Eindhoven, Netherlands — Building on its industry-leading position in in-vehicle networking (IVN), NXP Semiconductors N.V. (Nasdaq: NXPI) today introduced Mantis™, a new family of HS-CAN transceivers. Mantis (TJA1044T and TJA1057T) and Mantis GT (TJA1044GT and TJA1057GT) offer a feature set targeting 12 V automotive applications and deliver excellent EMC performance, with the high-end 'GT' variant guaranteeing critical parameters for CAN FD (Flexible Data rate) networks. All members of the Mantis family are dual-sourced from locations in the Netherlands and Singapore to provide an agile, high-capacity and secure manufacturing base.

With the market demanding continued productivity of basic CAN functions, Mantis offers a feature set tailored to fulfill the requirements of mainstream automotive applications. In particular, Mantis takes a step forward by uniquely meeting today's EMC emission limits at 500 kbps without requiring a common-mode choke – and with a choke, these same limits can be met at data rates of 2 Mbps in CAN FD networks. In addition, the devices' bus pins are tolerant to ±42 V, and ESD meets automotive requirements of 6 kV (IEC-61004-2) with typical standby currents of 10 µA.

'Mantis is designed as a best-in-class HS-CAN transceiver for standard automotive applications, both now and in the future. We continue to raise the bar in the industry,' said Toni Versluijs, vice president and general manager, in-vehicle networking business, NXP Semiconductors. 'As the industry continues to innovate to extract more from traditional CAN networks, Mantis GT addresses many of the concerns around CAN FD. With this product, NXP has shown that it's possible to also achieve excellent EMC performance at speeds of 2 Mbps and beyond, representing a major validation of the CAN FD standard.'

Mantis GT also introduces loop delay symmetry, a new parameter which guarantees the integrity of CAN communication is preserved at higher speeds, resulting in a transceiver that is optimized for data rates of 2 Mbps and over. This is an important development for the industry's adoption of CAN FD, which depends on semiconductor solutions being able to support CAN communication at higher speeds.
Features

• Fully ISO-11898-2 and ISO-11898-5 (TJA1044T and TJA1044GT only) compliant transceivers
• Dual sourced from ICN8 Nijmegen and SSMC Singapore
• Maximum voltage on CAN pins: ±42 V
• 6kV ESD handling capability on bus pins (IEC -61004-2 and HBM)
• EMC compliant up to 2 Mbps, according 'Hardware Requirements for LIN, CAN and FlexRay Interfaces in Automotive Application – Audi, BMW, Daimler, Porsche, Volkswagen – Revision 1.3 / 2012'
• Logic levels compatible with 3.3 V and 5 V microcontrollers
• Standby current (TJA1044T and TJA1044GT): 10 µA typical
• Fully automotive qualified to AEC-Q100
• Available in SO8 package

Links

• VIDEO: NXP Mantis: A New Standard for HS-CAN Transceivers: http://youtu.be/fD9vXPkw7j8
• NXP Mantis family of HS-CAN transceivers: http://www.nxp.com/products/interface_and_connectivity/transceivers/can_transceivers/series/TJA1044T_TJA1057T.html
• NXP CAN transceivers: http://www.nxp.com/products/automotive/transceivers/

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions that leverage its leading RF, Analog, Power Management, Interface, Security and Digital Processing expertise. These innovations are used in a wide range of automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing applications. A global semiconductor company with operations in more than 25 countries, NXP posted revenue of $4.36 billion in 2012. Additional information can be found by visiting www.nxp.com.

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TOKYO, Japan — Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions, today announced the development of the µPD720115 USB 2.0 hub controller chip, which supports simultaneous USB communication and charging of portable devices such as smartphones and tablet PCs via a single USB connector.

The most important feature of the µPD720115 is its implementation of USB ports with battery charging functionality which supports the USB Battery Charging Specification, Revision 1.2 (USB BC 1.2). The µPD720115 will make it easier to develop products that support simultaneous data communication complying with the USB 2.0 standard and charging portable devices via a single USB connector, such as PCs, digital TVs, and charging adapters. It can help shorten system architecture development cycles and reduce development costs.

In recent years, the USB communication market has become divided into two segments as a result of faster data transfer speeds. The first segment centers around storage devices, such as hard disk drives, which require high-speed data transfer. It utilizes the USB 3.0 standard, which supports data transfer speeds up to 5 gigabits per second (5 Gbps). The second segment includes applications such as digital TVs, printers, audio components, and industrial equipment. This segment employs the earlier USB 2.0 standard, which supports data transfer speeds up to 480 megabits per second (480 Mbps). USB 2.0 remains a widely used interface for connecting devices of all sorts.

