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Where there's smoke, there will be an IC
World Abstracts on Microelectronics and Reliability
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6. MICROELECTRONICS--COMPONENTS, SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENTS Where there's smoke, there will he an IC. BERNARDCOLE. Electronics p. 78 (May 12, 1977). A hot new consumer market for integrated circuits is shaping up in smoke detectors. From sales mainly in industrial applications of a few tens of thousands a year as recently as 1974, smoke detectors have attracted the attention of the home-building industry and home-owning consumers themselves so that U.S. volume exceeded 6 million units last year. Volume this year should range from 10 million to 12 million units. Controlling switching supplies with LSI circuits. HENRY WURZBURGand DAVE CAVE.Electronics p. 113 (March 31, 1977). Replacing over 50 discrete components, monolithic controls simplify design, reduce parts count, cut costs, and improve reliability. RGB colour decoder using three ICs from the TDA2500 range. M. C. GANDER,D. J. BEAKHUSTand R. P. GANT. Mullard tech. Communs 133, 86 (January 1977). An economical RGB decoder using three ICs from the TDA2500 range is described. Typical video output stages for use with the decoder are also described, together with two methods of voltage regulation, the alignment procedure, and some optional circuits. Large-scale integration is ready to answer the call of telecommunications. RICHARD GUNDLACH. Electronics p. 93 (April 28, 1977). Economy, reliability, and versatility--the three big bell-ringers of large-scale integration--are reachhag the point where they meet the exacting standards of the telecommunications industry. After working changes in such segments of the field as data communications, LSI is on the verge of transforming the biggest of them all: the telephone industry. Single-slice superhet. WILLIAM PEIL and ROBERT J. MCFADYEN. IEEE Spectrum p. 54 (March 1977). New portable and table model AM/FM radios are designed with most active components on one 16-pin bipolar chip. 16-k RAM eases memory design for mainframes and microcomputers. DERRELL COKER. Electronics p. 115 (April 28, 1977). The 16,384-bit dynamic random-access memory is now in volume production. Already 100,000 devices have been designed into prototype memory systems, and an estimated 3 million to 5 million devices will be installed i n mainframe memories this year. Its attraction for mainframe designers is, of course, low cost--a quarter the cost per bit of 4,096-bit parts with the same level of performance. But a less obvious asset--
ease of use---guarantees its popularity outside the mainframe area, particularly in the small peripheral and microprocessor-based systems that traditionally use static, not dynamic, RAMS. LSI controls gaining in home appliances. GERALD M. WALKER.Electronics p. 91 (April 14, 1977). Solid-state controls have been slowly edging electromechanical parts out of their well-entrenched position in the appliance industry. But the sudden popularity of programmable microwave ovens is speeding the pace, as well as raising the sophistication to the microcomputer level. Today every major appliance maker is busy planning how to "out-LSI" its competitors. Some form of large, scale integration has already popped up in standard ranges, clothes dryers, sewing machines, and central air conditioners, with washing machines and refrigerators next to fall in line. Overseas, it is already possible to buy a programmable washer in Japan, and various Common Market companies are beginning to introduce appliances equipped with programmable controls. Nor are major appliances likely to be the only beneficiaries of LSI. As prices for the new single-chip microprocessors tumble, coffee makers, blenders, bathroom scales, and the like will go solid-state.
Integrated circmt regulators. P. JEFFERSON.Electron. Power p. 299 (April 1977). Integrated-circuit regulators, both 3-terminal fixed and switching regulators, have enhanced and simplified power-supply design. The article gives some insight into the operation and design flexibility of the integrated regulator. An approach for determining optimum RAM requirements. TONY D. Cox and BOBBYL. MORRISON.Proc. IEEE Reliab. Maintaiaab. Syrup., Philadelphia (Jan. 18-20, 1977) p. 378. This paper outlines an approach with technique which can be used in determining the reliability requirements of a major weapon system. The approach involves investigation within two distinct areas. The first area is need oriented and involves determining the reliability necessary for the system to accomplish its missions effectively in both a peacetime and wartime environment, while the second area involves determining optimum system effectiveness for minimum life cycle costs. Although assumptions and estimates are necessary in the two areas, the approach is considered suitable for determining closely optimal reliability values.
7. SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, DEVICES AND MATERIALS Some investigations on secondary breakdown in p-n junctions considering the effect of thermally generated carders. M, J. ZARABIand M, SATYAM.Solid-St. Electron. 20, 407 0977). The V-I characteristic of a p-n junction under breakdown is calculated taking the thermally generated carriers into account. The current density distributions computed under different conditions have been given. The light emission and other characteristics reported by Chiang and Lauritzen and others have been explained.
on the periphery of the square sample. The solution is based on the method of images and is written in a compact, easily-evaluated form. The resistivity measurement error encountered with the square sample is presented in graphical form for use in test structure design.
Measurement of the barrier height ~B of SiSn02 heterojunction by the high-frequency capacitance method. A. KOLODZIEJ, T. P1SARrdEWtCZand T. PIECH. Electron. Technol. 10, Measurement of the resistivity of a thin square sample with (1) 49 (1977). In this paper the barrier height of SiSnO2 a square four-prohe array. MARTIN G. BUEHLERand W. heterojunction has been determined on the base of the ROBERTTHURBER.Solid-St. Electron. 20, 403 (1977). Geo- capacitance-voltage characteristics of the junction at metrical correction factors are evaluated for the measure- 1 MHz and 10MHz frequencies. The basing doping N a ment of the resistivity of a square conducting sample for the depletion region in silicon has also been deterwhose thickness is small compared to the probe spacing mined. This method is suitable if the SnO2 layer is highly of a square four-probe array. The correction factors allow conductive and thus the junction could be considered as the computation of the resistivity when the probes are not Schottky junction.
