Chung Hwa Picture Tubes Forays Into LCOS TV
ITRI Develops Chip Supporting GSM/DCS and Wireless LAN
Sunyang Digital Develops 2M Pixel Camera Module
Nextel to Supply Battery to Pantech & Curitel
NTT DoCoMo to Install Environmentally Friendly 3G Base Station
Nichia Unveils new White LEDs
FeliCa Handsets Have Different Antenna Approaches
ACCESS Supplies Browser and Coded Software to Hutchison 3G NEC Handset

Chung Hwa Picture Tubes of Taiwan is going to get into the LCOS TV business, Economic Daily reported on June 8, 2004. Chung Hwa Picture Tubes will have four major TV products based on CRT, LCD, PDP and LCOS. The company's 52-inch LCOS TV developed by its central research lab was showcased at FPD Taiwan on June 9, 2004. LCOS TV can easily achieve a large format and is suitable for digital broadcasting. Another advantage is low cost. A representative of Chung Hwa Picture Tubes commented, "The reason that LCOS penetration is low is due to low yield of the chip. In Taiwan, however, TSMC and UMC are tackling the problem and are supporting expansion of the LCOS industry. In the future when the technical advancement is achieved, Taiwan will be able to own a perfect supply chain of digital TVs in addition to LCD TVs." Chung Hwa Picture Tubes' LCOS TVs will adopt chips from TSMC and UMC. Chung Hwa Picture Tubes will attempt commercialization after yield improvement of key components is achieved. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

ITRI (Industrial Technology Research Institute) of Taiwan announced an IC which supports GSM/DCS and wireless LAN based on IEEE802.11b/g at the IEEE MTT-S International Microwave Symposium 2004 (IMS2004). The chip is intended for a cellular phone equipped with a wireless LAN function. In order to simplify circuit structure, the company adopted the direct conversion method for the signal receiving circuit architecture. Also by adopting a single frequency synthesizer and VCO, and by generating local signals for the down conversion mixer in three different frequency bands, further simplification was attained. As there is only a receiver portion, power consumption is low. Power consumption at GSM signal receiving is 29mA, 33mA at DCS signal receiving, and IEEE802.11b receiving at 31mA. ITRI used 0.25-micron CMOS process. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Sunyang Digital Image of South Korea completed development of a 2 million-pixel camera module equipped with an AF feature and is going to start commercial production as early as in October 2004, the announcement was made on June 21, 2004.

The new image CMOS sensor module features 2.1 million-pixels, auto focus and macro functions. The company claims it is the first time that a CMOS-based 2-million pixel class camera module has been developed in South Korea.

A representative of Sunyang Digital Image commented, "By successfully developing a 2.1 million-pixel camera module, a stable supply of camera modules became possible in South Korea without depending on supply from Japan. By kicking off delivery to major cellular phone manufacturers quickly, the company will be able to achieve the leading position in the camera phone market, which is expanding at a rapid pace."

Sunyang Digital Image plans full fledged production as early as October 2004 after completing quality qualification approvals by its clients. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Nextel, a South Korean cellular phone component supplier, is going to supply 514 million won ($446,181@ won 1152/$US 1) worth of battery packs to Pantech & Curitel starting in early July 2004. The new battery pack, which Nextel will supply to Pantech & Curitel, is for the model TX 110C, which is an export handset model.

Nextel recently made an announcement that the company was promoting a merger with a battery company Kotech. This is the first battery order that Nextel has received. Nextel will continue to seek for orders for its battery products. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

NTT DoCoMo of Japan is going to install a 3G (FOMA) wireless base station which can be powered by wind power and sunlight. DoCoMo is going to install the base station in Tateyama City, Chiba Prefecture and will begin using it on July 1, 2004.

DoCoMo will install a communication antenna and windmill for wind power generation on the tip of a 32.5 m tall pole in a 390m2 lot. The panel for sunlight power generation will be installed on the ground. As backup for bad weather conditions or whenever power is not sufficient for operating the base station, DoCoMo's employee will install a portable secondary battery. The amount of power generation and power consumption at the station has not been disclosed.

DoCoMo also adopted recycled plastic in some ground equipment such as the sunlight battery panel. It also adopted a halogen free compound and materials free of Pb and vinyl chloride in cables within the base station.

DoCoMo has been operating 16 base stations for its 2G wireless service, "mova" similar to this one, which can be powered with natural energy. They are placed in mountain paths and capes where conditions are favorable for sunlight and wind power. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Nichia of Japan announced a new white LED prototype which is 1.7 times brighter than the existing products. Although luminous efficiency differs depending on package structure, the maximum is 50lm/W. The company plans to begin commercial production in summer 2004.

The new white LED consists of a blue LED chip and florescent material similar to the existing products. By improving the transparency of the electrodes, Nichia increased the amount of blue light discharged from the blue LED chip. The prototype white LEDs come in two types: one with a 260 micron x 260 micron blue LED chip and another with a 1 mm x 1 mm blue LED chip. The smaller type is targeted as a backlight light source for cellular phones. The luminous efficiency is estimated at 40 lm/W. The backlight white LED supports a luminosity of 1000mcd at an input voltage of +4V and 20mA operation. The existing white LED supports 600mcd.

The company also showcased prototype LCD panels using Nichia's white LEDs as a backlight light source. Those displayed were 19-inch and 9-inch LCD panels. Both of the LCD panels contained Nichia's white LEDs that are currently commercially available. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

Four FeliCa handsets, which were announced from NTT DoCoMo, have different antenna structures. The FeliCa chip uses electromagnetic induction for data exchange and radio wave sensitivity improves with the size of the antenna. As space in a handset is limited, each handset manufacturer had to do their best in fitting in an antenna. Antennas were imbedded in the keyboard side of the handset (Fujitsu and Sony Ericsson) and LCD display side of the handset (Panasonic Mobile Communications and Sharp).

Fujitsu's F900iC housed the wound round antenna near the battery pack compartment. The F900iC is the only FeliCa handset that is a 3G (FOMA) wireless handset. The battery pack capacity is 850mAh and size of the battery is large. This structure could cause problems if the aluminum alloy within the battery pack causes interference with the electromagnetic field that the reader/writer irradiates resulting in degraded radio wave reception. Conventionally, ferrite material is adhered to the back of the antenna to prevent such phenomena. Speculating from the structure of the F900iC, a material similar to ferrite may be adopted on the inside of the battery pack to enhance radio wave sensitivity.

The Sony Ericsson-made SO506iC has a similar antenna structure to the F900iC. This handset has a battery pack inserted into a slot and the antenna is embedded in the space in between the battery pack slot and the external casing.

Panasonic Mobile Communication embedded the antenna near the lid of the battery pack. The company adopted a small size battery pack which is also used in the P252iS, and secured a sufficient area for the antenna. The SH506iC embedded the antenna in the casing near the LCD display. By minimizing the size of the sub-display, Sharp secured enough space for the antenna. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]

ACCESS of Japan announced that NEC has adopted the NetFront v3.0 browser and the AVE-SSL coding module in its 3G wireless handsets for Hutchison Whampoa Group. NEC's e616, c616, e313 and c313 are included in this group. The NetFront browser technology has been also adopted by NTT DoCoMo's 3G (FOMA) handsets. The NetFront technology can achieve a mobile Internet environment filled with rich contents on Hutchison's WCDMA network, similar to the FOMA network. [M. Robertson, Portelligent]