The European Commission (the executive of the EU) has adopted Micro USB as the standard charger interface for mobile phones, smartphones and tablet PCs sold in Europe. As a result, applications in which the communication USB ports of PCs and docking stations are used for charging such portable devices are increasing. The market for products complying with the USB 2.0 standard in these application fields is growing rapidly, and it is expected to continue to expand moving forward.

In response to this demand, Renesas decided to develop and introduce to the market the µPD720115, utilizing technology accumulated over many years of developing products with USB support. Renesas has long devoted considerable attention to the USB interface, offering a broad lineup of microcontroller (MCU) products equipped with USB functions. The µPD720115 is a USB hub controller suitable for a wide variety of systems requiring USB functionality, and is also ideal for extending the number of ports of a USB MCU.

Key Features of the New µPD720115:

(1) Supporting the USB BC 1.2 standard, for easy development of USB charging system architectures
The µPD720115 implements a total of four USB ports with battery charging functionality. It supports the USB BC 1.2 standard [Note 1], which supports charging currents of up to 1.5 amperes (A). Since the µPD720115 supports both USB communication and rapid battery charging in this way, developing a USB charging system architecture is easy.

(2) Built-in dual voltage regulators and clock output function, making it possible to build more compact systems at a lower cost
Comparable earlier products required external voltage regulators, but the µPD720115 integrates a 5 volt (V) and a 3.3 volt (V) regulator on-chip. This allows the user to employ the 5 V from the USB cable as a power supply without modification. There is no need to include an external regulator in the system design.
The µPD720115 also has a clock output function (24 MHz) to enable cascade connection [Note 2] of the USB ports to other µPD720115 chips or connection to other chips used by USB peripheral devices. This eliminates the need to add an external crystal oscillator for the lower-level chip, as was previously the case. The µPD720115 makes it possible to create a USB charging system architecture that is both lower in cost and more compact.

(3) Operating temperature range extending down to −40°, enabling use in a wide range of application fields
Comparable earlier products had an operating temperature range with a lower limit of 0° or above, but the µPD720115 extends this down to −40°. This provides support for the operating temperature range requirements of typical industrial equipment.

Moving forward, Renesas plans to actively develop USB products to meet evolving market requirements and to market them in a timely manner.

Refer to the separate sheet for the main specifications of the µPD720115 USB 2.0 hub controller chip.

Pricing and Availability

Samples of the µPD720115 USB 2.0 hub controller chip will start in June 2013. Mass production of the µPD720115 is scheduled to begin in September 2013 and is expected to reach a scale of 1,000,000 units per month in 2014. (Availability is subject to change without notice.)

[Note 1] Battery charging via the USB port utilizes the VBUS pin the USB connector. To control the current used to charge the connected portable device, USB BC 1.2 defines a mechanism for detecting whether or not the port of the connected device supports charging. A charging current of up to 1.5 A can be used.
[Note 2] To extend the number of ports, a port is connected to the port of a USB hub.

(Remarks)
Names of products or services mentioned in this press release are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
About Renesas Electronics Corporation

Renesas Electronics Corporation (TSE: 6723), the world's number one supplier of microcontrollers, is a premier supplier of advanced semiconductor solutions including microcontrollers, SoC solutions and a broad range of analog and power devices. Business operations began as Renesas Electronics in April 2010 through the integration of NEC Electronics Corporation (TSE:6723) and Renesas Technology Corp., with operations spanning research, development, design and manufacturing for a wide range of applications. Headquartered in Japan, Renesas Electronics has subsidiaries in 20 countries worldwide. More information can be found at www.renesas.com.

The content in the press release, including, but not limited to, product prices and specifications, is based on the information as of the date indicated on the document, but may be subject to change without prior notice.

— WebWireID175016 —

San Jose, Calif. – Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY), today introduced PSoC® Designer™ 5.4, a new version of its Integrated Design Environment (IDE) for the PSoC 1 Programmable System-on-Chip architecture. The new version includes over 40 new or enhanced User Modules, which are free 'Virtual Chips,' represented by an icon, that are used to integrate multiple ICs and system interfaces into a single PSoC device. Version 5.4 also offers multiple new features to make designing with PSoC faster and easier, including an Auto-Complete feature that automatically suggests variables, functions, and keywords as users type. The version marks another significant first for PSoC Designer, as it now allows customers to create their own User Modules, with complete control over the hardware, firmware, and graphical user interface.

Version 5.4 includes three new SmartSense™ User Modules that simplify usage of Cypress's industry-leading CapSense® capacitive touch-sensing technology. The new SmartSense2X_EMC User Module supports both the CY8C2xx45 and CY8C28xxx PSoC 1 families. SmartSense2X_EMC not only saves time by automatically tuning capacitive sensors and dynamically adjusting the tuning during operation, it also increases end-systems' immunity to electromagnetic interference, providing the ability to operate in high-noise environments. This functionality is ideal for home appliances and a broad range of additional markets.

