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Portables market to reach £5.75M by 1991
Portables market to reach £5.75M by 1991 The market for portable computers and other software intensive portable products will reach $5760M by 1991 according to a report from International Resource Development Inc. The study predicts that by the time more than one million units will have been shipped - the present number is 55 000. The market in software intensive
portable products, the report states, will shift from those users who need portability to carry out their jobs to those who simply want the ease, convenience and status of such devices.
User-friendly for consumers User-friendliness would be of prime importance in a large consumer market so software developments are crucial to product growth. But software labour costs are rising by as much as 16 per cent annually and there is a shortage
Alternalives to gold in hybrid circuits manufacture Gold is the standard conductor material for the thick film multilayer structures which provide the dense interconnections required for present day electronic equipment. But the high price of gold has led to a search for cheaper alternatives. These substi= tutes will be the subject of an independent technical assessment planned by ERA Technology Ltd. One recent introduction is a group of copper conductor pastes with matching thick film dielectrics. Copper is an attractive alternative to gold and thick film copper multilayer circuits are now being used in large scale computer manufacture in Europe and elsewhere. However, these copper thick film systems have to be fired in special furnaces with closely controlled nitrogen atmospheres and processing problems have been encountered. Some manufacturers are considering silver based systems which are also
much cheaper than gold but which can be fired in air in conventional furnaces. In the past, silver based conductors have not been widely used in multilayer work because of the risk of silver ion migration in the presence of an electric field, but improved compositions are claimed to have overcome this problem. A further option is the retain gold as the conductor but to use special formulations which fire out to give much thinner deposits than conventional gold pastes. There is some reduction in performance but no new reliability hazard is introduced. ERA is launching an assessment of alternative thick film interconnection systems for hybrid circuit manufacturers which will be funded on a group sponsored basis. (ERA Technology
Ltd, C/eve Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 7SA, UK. Tel.. (03723) 74151)
Gold filaments put this custom MOS/LSI chip in touch with the outside world (Courtesy National Semiconductor Corporation)
1O0
of software programmers, currently estimated at 50 000. The report states that by ] 985 software costs will outweigh their hardware counterparts by 3 to I. Online software sales will become increasingly common towards the end of the decade, as users become more familiar with electronic banking and other remote transaction processing. The report forecasts that by 1985 approximately 80 per cent of all software package sales will be for application software. The report, 'Software intensive portable products', costs $1250 and is available from IRD, 30 High Street,
Norwalk, CT 06851, USA, Tel: (203) 866 6914.
British Standard for interfaces The British Standards Institution has published a British Standard, BS 6146, entitled 'An interface system for programmable measuring instruments /byte serial, bit parallel)'. The standard is in two parts and is identical with IEC 625-I and IEC 625-2, published by the International Electrotechnical Commission. BS 6146 provides a common scheme which will enable various combinations of measuring instruments and associated devices from different manufacturers to be connected into an automated instrumentation system. The standard applies generally to laboratory and productiontest environments which are both electrically quiet and have restricted distances between system components. Part I is entitles 'Specification for functional, electrical and mechanical requirements, system applications and requirements for designer and user'. It is applicable to digital interfaces where the bus connects 15 or less devices less than 20 m apart and a datarate of less than 1 Mbaud. Part 2 is called 'Code and format conventions' and describes a small standard range of bus formats. The price of parts I and 2 are £31 and £18 respectively (half price for BSI subscribers) from British Standards
Institution, 2 Park Street, London WIA 2BS, UK.
microprocessors and microsystems
portable products, the report states, will shift from those users who need portability to carry out their jobs to those who simply want the ease, convenience and status of such devices.
User-friendly for consumers User-friendliness would be of prime importance in a large consumer market so software developments are crucial to product growth. But software labour costs are rising by as much as 16 per cent annually and there is a shortage
Alternalives to gold in hybrid circuits manufacture Gold is the standard conductor material for the thick film multilayer structures which provide the dense interconnections required for present day electronic equipment. But the high price of gold has led to a search for cheaper alternatives. These substi= tutes will be the subject of an independent technical assessment planned by ERA Technology Ltd. One recent introduction is a group of copper conductor pastes with matching thick film dielectrics. Copper is an attractive alternative to gold and thick film copper multilayer circuits are now being used in large scale computer manufacture in Europe and elsewhere. However, these copper thick film systems have to be fired in special furnaces with closely controlled nitrogen atmospheres and processing problems have been encountered. Some manufacturers are considering silver based systems which are also
much cheaper than gold but which can be fired in air in conventional furnaces. In the past, silver based conductors have not been widely used in multilayer work because of the risk of silver ion migration in the presence of an electric field, but improved compositions are claimed to have overcome this problem. A further option is the retain gold as the conductor but to use special formulations which fire out to give much thinner deposits than conventional gold pastes. There is some reduction in performance but no new reliability hazard is introduced. ERA is launching an assessment of alternative thick film interconnection systems for hybrid circuit manufacturers which will be funded on a group sponsored basis. (ERA Technology
Ltd, C/eve Road, Leatherhead, Surrey KT22 7SA, UK. Tel.. (03723) 74151)
Gold filaments put this custom MOS/LSI chip in touch with the outside world (Courtesy National Semiconductor Corporation)
1O0
of software programmers, currently estimated at 50 000. The report states that by ] 985 software costs will outweigh their hardware counterparts by 3 to I. Online software sales will become increasingly common towards the end of the decade, as users become more familiar with electronic banking and other remote transaction processing. The report forecasts that by 1985 approximately 80 per cent of all software package sales will be for application software. The report, 'Software intensive portable products', costs $1250 and is available from IRD, 30 High Street,
Norwalk, CT 06851, USA, Tel: (203) 866 6914.
British Standard for interfaces The British Standards Institution has published a British Standard, BS 6146, entitled 'An interface system for programmable measuring instruments /byte serial, bit parallel)'. The standard is in two parts and is identical with IEC 625-I and IEC 625-2, published by the International Electrotechnical Commission. BS 6146 provides a common scheme which will enable various combinations of measuring instruments and associated devices from different manufacturers to be connected into an automated instrumentation system. The standard applies generally to laboratory and productiontest environments which are both electrically quiet and have restricted distances between system components. Part I is entitles 'Specification for functional, electrical and mechanical requirements, system applications and requirements for designer and user'. It is applicable to digital interfaces where the bus connects 15 or less devices less than 20 m apart and a datarate of less than 1 Mbaud. Part 2 is called 'Code and format conventions' and describes a small standard range of bus formats. The price of parts I and 2 are £31 and £18 respectively (half price for BSI subscribers) from British Standards
Institution, 2 Park Street, London WIA 2BS, UK.
microprocessors and microsystems