.Eyeing US$600 portable multi-touch device marketAccording to Mark Hopgood, director of strategic marketing for Dialog Semiconductor, various research institutions have indicated that ultrabooks will start to see explosive growth in 2014. Slimmer than 21mm, ultra-slim PCs (including Ultrabooks and notebooks) will see unit sales increase from 32,000 units in 2013 to 170 million units in 2016. Shipments for AIO units will increase to 17 million units in 2013 from less than five million in 2008, a growth rate of over 300%.Because of the high costs associated with today's multi-touch solutions, they are usually used only in high-end ultrabooks or AIO PCs priced over US$1,000. But for touch-enabled Ultrabooks and AIO PCs to enter the mass market, their prices must come down to the US$600 level. To enable lower-priced touch-enabled ultrabooks and AIO PCs, cost-effective multi-touch solutions are needed, and Dialog already has such a solution.Pros and cons of various touch technologiesHopgood compared the existing resistive, acoustic, imaging, infrared, and capacitive technologies as well as the Smartwave multi-touch technology introduced by Dialog. Resistive allows users to operate the touchscreen while wearing gloves. The technology can meets ruggedized and dustproof requirements and is suitable for 11-inch or larger displays. However, it does not support the multi-touch Windows 8, or bezel-free applications. Its transmittance is poor.Acoustic touch is characterized by good transmittance and can be applied to all devices. However, it does not support multi-touch, or work while wearing gloves. Surface dirt can affect its touch sensitivity.Imaging and infrared touch technologies use camera lenses or infrared emitters at the upper left and right corners of the screen to detect and calculate the touch coordinates as the user touches the screen and blocks the light rays passing through the surface of the screen. They allow users to work while wearing gloves, support Windows 8 multi-touch, and have high transmittance. However, they do not support bezel-free applications, and their durability and dust-proof ability are poor.Capacitive touch is the current mainstream technology for smartphones. Not only does it support multi-touch, it is also durable, dust proof, and can achieve borderless designs. However, it does not support control while wearing gloves, and transmittance depends on the thickness of the touch panel. The major issue with this technology is when it is applied to 11-inch or larger screens, yield issues will drive up production costs sharply.Dialog's Smartwave multi-touch ICDialog's DA8901 SmartWave multi-touch integrated circuit (MTIC) adopts the patented and market-proven FlatFrog Planar Scatter Detection (PSD) touch chip. It detects the subtle changes caused by users' touches to the paths of the repeatedly refracted infrared beams inside the cover lens. PSD provides natural and smooth touch responses. It can make responses corresponding to the strength and depth of a press on the screen, which lets it work as a third dimension Z-axis control to simulate real-life experiences, such as finger tapping, pressing or dragging objects.The Smartwave touch module is designed with an ultra-narrow PCB. The size of the module is similar to that of protective glass. It is suitable for 11- to 36-inch ultra-slim devices, convertible systems, tablets, AIO PCs, and monitors. The touch module does not require an internal sponge layer; the air gap is minimized; and it enables full edge-to-edge designs.The DA8901 MTIC is equipped with a 40MHz ARM Cortex M0 processor, ROM/RAM, four sets of linear transformer output lines (LDO), and standby/quick recovery energy-saving technologies. It features 12 infrared emitter and 12 analog front-end receivers, offering excellent ambient light noise elimination capabilities. The infrared emitters at the four borders emit beams 100 times per second. The system can chain up to 15 DA8901 (slaves) and support a maximum of 192 touch sensing channels. It has low-latency, and the touch resolution can reach up to 400 dpi.Cost-effective solutions for medium- to large-size touch panel applicationsHopgood stressed that the DA8901 Smartwave supports Window 8's multi-touch at a low cost and can work with gloves, styluses, and other objects. It can detect touch pressure, and is more suitable for 11-inch and larger touch-screen applications compared to capacitive touch. In addition, it does not require the ITO conductive glass layer, and therefore boasts high transmittance and reduced display module thickness. It reduces production costs and raises yield rates, and can be adopted for edge-to-edge bezel-free industrial designs.Mark Hopgood, director of strategic marketing for Dialog Semiconductor
PIXCIR Microelectronics, a company focused on capacitive and touch technologies; and Hanvon Technology, a leader in electromagnetic induction pen technology, have cooperated to promote a multi-touch capacitive pen that enables delicate pen writing applications to a variety of mobile devices.Transcending the two-dimensional applications of traditional touch controlDr. Lionel Portmann, CTO of PIXCIR, indicated that current touch screens available in the market have a surface-coated mesh of electrodes and can only provide two-dimensional (2D) finger reaction detection. Although there are independent 3D control solutions in the market that can respond to the X/Y/Z axis movements with a control distance of up to 10cm – such as Z-axis scaling, tilt/joystick input and non-contact page flipping and proximity detection – these technologies still cannot be integrated into a touch screen.In addition, the touch screen electrode can also be used for short-distance sensing