Nat Semi intros dual 16-bit, 160-MSPS pipeline A/D converter

USA: National Semiconductor Corp. has introduced the industry’s first dual-channel 16-bit, 160 mega-samples per second (MSPS) pipeline analog-to-digital converter (ADC).

With two high-speed channels, the ADC16DV160 offers system designers the world’s best dynamic performance and smallest footprint (10 mm by 10 mm) to reduce system size, design complexity and development costs. The ADC16DV160 is targeted at multi-carrier, multi-standard GSM/EDGE, WCDMA, LTE and WiMAX wireless base stations.

The ADC16DV160 consumes less than half the power per ADC channel (650 mW) compared to competing single-channel 16-bit 160-MSPS pipeline ADCs, while offering the largest input-bandwidth (1.4 GHz) and the industry’s best dynamic performance at high input frequencies.

The ADC16DV160 delivers 91.2 decibels full scale (dBFS) spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR), 76.3 dBFS signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and 97.3 dBFS higher-order harmonic distortion at 197 MHz input frequency.

The ADC16DV160’s industry-leading dynamic performance enables increased basestation capacity and coverage, allowing service providers to reach more customers and deliver a higher quality of service.

The ADC16DV160’s energy efficiency reduces system power dissipation and relaxes basestation power management circuitry requirements. This increases overall system reliability and reduces system cooling requirements.

The ADC16DV160 operates on dual power supplies, 1.8V and 3.0V, with power-down and fast recovery, and features industry-standard dual low-voltage differential signaling (LVDS) outputs for interfacing to field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs).

Evaluation board and tools accelerate signal path development
An evaluation board interfaces directly with National’s WaveVision 5 software and data capture board to simplify and accelerate evaluation of the ADC16DV160. The WaveVision 5 system is a data acquisition and analysis tool designed to help users evaluate National’s signal path products.

The ADC16DV160 can be teamed with the dual-channel LMH6517 digitally-controlled variable gain amplifier (DVGA) or the LMH6554 fully differential amplifier. By adding the LMX2541 frequency synthesizer or one of National’s LMK04000 family of clock jitter cleaners, a system designer can form a complete signal path solution.

The ADC16DV160 is supplied in a 68-pin LLP package and is priced at $140 each in 1,000-unit quantities. The ADC is sampling now with production quantities scheduled for late fourth quarter 2009.

National Semiconductor adopts Cadence's Virtuoso simulation solution

SAN JOSE, USA: Cadence Design Systems Inc. recently announced that National Semiconductor, a developer of energy-efficient analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, had adopted the Cadence Virtuoso Accelerated Parallel Simulator to verify its large, complex analog designs.

Verification engineers throughout National’s global offices will have access to Cadence’s high-capacity and scalable parallel simulation technology.

Introduced in December, the Accelerated Parallel Simulator is already proven for verifying large, complex analog designs—with the complete accuracy of the Virtuoso Spectre Circuit Simulator, and without a reduction in the design netlist.

The capacity and scalability of the Accelerated Parallel Simulator shortens from weeks to days—and in some cases hours—the verification of complex designs.

“We are designing complex and large analog designs—such as power management circuits, ADCs/DACs and SerDes—that require advanced simulation technology with scalable performance across our multi-core compute platform, and without compromising accuracy,” said Sury Maturi, director of the Design Automation Group at National Semiconductor.

“After an extensive validation of the various simulation technologies on the market, we have selected the Accelerated Parallel Simulator. We were able to easily plug it in our current flow without changing our use model, and we’ve been getting impressive performance results without sacrificing accuracy.”

Among the performance gains reported by National, the Virtuoso Accelerated Parallel Simulator, running on eight cores, delivered a 13.3X improvement for a step down DC-DC converter with 26,000 devices. It delivered a 17X performance gain for a post-layout multi-rate video clock generator with 270,000 devices when run on an eight-core multi-processing compute platform.

In addition, National achieved an additional performance boost with the parasitic reduction capability for post-layout analog IP dominated by parasitics.

“National Semiconductor’s designs are just the type of medium to large complex designs that the Accelerated Parallel Simulator was developed to address,” said Zhihong Liu, corporate vice president of Cadence. “Like our other customers, National’s worldwide design centers have been able to reduce overall simulation time and meet ambitious tapeout schedules with the Virtuoso Accelerated Parallel Simulator.”

The Virtuoso Accelerated Parallel Simulator is part of the Virtuoso Multi-mode simulation platform and delivers the full accuracy of the industry reference Cadence Virtuoso Spectre Circuit Simulator.

Developed to solve the largest and most complex analog and mixed-signal designs across all process nodes, it consists of a combination of proven Cadence simulation technologies and a breakthrough parallel circuit solver along with a newly architected engine that efficiently harnesses the power of multiprocessing computing platforms.

The result is a circuit simulator with an accuracy and use model identical to the Virtuoso Spectre Circuit Simulator, delivering significantly improved single-thread performance and scalable multi-thread performance.

2008 industrial semiconductor revenues overtake automotive; Infineon, ST top two suppliers

LONDON, UK: According to analysis by Semicast Research, revenues for semiconductors in the industrial sector exceeded those in the automotive sector for the first time in 2008. Semicast estimates that industrial semiconductor revenues grew to $22.1 billion in 2008, a rise of almost 11 percent from $20.0 billion in 2007.

Semiconductor revenues in the industrial (including medical) sector have been broadly similar to those in automotive for several years. However auto sales have gone into reverse recently as consumers have chosen to defer new car purchases, with Chrysler and GM receiving government funding and even Toyota making a loss.

