Innovative achievements green intelligence: electronic components

In recent years, the energy-saving industry and the smart industry are the two most popular development directions in the world today. The development of electronic components such as monolithic ceramic capacitors and new sensors, as well as the construction of application platforms such as smart homes and Internet of Things, can be completed. Into these two major industries. At this year's 14th Electronic Fair of the Hi-tech Fair, nearly 300 exhibitors displayed a variety of new components, materials and equipment, all of which showed the two major development directions of energy-saving and intelligent electronic manufacturing.

New power devices promote energy savings

Vigorously developing energy-saving technologies, promoting energy-saving emission reduction, and advocating a low-carbon economy are the main themes in the development of the world today. At the 14th Hi-Tech Fair, a large number of companies dedicated to the development of energy-saving products were assembled. These companies have introduced a wide range of power devices and power management ICs.

ROHM's energy-saving and environmental protection panels show its focus on SiC power devices. “With the increasing demand for reducing environmental loads, the limitations of traditional Si material power devices have become increasingly prominent. However, the new generation material SiC has the potential of small size, high efficiency, and high temperature resistance in energy saving development.” Staff told reporters. Therefore, in the new generation power components exhibition area, ROHM focused on the newly developed SiC power devices. One of the most impressive is the "full SiC power module" with its first mass production in the world. This product has the characteristics of high efficiency and low impedance. Compared with Si material, the switching loss is reduced by more than 85%, and low surge, low loss, and thermal runaway characteristics are achieved. Making SiC power devices into modules undoubtedly has higher added value and is also more convenient for customers. However, packaging is the key to the development of SiC power devices. The technical problems of high temperature-resistant packaging are not easy to solve. Therefore, although many international large-scale power device companies continue to promote SiC power devices, the released products also cover the power devices of today. The main product series, however, like Roma, launched full SiC modules are rare.

TDK's small power management module for smartphones is also new. As smart phones integrate more and more functions, battery life becomes the most important indicator for consumers to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of smart phones. The solution to the problem is nothing more than increasing the battery capacity and reducing the power consumption of mobile phones. The power management module for smart phones has also become a hot product. The SESUB power management module demonstrated by TDK not only supports various smart phone platforms, but also thin ICs are built into the substrate to reduce the thickness of the substrate. The height of the module is only 1.4mm, which will help promote the trend of thinner smartphones. The entire module layout is more compact, with an area of ​​8.9mm x 10.3mm, which is 70% smaller than the original technology area.

3D wireless charging expands freedom

Wireless charging is currently the most popular technology. The use of wireless charging can effectively get rid of the shackles of the cable. Although the technology is still being improved, it is already the focus of the company's development and has become the focus of major electronic exhibitions.

Judging the most eye-catching display on the TDK booth at this year's Hi-tech Fair, there is no doubt that its latest 3D wireless charging technology will be introduced. TDK booth staff said that the difference between 3D wireless charging technology and general wireless charging technology is that the device to be charged does not need to be closely attached to the charger, and it can be charged only by placing it within a certain range near the charger. This greatly expands the range of wireless charging, increases the freedom of position and flexibility of use, and contributes to the popularization of technology. With 3D wireless charging technology, electric vehicles can be charged in a parking space through wireless charging coils, and charging can be stopped without using the currently widely used charging piles.

TDK booth staff further explained that currently 3D wireless charging technology is still under continuous development. In the future, the charging coil can be buried in the road, and the electric vehicle can be charged in real time even while driving. Once this technology is promoted on a large scale, it will be able to solve the problems of slow charging and near-mileage of current electric vehicles.

Now, wireless charging is undoubtedly a niche technology, and only a small fraction of high-end mobile phones and peripherals support this technology. However, people in the industry expect that wireless charging technology will start to be applied in large quantities as early as the second half of next year. By 2017, the global wireless charging market is expected to reach US$7.161 billion, and wireless charging will be ubiquitous at that time.

