Researchers at the Nano-Science Center at the University of Copenhagen have developed a new nano-technology platform for the development of molecule-based electronic components using the wonder material graphene. At the same time, they have solved a problem that has challenged researchers from around the world for ten years.

 Since its discovery in 2004, graphene has been called a wonder material, in part because it is 200 times stronger than steel, a good electrical conductor and is just a single atom layer thick. With these properties, there are sky-high expectations for what graphene can be used for. That is why researchers around the world are working on developing methods to make and modify graphene.

In a recently published article in the journal Advanced Materials, researchers in nano-chemistry at the Department of Chemistry describe how they are among the first in the world to be able to chemically produce large flakes of graphene.

Using chemical and physical processes, that we have been working to develop in recent years, we are now able to produce such large flakes of graphene that we can use the flakes as components in an entirely new technology platform within molecule-based electronics, says nano-chemist Kasper Nørgaard, who along with his Danish and Chinese colleagues in the Danish-Chinese Center for Molecular Nano-Electronics at the Nano-Science Center, is behind the new platform as well as the solution to a ten year old problem.

More than 10 years ago when it was being proclaimed that nanotechology could revolutionise computer technology, it was in part because they imagined that the development of molecular electronics was just around the corner. Molecular electronics involves replacing traditional electrical components with molecules, creating tiny electronic circuits for use in, for example, computers and data storage. This has proven to be more challenging than anticipated, in part because the components short-circuited when the molecules were contacted with electrodes and were therefore unable to create a workable circuit. Graphene is the solution to the problem.

We can now place one of our graphene flakes on top of the molecules, protecting the system from short circuits. That is how we developed a new technology platform for use in the development of new electronics based on molecules, says Kasper Nørgaard, who explains that in the Danish-Chinese collaboration, they are trying to use molecules with different properties in the platform, for example, molecules that can alternate between being conductive and non-conductive. This paves the way for the electronics of the future in areas such as memory technology, ultra-thin displays and solar cells.

Article source: http://www.pcb007.com/pages/zone.cgi?a=82333

CEVA has introduced a programmable DSP architecture supporting communication standards for cellular, Wi-Fi, digital TV and white space radio. 

The CEVA-XC4000 offers a big jump in performance over the silicon IP firm’s XC323 DSP for LTE-A processing, while consuming less power, said CEVA.

“Incorporating new power management techniques, we were able to dramatically reduce the power consumption for high-performance software-based processing, paving the way for modem developers to exploit the flexibility, reusability and time-to-market advantages that a software-defined approach brings,” said Gideon Wertheizer, CEO of CEVA.

The embedded wireless platform includes the firm’s second generation Power Scaling Unit (PSU 2.0) which dynamically supports clock and voltage scaling with fine granularity within the processor, memories, buses and system resources.

The DSP platform also uses Tightly Coupled Extensions (TCE) to deliver inter-connected power-optimized coprocessors and interfaces for the implementation of critical PHY functions, further reducing power consumption.

A rebalanced pipeline with low-level module isolation is also highly optimized for power.

The architecture offers uncompromising modem quality using two distinct inter-mixable high-precision instruction sets, supporting the most advanced 4×4 and 8×8 MIMO algorithms.

CEVA has also announced reference architectures targeting communication standards, including LTE-A Rel-10 and Wi-Fi 802.11ac supporting up to 1.7Gbit/s, in collaboration with CEVA-XCnet partners mimoOn and Antcor.

These reference architectures are complemented with highly optimised software libraries for LTE-A and Wi-Fi.

www.ceva-dsp.com

Article source: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2012/02/23/53041/ceva-adds-dtv-and-white-space-radio-to-mobile-platform.htm

Digital Core Design, the Poland-based silicon design house, claims to have the world’s most advanced 80C51 processor architecture.

Digital Core Design is presentimng the DQ80251 80C51 CPU at the Polish National Pavilion, hosted by Ministry of Economy at  the CeBIT exhibition from 6th to 10th March.

According to the design house, claims independent tests, carried out on Dhrystone 2.1 benchmark programme, which is representative of general processor (CPU) performance, showed the DQ80251 quad-pipelined IP Core was 56.8 times faster than the original 8051 at the same clock frequency.

“Our DQ80251 runs at 300MHz without losing’s breath. It was possible not because of adding higher frequency, but thanks to unique architecture we implemented,” said Thomas Krzyzak, v-p at Digital Core Design.

“An original 8051, to get equivalent performance, must be clocked with 17,000 MHz ,” said Krzyzak.

The core provides up to 0.54311 DMIPS/MHz (VAX MIPS) and uses only 14,500 Asic gates.

DCD’s DQ80251 family is available as VERILOG Source code, VHDL Source code and FPGA Netlist formats.

Article source: http://www.electronicsweekly.com/Articles/2012/02/23/53029/polish-designer-shows-fastest-8051-cpu-at-cebit.htm