applications such as access cards, access controls, and electronic payment sensor devices. The capacitive pen is controlled by the electrodes in the touch screen surface. It must also work in conjunction with the small pen tip, pressure sensor, and palm input functions.The PIX C32 Tango IC touch control chip developed by PIXCIR only requires a third-party proximity sensor and capacitive pen to provide 3D (X/Y/Z axis 8cm) control applications with a capacitive pen. The entire tablet or mobile handset only requires the conductive pole of its touch screen surface and no other additional components. The operating principle is that the tablet will issue a command to locate the position of the electric pen, and then accept the pressure from the digital capacitive pen, as well as the data transmitted from the pen tip. Portmann then played a video clip that demonstrated the fairly smooth handwriting created by the capacitive pen developed by PIXCIR and Hanvon. At present, patents for PIX C32 have been approved in Europe, China, the United States, and Taiwan; and patents are still under review in Korea and Japan.PIXCIR and Hanvon create a writing miracleNext, PIXCIR CEO Hung Jiin-Wei and Beijing Hanvon Technology's vice president of R&D Xiang Guowei took the stage together. Hung used a 6-inch notebook that combined the technologies of PIXCIR and Hanvon for a writing demonstration, while Xiang indicated that Havon and PIXCIR have been in cooperation since December of 2012.PIXCIR provides the touch technology and Havon provides the pen technology; and together, they have developed a new generation of capacitive pen technology. Hanvon's wireless capacitive pen features more software features than other offered by competitors, no additional radio frequency (RF) is needed, and the antenna transceiver modules and induction coil can achieve the effect of an active capacitive pen. It supports Android and Windows systems and can provide a minimum 1mm square capacitance pen tip.Xiang mentioned that up to five million Hanvon brand pen products have been sold. The technology is also licensed to Samsung, KDDI, Moto, and Onyx's eBooks; where approximately one million units have been sold. Regarding the 21.5-inch pen displays in collaboration with EZN, the 10.1-inch pen tablets in collaboration with Viewsonic, and the 8-inch tablets in collaboration with E Ren E Ben; approximately 200 thousand units of their products have been sold. Approximately 100,000 Drawsom 8.2 inch gaming tablets created in collaboration with Ubisoft have also been shipped.Xiang also mentioned that the entire market wants to go paperless, and there is a clear trend for handwriting input devices. The pen input device is a must have for signature approval for the education, medical, industrial, and financial banking fields. The Samsung Galaxy Note pen phone that uses Hanvon's pen technology and the Microsoft Surface Pro tablet equipped with the electromagnetic induction pen (EM Pen) have also attracted quite a bit of attention. The Galaxy Note estimated that its 2014 shipments will exceed 100 million. There is also a huge market for smartphones, educational pen tablets, and POS signature devices. It is forecasted that the 2013 global pen market will reach US$1.5 billion.Xiang indicated that the emergence of certain human-machine interfaces/input devices will lead to the rise of certain work platforms, or even drive a change in the manufacturing chain. For example, in the past, keyboards created the popularity of DOS, the keyboard + mouse combination created a Windows boom, and the multi-point touch screen had driven the iOS and Android operating systems. Hanvon believes that the next application trend is the multi-touch screen + pen. Its success is dependent on factors such as promotion by powerful giants such as Samsung to design easy to use and non-awkward products, as well as develop rich pen related software, to create comfortable pen writing applications and achieve a 100% handwriting recognition rate.Xiang indicated that the electromagnetic induction pen developed by Hanvon is designed to emit positioning electromagnetic waves through the electromagnetic radio frequency (ERT) modules at the bottom layer of the screen panel. The pen does not need an induction coil and battery, can easily satisfy weight requirements, and can provide the subtle feeling of digital pressure as well as a fine handwriting width of 0.1mm. In addition to the chip and electromagnetic pen, panel manufacturers only require between US$3-5 in increased costs. Hanvon's EM pen can achieve a 5080 LPI resolution, a sensing height range of 0-30mm, 2048 digital pressure sensor bands, 60-degree inclination sensing, 1-4 buttons/knob simulation, 360-degree rotation sensing, and pen eraser rubbing simulation functions.Capacitive pen provides pen writing applications with no additional hardware costsXiang mentioned that pens have evolved from the first generation wired pens, to the second generation active analog pens, to the third generation L-type passive analog pens, to the fourth generation C-type analog pens, and then to the fifth-generation passive digital induction pens. Compared to third generation L-type pens and fourth generation C-type pens, the sensing pressure level of Havon's EM pens can reach 2048 while others can only reach the a 512-1024 level, and it has the 5g minimal force sensor, as well as the 0.2 mm positioning accuracy error rate.In terms of the features for the active capacitive pen and the passive EM pen, the only drawback of the active capacitive pen is that it needs battery and charging mechanisms, has a minimum pen diameter of 6.5 mm, a minimum hover distance of 20mm, and weaker anti-interference capabilities. However, the advantage of the capacitive pen is that it can be used with existing projected capacitive touch screen devices.Lionel Portmann, PIXCIR CTOPIXCIR creator and CEO Jiin-Wei Hung (right) and Guo-Wei Xiang, Hanvon Technology's Vice President of R&D (left)