Capacitors are not the smallest but smaller

In recent years, consumer electronics products have rapidly developed in the direction of miniaturization, thinness, and light weight, and the use of electronic components such as capacitors has also continued to become smaller. At this year's Hi-Tech Fair, a number of electronic component manufacturers have introduced their own newest products for different capacitor series. There is no minimum and only a smaller one.

Taking the example of a multilayer ceramic capacitor with the largest market size among capacitors, this type of capacitor is selling at a “small size and large size” and has gradually penetrated the market originally dominated by aluminum electrolytic capacitors, tantalum electrolytic capacitors and film capacitors. . Until now, the miniaturization of chip multilayer ceramic capacitors has been progressing smoothly. Starting from the "1206 (3.2mm x 1.6mm)" size, "0805 (2.0mm x 1.2mm)", "0603 (1.6mm x 0.8mm)", "0402 (1.0mm x 0.5mm)", and "0201 The order of "(0.6mm x 0.3mm)" and "01005 (0.4mm x 0.2mm)" is updated every five years. As of 2011, the highest proportion of supply is 0402 size. However, mobile phones and other products are still being miniaturized, and electronic component manufacturers are still introducing more compact products to shake the leading role of the 0402 size. At this year's Hi-Tech Fair, Murata issued the world's smallest 008004 size (0.25 mm × 0.125 mm) multilayer ceramic capacitors for various modules of small portable devices. Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. Executive Director of the Component Business Division Hamidyu Hamada said: "The development of the 008004 size has brought together many of our material technologies over the years."

The TDK Group also exhibited a series of EPCOS flat metallized film capacitors (polyester/polypropylene type). The biggest feature of this component is its height of only 15mm or 19mm. The reduction in height makes it particularly suitable for structures that require a low thickness design, such as induction cookers, flat panel TVs, LED lamp power supplies, and small photovoltaic inverters.

Sensors focus on low power consumption, miniaturization

The automotive industry is an important application area for sensors. Each car will have 40 to hundreds of sensors, and the smart car development trend will further expand the automotive market demand for sensors. Applications include the vehicle's antilock brake system (ABS), electronic body stabilization program (ESP), electronically controlled suspension (ECS), electric handbrake (EPB), ramp start assist (HAS), and tire pressure monitoring (EPMS). The electronic body stabilization program (ESP) adjusts the suspension according to the vehicle speed, road conditions, steering angle, acceleration and deceleration, etc. to provide the driver with a stable and comfortable driving environment. The anti-sway control (ARC) prevents the vehicle from rolling and rolling. The MEMS manufacturers have attracted great attention. Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. at this year's Hi-Tech Fair demonstrated a series of vehicle MEMS sensors that are based on sensor manufacturing. The acceleration sensor it introduces complies with the automotive quality standard AEC Q100 Grade 1, which can be used in vehicle safety systems and electronic systems for vehicle body control. It can prevent sideways slipping, anti-locking, anti-sway control, rollover detection, and ramp up. Auxiliary functions.

The industry is very concerned about the sensor's low power consumption. In this exhibition, ROHM introduced its Kionix accelerometers, which can operate at μA current. According to reports, this product can achieve low current consumption in various modes, including 0.9μA in standby mode, 10μA in low-resolution mode, and 135μA in high-resolution mode, and can be set according to user requirements. Wake up function to reduce battery consumption. Kionix recently received Windows8 certification. From now on, Kionix has not only expanded its existing product lineup, but also can supply Windows8-certified sensor fusion software, which is positioned as the most important partner of Windows 8. The certified product is not only compatible with Windows 8 32bit and 64bit products, but also compatible with Windows 7 32bit and 64bit products.

The miniaturization of sensors is also of concern. With the increasing popularity of high-performance packaging technologies such as 3D packaging and SIP packaging, the size of MEMS will become smaller and smaller. For example, at the current high-tech fair, the T5300 digital pressure sensor exhibited by TDK Group's EPCOS company uses its own packaging technology “CSMP (chip-size MEMS package)”, measuring only 2.2mm×2.6mm× 0.9mm. In sleep mode, its power consumption is only 2μA, and it is lower than 2mA during operation, requiring a power supply voltage of 2.7V to 5.5V.