The worldwide automotive semiconductor market is estimated to have fallen by around 5 percent in 2008 and with car manufacturing plants on extended shutdown and consumer confidence still low, a further fall in 2009 looks certain.

Although industrial does not benefit from the hype and glamour of other sectors, neither does it exhibit the “boom-and-bust” cycle so typical of the semiconductor industry as a whole.

Further its broad applications base (encompassing areas as diverse as medical imaging, lighting control and farm machinery) and correspondingly fragmented customer base, help to ensure a spread of risk and uncertainty during these unprecedented times. Colin Barnden, Principal Analyst at Semicast Research, commented, “In the current economic climate, industrial is one sector which semiconductor vendors can look to as a safe haven for more dependable revenues”.

The industrial semiconductor market continues to have no clear number one supplier and Infineon Technologies and STMicroelectronics again competed for the position of largest supplier in 2008. With less than one percentage point of market share between them, Semicast judges Infineon to have recorded fractionally higher sales than ST in the industrial sector in 2008, although with such a fine margin that the Euro-to-Dollar exchange rate plays a decisive role.

The analysis clearly shows that in 2008, as in 2007, these two suppliers were the market leaders, ahead of Texas Instruments and Renesas, who themselves compete for third place. The largest suppliers are typically leaders in either standard linear, power discretes or microcontrollers, with Intel the only major exception to this rule among the top ten.

Although the industrial sector is by no means immune to the effects of the global recession, the diversity of its application and customer bases offers a strong foundation to support demand over the short term.

In addition, economic stimulus plans to raise government spending during the downturn are certain to be concentrated in areas of high political importance, such as energy conservation, medical electronics and security, all of which will benefit semiconductor demand in the industrial sector. Semicast predicts another fierce battle between Infineon and ST in 2009, although as recent events have clearly shown, be ready to expect the unexpected.

Market share estimates for semiconductor suppliers to industrial sector in 2008
1, Infineon Technologies 8 percent
2. STMicroelectronics 7 percent
3. Texas Instruments 6 percent
4. Renesas Technology 6 percent
5. Analog Devices 4 percent
6. Intel 3 percent
7. Vishay 3 percent
8. Toshiba 3 percent
9. National Semiconductor 2 percent
10. Freescale 2 percent
11. Others 56 percent

Notes:
Margin of error +/- 0.5%. All percentages are rounded.
Rate of Exchange: US$ 1 = EUR 0.683.
Source: Semicast Research (May 2009)

National Semiconductor intros industry's lowest jitter 3-Gbps SDI equalizer

NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF BROADCASTERS -- A new PowerWise 3-Gbps (3G) serial digital interface (SDI) cable equalizer (EQ) from National Semiconductor Corp. simplifies the design of broadcast video routers, production switchers, distribution amplifiers, editing and conversion equipment.

The energy-saving LMH0384 offers the industry's lowest output alignment jitter across cable lengths allowing hardware designers more headroom for designing within system jitter budgets. Tighter jitter budgets translate to cleaner system design, fewer bit errors and crisper images.

The LMH0384 is the only EQ to guarantee less than 0.3 unit intervals (UI) of output jitter from zero to 110m of Belden 1694A coaxial cable at 2.97-Gbps. It equalizes up to 140m of cable at 3G rates, 200m at high-definition (HD) rates and 400m at standard-definition (SD) rates.

The device adaptively adjusts equalization levels based on cable length to receive incoming signals and provide low-jitter transmission of 1080p high-definition (HD) broadcast video at up to 60 frames per second over a single coaxial cable. National will demonstrate the LMH0384 at the NAB show in Las Vegas from April 20-24 at Booth SU2804.

National's LMH0384 supports two modes of operation: pin mode and register mode. In pin mode, the EQ is fully backward-compatible with National's other SDI equalizers. Register mode opens up a suite of advanced features, accessible via serial peripheral interface (SPI) bus, that enable flexibility to change and diagnose product parameters without requiring a board re-spin.

These include automatic power down (auto-sleep), cable length indicator, LVDS drivers with programmable offset and amplitude, and programmable input launch amplitude to facilitate operation with external splitters. The LMH0384's 1.05V to 1.85V adjustable output common-mode voltage eliminates the need for level-translation buffers by facilitating direct coupling to most field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and signal conditioning devices.

The EQ offers active sensing features to minimize power consumption and reduce cooling requirements in customer systems. For example, in the event of cable detachment or loss of signal, the LMH0384 enters a power-saving auto sleep mode to reduce power consumption by 85 percent. In active mode, the EQ automatically shifts equalization stages at shorter cable lengths (less than 140m) to reduce power consumption by 20 percent. The EQ typically consumes 230 mW of power from a single 3.3V supply.

The LMH0384 is a part of National's broadcast video portfolio that enables Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) 424M, SMPTE 292M and SMPTE 259M uncompressed serial digital video routing and processing applications. The LMH0384 also fully supports the digital video broadcasting-asynchronous serial interface (DVB-ASI) standard at 270 Mbps for compressed video distribution in head-end equipment.

Pricing and availability
Offered in a 16-LLP(R) package, National Semiconductor's LMH0384 is priced at $21 each in 100-unit quantities. The LMH0384 is sampling now, with production quantities scheduled for May 2009.

Solutions Supporting Video Systems

National's high-performance, energy-efficient analog technology can help video engineers differentiate their products. National provides the key functions every system engineer requires, including operational amplifiers, power management, data conversion, interface and serial digital video products, audio subsystems, display ICs and networking products.