Silver nanowire technology can help reduce the thickness of the conductive layer on touch panels, enhancing the development of flexible panels for new-generation touch applications.Searching for materials to replace ITOJohn LeMoncheck, president and CEO of Cambrios Technologies, indicated that smartphones and tablet PCs are now common devices, and Windows 8 will drive demand for touch-enabled Ultrabooks and all-in-one (AIO) PCs. It is estimated that the touch sensor chip market will grow from 20 million units in 2011 to 85 million units in 2015.Meanwhile, the industry is searching for low-cost, bendable/flexible materials with high conductivity to replace the indium tin oxide (ITO) conductive layer on touch panels. Candidates include metal mesh, silver nanowires, carbon nanotubes and nanobuds, conducting polymers and graphene. Among them, Cambrios' ClearOhm created using silver nanowires looks the best candidate: it has high transmission (> 98%) and high conductivity of 30 ohms to150 ohms per square foot.LeMoncheck explained that silver nanowires have high conductivity and high transparency. They are low-cost and easily applied to devices. They can already be found in commercially available applications, and there are already supply chains in support of the technology.Leading manufacturers of transparent conductive materialsLeMoncheck noted that Cambrios, founded by scientists from the University of California, Santa Barbara and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has a design and manufacturing facility in Sunnyvale, California, as well as offices in Japan and Taiwan. Its investors include Nissa Printing, Toray, and Samsung. Out of its 175 nanomaterial patent applications, 22 have been granted. Touch-enabled products such as smartphones, AIOs, and monitors that feature Cambrios' material technology already exist in the market.Cambrios uses silver nanowire materials to produce ClearOhm conductive transparent inks, which have been shipped to conductive film makers such as Okura, Hitachi Chemicals, Toray, Dai Nippon Chemical ShinEtsu, LG Electronics (LGE), Shinwha, and others in China and the United States. Related sensor components have been supplied by eTurboTouch, LGE, Nissha Printing, CNi, ShinEtsu and others. ClearOhm conductive films boast higher conductivity and faster touch response speed than ITO ones, and they are suitable for large-size touch-enabled AIO devices. Its 92% transmission means superior brightness and longer battery life compared to an ITO one-glass solution (OGS). There are no specific visible patterns or moire patterns. The ClearOhm technology can create 27-inch touch sensors of thickness ranging from 0.2mm to 0.4mm. Adding a Corning Gorilla Glass cover will only increase the thickness by 0.05 mm. It is cost-effective and can support any touch application and design of any size.So far, products that have adopted the ClearOhm technology include smartphones such as Huawei's Ascend available through Sprint in the United States, and the NEC Medias X N-07D available in Japan through NTT DoCoMo. Other products include LG's 23-inch AIO PC, GVision's 15-inch POS monitor, and Intel's 13.3-inch Ultrabook reference design. In terms of production process and material costs, ClearOhm supports roll-to-roll (R2R) manufacturing to significantly reduce coating costs. The built-in resistors, optical adhesive (OCA) and nanowires can reduce the costs for laser engraving or the Hitachi Chemical TCTF process. Assembly can be done on transparent plastic films using the GF1 and GF2 structures without OCA optical adhesive.Touch screens using metal mesh technology will have different metal line layouts depending on the resolution of the display. However, the ClearOhm sliver nanowire solution can be applied to 1080p, 900p, or 768p displays, which reduces costs for system design, back-end panel testing and assembly, and supply chain inventory management.New conductive coating technology to enable flexible displaysJohn LeMoncheck noted that the transparent conductive transfer film (TCFT) co-developed by Cambrios and Hitachi Chemical is a two-layered PET film structure formed by a layer of Hitachi's dry resist of only 5μm in thickness, and another layer of ClearOhm nano-conductive ink that is only 0.1μm thick. This TCFT adopts low-temperature bonding technology that allows a matrix of X- and Y-axis electrodes to be only 10μm in thickness. These electrodes offer excellent conductivity, and they can be patterned on any film substrates or tempered glass. It supports roll-to-roll manufacturing.The conventional ITO process involves the deposit layer, resist formation, patterning, etching, and stripping. The Hitachi TCFT process involves the substrate, TCT film lamination, patterning, TCT film lamination, and engraving. It means part of the ITO processing can be adapted for TCFT.LeMoncheck played a video clip showing the co-development of flexible e-paper by Cambrios and AU Optronics (AUO). An e-paper with a ClearOhm film, after being rolled up more than 50,000 times at a radius of 5mm, will see its resistance value increase to only 28.79 ohms per square foot from the original 19.25 ohms. Its transmission and conductivity remains high. In addition to touch panels, the ClearOhm technology can also offer material solutions for flexible 3D LCD displays, OLED displays, OLED light, solar PV panels (with a conversion rate of 12%), and automotive applications.John LeMoncheck, president and CEO of Cambrios Technologies
