Vol.1 No.5 (December, 2006)

Special Issue: Electronic Devices

NAKAJIMA Toshio
President,
NEC Electronics Corporation
NAKATA Takehiko
President,
NEC TOKIN Corporation

FUKUMA Masao
Senior Vice President,
NEC Electronics

In the last ten years, semiconductor devices and especially system LSI's became capable of performing increasingly complex functions, yielding higher performance at lower prices thanks to, the advent of technologies that achieve low power circuits and high levels of parallelism, and also the rapid advance of sophisticated software, in addition to the conventional device miniaturization. On the other hand, due to the complexity of these individual technologies, it is becoming difficult to integrate them in a timely manner with the most suitable cost to provide customers with optimum solutions. In view of that, NEC Electronics is promoting activities to provide solutions that best satisfy customers based on the most suitable platform designed for each business area.

SAIKI Yoshihiko
Associate Senior Vice President,
NEC Tokin Corporation

This Special Issue features product development technologies of NEC Tokin Corporation, a core company in the electronic device business of NEC Group set to become a "Material-Based Device Creation Company." NEC Tokin proposes optimum solutions for customers by implementing proprietary key devices for innovation ahead of the rest of the world employing core material technologies.
This Special Issue shows technological trends, device technologies, and products developed in three areas where material technology is applied:energy devices including Proadlizers, NeoCapacitors, and lithium-ion rechargeable batteries, magnetic devices such as choke coils and noise suppression sheets, and applied piezoelectric devices. Making use of the products above, NEC Tokin offers solutions for a wide range of markets ranging from IT including mobile phones and digital home appliances to environmental, medical, and welfare solutions.

SoC Products

NOMURA Mamoru, MATSUNAGA Mitsuhiro, HAYASHI Naoya
SANPEI Tatsuya, KIKUTA Keiichi, KUWAHARA Takashi

NEC Electronics has developed a single-chip LSI that enables simultaneous receiving and recording of two digital Hi-Vision (HDTV) programs. This LSI integrates two functions onto a single ship. These are the HDTV function that includes terrestrial digital broadcast receiving and the DVD recorder function. These functions are used by being mounted onto two different function units. This LSI technology is a world first and with it high performance and low cost have both been achieved at the same time as providing the most appropriate solutions for users.

MOTOYAMA Yoshiaki, SATO Noboru, HONMA Hiromi, JIMI Junichi, SHIBATA Iwao

2006 became the first year in which players compatible with HD DVD or BD (Blu-ray Disc), the next-generation DVD formats, were introduced into the market respectively. This coincides with the spread of large-screen high-definition TVs and the start of digital HD broadcasts, thereby boosting expectations for next-generation DVD.
NEC Electronics has succeeded in the development and commercialization of the SCOMBO/UM recording/playback drive system LSI that supports both HD DVD and BD as well as current DVD and CD standards, making it the world’s first to offer compatibility with all of these media. This paper introduces this breakthrough.

OKADA Kengo

The Audio Processor series is an audio companion LSI chip to playback long-hour audio data on mobile phones. It employs a configuration that can be easily added to the conventional system of mobile phone set.
AP130, one of the models of the AP series, employs the "SD Audio" function that enables music data to be downloaded and played without copyright infringement. It is not necessary to have the application processor operate. This feature allows manufacturers to reduce both the time to market and the cost, and 50 hours of continuous music are enabled to be played back.

HOSODA Hiroto

The IMAPCAR is a moving image recognition processor equipped with the functions, performance, quality and reliability required for automotive image recognition.
IMAPCAR is marketed as an automotive device of NEC Electronics Corporation based on the "IMAP architecture featuring parallel operations of multiple processors." This solution is the result of studies achieved by NEC Media and Information Research Laboratories. The device is expected to function as an eye for vehicles designed to meet the recent rise in the awareness of car safety issues.

MCU Products

NISHIZAWA Kazuyuki, OBA Koji

Every "All Flash" microcontroller product is loaded with flash microcontrollers in order to improve the system competitiveness of our customers. Since the re-programming of software is possible with flash microcontrollers, large benefits result in terms of lead time and cost during system development. Furthermore, since flash microcontrollers available from NEC Electronics are provided with "peace of mind," which comes through the elimination of uncertainties, such as the "small number of available products" or "high cost," making it possible to develop through to production all on flash microcontrollers. Additionally, the benefits of flash microcontrollers can be maximized through a development environment that can improve the efficiency of system development as well as a programming environment that can improve productivity.