Integrated Application to Intelligent
Wisdom family is a concept proposed in the 1990s. Its idea is to integrate and control electronic and electrical products in the home through advanced communication technology, microprocessor technology, and sensor technology to make the home more comfortable and safe. Efficient and energy-saving. At present, the concepts of smart office and smart city are continuously extended. The realization of these concepts requires the continuous updating of electronic technologies as support. At the exhibition, the theme of Murata's booth was "Smart Electronics Creates a Smart Life." The entire exhibition area shows Murata's solutions for building smart life in the future. In the smart home/office area, various electronic devices for wireless control of smart home gateways, as well as communication modules such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth SMART, RFID radio frequency identification tags, digital power supplies for LED lighting, and negative ion generators were demonstrated.

According to the presentation of Murata booth staff, the smart LED lighting power module can control different LED lighting fixtures through Zigbee technology, and then realize the opening, closing and dimming of individual lighting through Wi-Fi technology and tablet PC or smart phone. The entire product not only has a long life, but also has an estimated lifetime of more than 5,000 hours, and has a higher light efficiency and is more energy-efficient.

Roma: Creating a Green Energy Saving Company Image

ROHM's development strategy has been around green energy conservation. This year's Hi-tech Fair is no exception. Most of the exhibited products are related to this. The reporter has the deepest impression of two major series: power devices and LED lighting. These two product series reflect ROHM's long-term layout and rapid response to the development of green energy-saving products.

LED lighting's COB packaging (direct-board packaging) technology is a new type of integrated packaging technology, and it is mainly aimed at some personalized applications in the early stage of development. However, this technology directly mounts the LED chip on the substrate and can directly dissipate heat through the substrate, which solves the heat dissipation problem of the LED industry for a long time and reduces the cost of the bracket, the light engine module, and the secondary light distribution. And the process, the overall cost is lower, coupled with higher light extraction efficiency and better light-emitting quality, makes COB packaging products have been favored by many application companies, and the market demand has rapidly increased. However, due to the fact that COB is a new type of product, there are not many people on the market that can really do a good job. At this exhibition, ROHM has demonstrated a series of COB module products with fairly good performance. For example, the COB light source model LBL30C introduced by ROHM, on the 12mm × 15mm × 1.5mm substrate, can achieve output power of 12W ~ 15W; color rendering index 80, color temperature 2700K, maximum luminous efficiency up to 95lm / W; if the color temperature is 5000K, luminous efficiency can be increased to 104m/W. COB light source model LBL40C, on the 24mm × 20mm × 1.5mm substrate, can achieve 30W ~ 35W output power; color rendering index 80, color temperature 2700K, the highest luminous efficiency up to 88lm / W; if the color temperature of 5000K, luminous efficiency can be Raise to 99m/W. Achieving high power output on narrow substrates and achieving high luminous efficiency at low color temperatures are two major issues that hamper the development of LED modules, and ROHM is well-positioned in a new product, reflecting its Rapid response to the market and deep technical accumulation.

The development of SiC power devices reflects Roma's long-term layout. Although SiC power devices have been continuously developed and brought to market, the market size so far is not large and the application range is not wide. The time point at which the market is really going is expected to be around 2015. ROHM has a long-term layout for this technology. Mass production of SiC-SBD began in 2010. At this high-tech fair, ROHM has further exhibited a second-generation SiC-SBD with improved performance. The short recovery time also reduces the forward voltage. In terms of SiC-MOSFETs, in December 2010, Roma first mass-produced SiC-MOSFETs in fixed products, and in July 2012, it started mass production of second-generation SiC-MOSFETs with 1200V withstand voltage. These products will be used as new products. A generation of energy-saving components will be widely used in the fields of solar power generation and electric vehicles in the future, and will continue to contribute to energy conservation.