555
6. MICROELECTRONICS--COMPONENTS, SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENTS Where there's smoke, there will he an IC. BERNARDCOLE. Electronics p. 78 (May 12, 1977). A hot new consumer market for integrated circuits is shaping up in smoke detectors. From sales mainly in industrial applications of a few tens of thousands a year as recently as 1974, smoke detectors have attracted the attention of the home-building industry and home-owning consumers themselves so that U.S. volume exceeded 6 million units last year. Volume this year should range from 10 million to 12 million units. Controlling switching supplies with LSI circuits. HENRY WURZBURGand DAVE CAVE.Electronics p. 113 (March 31, 1977). Replacing over 50 discrete components, monolithic controls simplify design, reduce parts count, cut costs, and improve reliability. RGB colour decoder using three ICs from the TDA2500 range. M. C. GANDER,D. J. BEAKHUSTand R. P. GANT. Mullard tech. Communs 133, 86 (January 1977). An economical RGB decoder using three ICs from the TDA2500 range is described. Typical video output stages for use with the decoder are also described, together with two methods of voltage regulation, the alignment procedure, and some optional circuits. Large-scale integration is ready to answer the call of telecommunications. RICHARD GUNDLACH. Electronics p. 93 (April 28, 1977). Economy, reliability, and versatility--the three big bell-ringers of large-scale integration--are reachhag the point where they meet the exacting standards of the telecommunications industry. After working changes in such segments of the field as data communications, LSI is on the verge of transforming the biggest of them all: the telephone industry. Single-slice superhet. WILLIAM PEIL and ROBERT J. MCFADYEN. IEEE Spectrum p. 54 (March 1977). New portable and table model AM/FM radios are designed with most active components on one 16-pin bipolar chip. 16-k RAM eases memory design for mainframes and microcomputers. DERRELL COKER. Electronics p. 115 (April 28, 1977). The 16,384-bit dynamic random-access memory is now in volume production. Already 100,000 devices have been designed into prototype memory systems, and an estimated 3 million to 5 million devices will be installed i n mainframe memories this year. Its attraction for mainframe designers is, of course, low cost--a quarter the cost per bit of 4,096-bit parts with the same level of performance. But a less obvious asset--
ease of use---guarantees its popularity outside the mainframe area, particularly in the small peripheral and microprocessor-based systems that traditionally use static, not dynamic, RAMS. LSI controls gaining in home appliances. GERALD M. WALKER.Electronics p. 91 (April 14, 1977). Solid-state controls have been slowly edging electromechanical parts out of their well-entrenched position in the appliance industry. But the sudden popularity of programmable microwave ovens is speeding the pace, as well as raising the sophistication to the microcomputer level. Today every major appliance maker is busy planning how to "out-LSI" its competitors. Some form of large, scale integration has already popped up in standard ranges, clothes dryers, sewing machines, and central air conditioners, with washing machines and refrigerators next to fall in line. Overseas, it is already possible to buy a programmable washer in Japan, and various Common Market companies are beginning to introduce appliances equipped with programmable controls. Nor are major appliances likely to be the only beneficiaries of LSI. As prices for the new single-chip microprocessors tumble, coffee makers, blenders, bathroom scales, and the like will go solid-state.
Integrated circmt regulators. P. JEFFERSON.Electron. Power p. 299 (April 1977). Integrated-circuit regulators, both 3-terminal fixed and switching regulators, have enhanced and simplified power-supply design. The article gives some insight into the operation and design flexibility of the integrated regulator. An approach for determining optimum RAM requirements. TONY D. Cox and BOBBYL. MORRISON.Proc. IEEE Reliab. Maintaiaab. Syrup., Philadelphia (Jan. 18-20, 1977) p. 378. This paper outlines an approach with technique which can be used in determining the reliability requirements of a major weapon system. The approach involves investigation within two distinct areas. The first area is need oriented and involves determining the reliability necessary for the system to accomplish its missions effectively in both a peacetime and wartime environment, while the second area involves determining optimum system effectiveness for minimum life cycle costs. Although assumptions and estimates are necessary in the two areas, the approach is considered suitable for determining closely optimal reliability values.
7. SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS, DEVICES AND MATERIALS Some investigations on secondary breakdown in p-n junctions considering the effect of thermally generated carders. M, J. ZARABIand M, SATYAM.Solid-St. Electron. 20, 407 0977). The V-I characteristic of a p-n junction under breakdown is calculated taking the thermally generated carriers into account. The current density distributions computed under different conditions have been given. The light emission and other characteristics reported by Chiang and Lauritzen and others have been explained.
on the periphery of the square sample. The solution is based on the method of images and is written in a compact, easily-evaluated form. The resistivity measurement error encountered with the square sample is presented in graphical form for use in test structure design.
Measurement of the barrier height ~B of SiSn02 heterojunction by the high-frequency capacitance method. A. KOLODZIEJ, T. P1SARrdEWtCZand T. PIECH. Electron. Technol. 10, Measurement of the resistivity of a thin square sample with (1) 49 (1977). In this paper the barrier height of SiSnO2 a square four-prohe array. MARTIN G. BUEHLERand W. heterojunction has been determined on the base of the ROBERTTHURBER.Solid-St. Electron. 20, 403 (1977). Geo- capacitance-voltage characteristics of the junction at metrical correction factors are evaluated for the measure- 1 MHz and 10MHz frequencies. The basing doping N a ment of the resistivity of a square conducting sample for the depletion region in silicon has also been deterwhose thickness is small compared to the probe spacing mined. This method is suitable if the SnO2 layer is highly of a square four-probe array. The correction factors allow conductive and thus the junction could be considered as the computation of the resistivity when the probes are not Schottky junction.