Individual Semiconductor Products

FUKUCHI Kazuhiro, HIRAMATSU Shinichi, YAMADA Yukiko
Tai Siew CHIN, FUJIE Kouji, KUBOGATA Masayuki

NEC Electronics has been marketing MOSFET products for protecting the lithium-ion batteries used in cellular phones.
The newly developed CSP-type MOSFET, named the EFLIP, is a lithium-ion protection MOSFET of the smallest class, with a package mounting area of only 2.6mm2. It is expected to contribute significantly to a reduction in lithium-ion battery packs and the mobile equipment that incorporates them.

Innovative Common Technologies to Support State-of-the-Art Products

SAKURAI Yoshikazu, SUZUKI Hiroaki, MAEMURA Kouji, TAKAKURA Satoshi

Most current System on Chip (SoC) devices incorporate embedded CPUs that have an important function.
The SoC design is complicated and its functions are advancing every year. The times in which only the individual performance of an embedded CPU was in question has now changed to one in which emphasis is put on the bus configuration design in accordance with the requirements of each application and on the design of distributed data processing.
This paper is intended to describe the present status of the embedded CPUs that are provided by NEC Electronics for the "customer-intimate ASIC" developed by the user and semiconductor vendor for each application such as a digital home appliance or cellular phone. It also introduces the core and platform based design solutions of the British company ARM Limited.

FUKASE Tadashi, NAKAHARA Yasushi, TAKAHASHI Toshifumi, IMAI Kiyotaka

NEC Electronics has developed a transistor that delivers low current leakage, high performance and a significant reduction in the manufacturing processes. These solutions have been achieved by establishing a threshold voltage control technology to control the work function by applying a trace of hafnium to the gate insulation film of a transistor. This paper introduces the 55nm (nanometer) node design rule CMOS process technology, "UX7LS" which combines the above new transistor technology and the immersion lithography technology. UX7LS enables a wide variety of applications to be covered with a single transistor structure by controlling the threshold voltage, between 0.3V to 0.5V. Moreover, a performance increase of approximately 20%, a process decrease of maximum 15% and scaling down of the SRAM cell size to 0.446μm2 have been achieved compared to the performance of transistors that conform to the 65nm design rule.

ISHIYAMA Toshio, WADA Shinichi, KUZUMI Hajime, IDE Takashi

The sophistication of functions, miniaturization and reduced weight of household appliances and various devices have been accelerating in recent years. The LSIs loaded into these products have consequently been significantly miniaturized into microscopic sizes on an increasingly large scale. In the midst of all this, a failure analysis technology is an extremely critical technology used in situations that call for identifying design problems with short delivery designs, the clarification and resolution of problems in manufacturing processes, as well as the resolution and feedback of problems within a short time in the unlikely event of problems occurring at a customer’s location.
This paper introduces technologies along with case examples, such as fault diagnosis for accurately narrowing down the locations of faults, fault localization that pin points the determination of such locations and a physical analysis important for clarifying problems efficiently and in a short period of time.

KURITA Yoichiro, SOEJIMA Koji, KAWANO Masaya

NEC Electronics Corporation and NEC Corporation have jointly developed an ultra-compact system-in-package (SiP) that connects the memory chip and logic LSI through a high-density wiring body. This technology features co-existence of the wide-band memory accessibility of the system-on-chip (SoC) and a memory capacity increase capability of the SiP that is made possible by the individual fabrication of memory and logic on independent chips. This package is expected to improve performance due to memory band widening and a reduction in the power consumed in inter-chip communications. Practical implementation is being advanced by aiming at a broad field applications field including the mobile equipment market, which is currently undergoing a rapid multiplication of functions.

Energy Devices

TAKAHASHI Kenichi, INOUE Takeo, NAGASAWA Toshihisa, SEKIGUCHI Yoshinori

The Proadlizer is an epoch-making decoupling device that can match market requirements for both the present and future. Its low-impedance and flat frequency response over the wide frequency range of from some tens of kHz to a few GHz and it also offers high capacitance. This paper is intended to describe its features, construction, characteristics, reliability and its mass-production and series production methods.

