EDN - January 10, 2008

Designers pursue next-generation wireless developments with modulation-aware test tools, though evolving standards present problems from the PHY to the data layers.

• Departments and Columns
• Scope
• Scope: APEC 2008, credit crunch hits tech
• Signal Integrity
• Initial condition: The advantage of symmetric end termination in transmission lines
• Supply Chain
• 2007: a less-than-memorable year for DRAM
• Demand-driven downturn possible in 2008
• California vetoes ROHS-expansion bill
• edn.comment
• Open-cellular-network boasts lack substance

• Design Ideas
• Use the MCLR pin as an output with PIC microcontrollers
• White LED shines from piezoelectric-oscillator supply
• Simple continuity tester fits into shirt pocket
• High-speed clamp functions as pulse-forming circuit
• Depletion-mode MOSFET kick-starts power supply

• Features
• Design Feature
• RFI: keeping noise out of your designs
• Novel measurement circuit eases battery-stack-cell design

• Pulse
• Silicon fatigue: not a myth
• STMicroelectronics claims first 45-nm CMOS-RF chips
• IBM millimeter-wave wireless technology inches toward commercialization
• Silicon nanocrystals show promise for solar cells