The five most important semiconductor devices in the semiconductor market in 2012

With the passing of the first quarter of 2012, the trend of the semiconductor industry has gradually become clear. After visiting several semiconductor manufacturers, several hot applications in 2012 gradually surfaced, they are smart phones, tablet computers, rail transit, new energy , Hybrid vehicles, LED lighting, portable medical electronic products, etc., which also led to the heating of several types of components, where the analysis of semiconductor manufacturers, talk about the 2012 five most noteworthy five types of semiconductor devices.

1, the main control processor --- concern ARM Cortex-A5/A8 processor products

In 2011, the rapid rise of smart phones surprised many manufacturers. After the Spring Festival in 2012, this trend continued, and low-priced smart phones continued to be buoyed. In recent days, Deloitte's 2012 development trend forecast for the telecommunications industry indicates that The penetration rate of $100 smartphones will continue to increase to meet the increasing demand for communication and information communication. By the end of 2012, this low-cost smartphone user in the world is expected to exceed 500 million people.

The rise of the $100 smartphone is due to consumers wanting to replace more basic mobile phones without the power consumption or features of high-end devices. Emerging markets have a low degree of Internet penetration, but the demand for communications and information services has continued to increase. Therefore, it has the greatest business opportunities. This demand has led to the demand for affordable Cortex-A5 dual-core processors. The A5 is commonly known as the A9, a smaller version, and its ARM China. District Chief Wu Xiong Aung also said that the A5 dual-core processor will become the standard for entry-level smartphones. This processor is clocked at 400 to 800 MHz and supports Android applications. Others include support for multi-touch, 5 megapixel photography. Lens, Hotspots, and so on, Broadcom has launched such processors, other manufacturers will also be launched.



Cortex-A5 processor block diagram

2. Power Devices - Focus on the Growth of SiC

In the general trend of energy conservation and emission reduction, power semiconductor manufacturers are trying to save the power of each Coulomb device. In MOSFETs, Fairchild Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies, Vishay Semiconductor and others are all developing lower on-resistance. The products, these manufacturers continue to refresh the MOSFET new on-resistance records, on the other hand, some manufacturers are also actively based on the development of new materials such as SiC power devices, such as ROHM in its future development of four major strategies One of them is the "power components" strategy. Rom started the mass production of SiC-SBD in April 2010. In December 2010, the world’s first mass production of SiC-MOSFETs began. Rom Semiconductor believes that the application of SiC devices will go hot in 2012 due to the fact that the hot technology for new energy solutions is SiC devices. It is expected that new participating manufacturers will appear in 2012. ROHM has been actively promoting the research and development of products such as trench-type SiC-MOSFETs. Through its mass production, ROHM pioneered the introduction of advanced SiC components earlier than other companies. Secondly, in the field of electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, it is also an area where SiC can play. For new energy vehicles, electrical control is indispensable.



Rom Semiconductor's SiC-MOSFETs

3, passive components - focus on high precision high voltage resistance capacitive components

With the hot pursuit of tablet PCs, the demand for passive components has been further enhanced. Because the superior performance of electronic products requires more and more sophisticated passive components, Vishay Semiconductor considers tablet PCs, automobiles, medical electronics, and new energy sources. Solar, wind, hybrid and pure electric vehicles in the market, smart phones, industrial electronics market will bring more opportunities for passive components, so in 2012 Munich Shanghai Electronics exhibitors, Vishay Semiconductor will exhibit, with up to 3W Power Level and Extremely Low Value 0.0005Ω WSLP2512 Resistor, Linear Position Hall Effect Sensor with Short Electrical Travel from 0mm to 10mm, High-precision Instrument Shunt Resistor, Surface Mount X7R MLCC with Minimum Capacity Increase to 470pF, and with +175°C The high-temperature performance of TH4 tantalum capacitors, etc., Yang Yizhang, director of business development at Vishay Asia, also said that smart phones will use more and more MLCC.

Murata is also actively promoting automotive grade safety capacitors, high voltage and high capacitance capacitors and other products. At the 2012 Shanghai Electronics Show in Munich, Murata brought a series of new products. Including high-voltage capacitors and safety capacitor products for new energy vehicles, such as Murata's EVC series of ceramic chip capacitors for automotive power, high-frequency high-temperature power electronics for SiC (silicon carbide) semiconductors, and 150 degree operation temperature. In addition, Murata's KJ series safety capacitors are the world's smallest automotive grade safety capacitors for EV/HEV chargers and DC/DC converters. The EMI solution for the engine control module is due to the common mode choke coil product demonstration.

4, battery technology - focus on new capacitors and monitoring technology

Semiconductor manufacturers all believe that electric traffic must be the main focus of the automotive electronics industry. Battery technology is the focus of attention. Without good battery technology, the cost-effectiveness of electric traffic is a problem. At present, original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are investing heavily in urgently needed technologies. For example, EPCOS has developed high-performance PCC bulk power capacitors for driveline inverters.

In the field of electric traffic, EPCOS is also increasing the production capacity of thin-film capacitors to meet the increasing demand of customers. EPCOS believes that diesel locomotives will continue to be the mainstream of vehicle sales in the coming years and will continue to strengthen its advantages in piezoelectric actuators. Based on our advanced process technology and on the premise of maintaining the same performance, we successfully launched the piezoelectric actuator, which has been changed from silver palladium to copper on the internal electrode.

Brian Black, Linear's product marketing manager, emphasized that the transition from internal combustion engines to alternative energy technologies such as electric vehicles represents a major shift for the automotive industry. It needs to develop high capacity, high power density, safe and robust energy storage and delivery systems.

There is still a long way to go in the development of next-generation battery technology. Compared to NiMH batteries used in first-generation hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), new battery chemistries usually require higher precision measurement and monitoring to maximize vehicle mileage and extend battery life. The service life of the group.

5, storage applications --- concern Nand Flash

In 2012, with the explosion of smartphones, tablets, and Ultrabooks, there is a semiconductor device that will receive much attention from the industry—this is Nand Flash. Research institutions have even predicted that its popularity will exceed DRAM, and many agencies predict that The OEM/ODM industry will use resources for NAND Flash instead of DRAM under cost pressure, because NAND Flash can give users a significant improvement in experience, and the application highlights of NAND Flash in 2012 will be in eMMC, SSD and USB3.0. Focus on bloom!

Moreover, under the lead of Apple's demonstration, NAND Flash shipments will surge, and the annual compound growth rate will reach 70%! It is predicted that the global NAND flash shipments for flat panel media will increase by 10 times from 1.6 billion GB in 2011 to 16.3 billion GB in 2015, and the proportion of total NAND flash shipments will also increase from 9% to 17%. In addition, the average capacity of the built-in NAND flash per iPad is forecast to increase by 9.4% to 33.8GB in 2012.

In addition, support for USB 3.0 is a new version of Intel processors IvyBridge have been identified will be listed in the end of April, companies will benefit layout USB 3.0 product line, will drive notebooks, U disk upgrade products.



Toshiba's NAND Flash