TAKADA Daisuke, ISHIJIMA Masaya, MURAYAMA Yuji

The NeoCapacitor series are tantalum capacitors made from conductive polymers. NEC TOKIN has been commercializing products with rated voltages from 2.5 to 16V by setting design concepts according to the market requirements for higher CPU speeds, lower power consumption and lower drive voltage. However, the demand for the development of new products is still high from the server and LCD module markets, which necessitates even higher caliber functions and reliability. In order to improve the voltage resistance products with the high rated voltages of 20, 25V and greater, NEC TOKIN has recently developed element technologies and materials and has analyzed the standard products on the market. Simultaneously, it has also introduced quality engineering in order to optimize the design and eliminate turning back and has eventually succeeded in developing products with the target high-voltage of 50V or greater.

ZAMA Kouichi, KUMEUCHI Tomokazu, ENOMOTO Shinsuke, DAIDOJI Takao

The applications of lithium ion rechargeable batteries have recently been expanding in the high current requirement fields as these devices begin to be used in electrical tools such as for impact drivers and hammer drills.
NEC TOKIN has newly developed and commercialized a 3Ah class, high power, large-capacity lithium ion rechargeable battery by applying its expertise in materials technology and associated techniques that have been gained in the commercialization of large-capacity batteries. The newly developed high power, large-capacity lithium ion rechargeable battery, "IML126070" is capable of a continuous 30A discharge and a quick 13-minute discharge (90% recharging) due to; 1) the use of electrode materials proven in the development of electrically assisted bicycles; 2) a review of electrode specifications to provide compatibility with high current discharge and rapid charging, and; 3) improvement and optimization of the current collector structure to provide compatibility with high current and higher energy levels.

EMC Devices

YAMAUCHI Hideaki, SAITO Yoshihiro, TABATA Tsubasa

The trend toward increasing the density of components mounted in a variety of electronic equipment has increased the demand for large-current compatible choke coils more than ever. This paper introduces the MPC and the MPLC Series of choke coils that have been developed to meet this demand using magnetic metallic materials and integrated one-piece constructions. These choke coils are optimized for use in the DC/DC converters that drive the CPUs of PCs, and the use of magnetic metallic materials with a onepiece construction achieve excellent characteristics in terms of low loss, DC superposition, electromagnetic noise and power load efficiency characteristics. The choke coil production lines will be expanded further in the future by decreasing the size, increasing component density and improving their efficiency.

YOSHIDA Shigeyoshi, KONDO Koichi, ONO Hiroshi

Ferrite-plated film is a flexible magnetic sheet that can be deposited at ordinary temperatures. Its high electrical resistance and high permeability up to the UHF band allows the film with a thickness of only a few microns to effectively suppress high-frequency electromagnetic noise without side effects. It can be formed directly onto electronic components and circuit boards and contains no organic substances such as polymers, so that it can withstand reflow soldering process and may even be used inside IC chips or in the inner layers of multi-layer boards. The active application of this device is currently under way based on the expectation that it will provide a simple solution to problems that are likely to become even more complex in the future, such as prevention of the high-frequency noise of electronic devices and improvements to signal integrity.

Piezoelectric Devices

MAMIYA Yoichi

The piezoelectric actuator is a device that features high displacement accuracy, high response speed and high force generation. It has mainly been applied in support of industrial machinery that requires precise position control. Its application in the field of compact electronic equipment such as digital cameras and cellular phones is advancing rapidly.

FUJITA Masahiko, KAWAHARA Takeshi, MORIMOTO Masayuki
KAWASE Hideyuki, YOSHINO Kazumi, HASHIMOTO Youichi

NEC TOKIN Corporation has marketed a bone conductive receiver/microphone as a mobile phone accessory that can convey sound to the auditory organs though vibration using a piezoelectric bone conductive speaker. This device has received a favorable evaluation in a field test that was provided to those who have difficulty in hearing, and also with individuals who have normal hearing but are located in a noisy place. The device is suitable not only for people who have difficulty in hearing a conversation with a mobile phone but also for normal hearers who are trying to have a conversation in noisy situation, for example in a running train or at noisy factory site such as in a press shop or near an assembly line. This paper outlines the bone conductive speaker and the standard specifications for a bone conductive receiver/microphone by focusing on the practical use of the bone conductive receiver microphone as well as discussing aspects and design points of the configuration and function of each element part.