TDK: Pushing Components to Miniaturize

TDK Corporation has always been very experienced in the miniaturization of components. In recent years, electronic products have rapidly developed toward miniaturization and light weight, and more demands have been placed on components. First, they can meet the requirements for miniaturization and thinning of the entire product; second, they can reduce costs to meet the current demand. Rising raw material prices; Third, reducing CO2 emissions, reducing pollution to the environment, and achieving high reliability. The miniaturization of components not only contributes to the compactness of the whole machine, but also increases the degree of freedom in circuit design, and brings new functions and added value. TDK's small-sized thin-film thin-film power inductors and highly-integrated smart phone front-end modules exhibited at this year's show have fully demonstrated TDK's leading technologies in the miniaturization of electronic components.

The small, thin and thin film power inductors used in power circuits for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs are thin, lightweight, and low-resistance using thin-film technology. The inductance value of this series of products is from 0.47μH to 2.2μH, and the rated current is from 4.0A to 0.8A. Among them, the size of 1.6mm×0.8mm×1.0mm is the smallest in the inductor industry that uses metal magnetic materials as core materials. size of. The mainstream of inductor core material is ferrite, and this product uses a metal magnetic material with a high saturation flux density that utilizes TDK's original material technology. Its rated current is twice that of previous products, and it has a stable DC current. Overlapping features.

In addition, TDK also demonstrated a new type of highly integrated smartphone front-end module. In addition to covering the traditional GSM850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz bands, this product also covers WCDMA Bands 1, 2, 4 and 5, and LTE Bands 2, 4, 5 and 17. In addition to three SAW filters and five diplexers, the module also includes band selection switches and decoders, as well as an ESD protection circuit that can protect up to 4 kV at the antenna output. Therefore, this new front-end module provides the highest level of integration available today. Thanks to high integration, this front-end module has an ultra-small size. Compared to discrete solutions, EPCOS front-end modules can be downsized by up to 40%. According to the frequency band and the filter, the insertion loss is between 1.2dB and 3.8dB.

Murata: Combining Sensors into Development Focus

With the rapid development of the sensor market, Murata Manufacturing has invested considerable effort in the field of sensors. This is the reporter's deepest impression on Murata, a large supplier of electronic components, at this year's Hi-Tech Fair. Combining sensors is one of the development trends. In the future, more and more accelerometers, gyros, and magnetic sensors will be combined to realize complex functions. Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. at this year's Hi-Tech Fair demonstrated a series of automotive MEMS sensors that are based on sensor manufacturing. Among them, the new gyro combination sensor (integrated sensor of gyro sensor and acceleration sensor) has high bias stability, high vibration resistance, and low noise, and is most noticeable. In addition, it integrates ESC, ABS, ARC, ROV, navigation system, and inertial measurement device for platform control. Motion analysis control.

With the aging of the population and the soundness of the Chinese health care system, various remote monitoring and high-precision treatment equipment will be introduced more and more. The healthcare market has gradually become another major market for MEMS sensor applications. The sensors displayed by Murata Manufacturing Co., Ltd. are not only used for automotive applications, but also for medical systems. For example, the SCB10H series MEMS element pressure sensor with low noise and high sensitivity has been produced using high-capacity MEMS technology. The dimensions are only 1.4mm x 1.4mm x 0.85mm and can be used for medical instruments, flow meters, barometers, altimeters and other sensors.

The consumer electronics market is also the focus of Murata's component supplier development. Murata has demonstrated the world's smallest, thinnest, and lowest impedance, and the industry's highest level of power density since October 2012. It is an electric double layer capacitor (DMF series) for LED flash auxiliary power supplies. The electric double layer capacitor is different from an ordinary rechargeable battery and does not utilize a chemical reaction. Instead, it utilizes only the characteristics of surface-adsorbing ions unique to activated carbon. A device for physically storing electric energy, in addition to being capable of semi-permanent charge and discharge, is also capable of rapid charging. Discharge characteristics. This device can provide higher brightness for LED flashes of digital cameras and smart phones, and can be used as an auxiliary power source for digital cameras, digital video cameras, and mobile phone LED flashes.