'PSoC Designer now makes it easier than ever to integrate sophisticated functionality in embedded designs, including Cypress's world-class CapSense capacitive touch controls,' said Kapil Rai, Senior Director of PSoC 1 Products for Cypress. 'Version 5.4 opens up a new world of designs by giving engineers the power to create their own User Modules and take full advantage of PSoC's flexibility.'

Other key new user modules include a programmable current source and a scanning successive approximation analog-to-digital converter (SAR ADC). Instead of having to manually configure the hardware and firmware, users can simply drag and drop the scanning SAR ADC into their design to have it automatically measure voltages on any number of inputs. Users can download PSoC Designer 5.4 free of charge at www.cypress.com/psocdesigner.

User Modules can be dragged and dropped as icons into a design using PSoC Designer's graphical user interface. They are pre-tested and pre-characterized, and each comes with a datasheet that designers can use to customize the functionality for their specific designs. PSoC Designer 5.4 includes more than 160 of these User Modules, making designing with PSoC 1 devices fast and easy. In addition, PSoC Designer 5.4 boosts engineering efficiency through design re-use by enabling engineers to develop their own User Modules containing their own unique hardware and firmware IP. Designers can also create a customized graphical user interface to configure their User Modules.

PSoC Designer 5.4 contains 15 new example projects that show users how to build a wide array of PSoC systems. This version also includes a new graphical interface that makes it easier for users to sort and filter these example projects to find those of interest.

About PSoC Designer
PSoC Designer helps users harness the power and flexibility of PSoC 1 devices. By operating at a higher level of abstraction and not requiring ground-up firmware development, it enables new designs to be created, simulated and programmed to the targeted PSoC device in hours or days instead of in weeks or months. It provides the user with a catalog of peripheral functions called 'User Modules.' User modules take the configurable PSoC devices and create useful functions as diverse as counters, timers and PWMs, analog converters, both ADCs and DACs, communications links like UARTs, SPI and I2C, as well as comparators, programmable gain blocks, filters and even bootloaders. Each user module includes the hardware configuration data, startup code, an interrupt service routine when applicable, and a set of APIs.

PSoC — Because Change Happens
PSoC 1 devices employ a highly configurable system-on-chip architecture for embedded control design, offering a flash-based equivalent of a field-programmable ASIC without lead-time or NRE penalties. PSoC devices integrate configurable analog and digital circuits, controlled by an on-chip microcontroller, providing both enhanced design revision capability and component count savings. They include up to 32 Kbytes of Flash memory, 2 Kbytes of SRAM, an 8x8 multiplier with 32-bit accumulator, power and sleep monitoring circuits, and hardware I2C communications. Additionally, PSoC devices contain powerful analog functionality, such as delta-sigma analog-to-digital converters, operational amplifiers, and programmable switched capacitor networks.

The flexible PSoC digital and analog blocks allow designers to future-proof their products by enabling firmware-based changes during design, validation, production, and in the field. The unique PSoC flexibility shortens design cycle time and allows for late-breaking feature enhancements. All PSoC devices are also dynamically reconfigurable, enabling designers to morph internal resources on-the-fly, utilizing fewer components to perform a given task.

A single PSoC device can integrate as many as 100 peripheral functions saving customers design time, board space and power consumption while improving system quality and reliability. Customers can save as much as $10 in system costs. Learn more about PSoC products at www.cypress.com/psoc and receive free online training at www.cypress.com/psoctraining.

About Cypress
Cypress delivers high-performance, mixed-signal, programmable solutions that provide customers with rapid time-to-market and exceptional system value. Cypress offerings include the flagship PSoC 1, PSoC 3, PSoC 4, and PSoC 5 programmable system-on-chip families. Cypress is the world leader in capacitive user interface solutions including CapSense touch sensing, TrueTouch® touchscreens, and trackpad solutions for notebook PCs and peripherals. Cypress is the world leader in USB controllers, which enhance connectivity and performance in a wide range of consumer and industrial products. Cypress is also the world leader in SRAM and nonvolatile RAM memories. Cypress serves numerous major markets, including consumer, mobile handsets, computation, data communications, automotive, industrial, and military. Cypress trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol CY. Visit Cypress online at www.cypress.com.

Cypress, the Cypress logo, PSoC, CapSense, and TrueTouch are registered trademarks, and PSoC Designer and SmartSense are trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

— WebWireID174988 —

SanDisk's achievement of this breakthrough in semiconductor manufacturing takes its memory cell size from 19nm-by-26nm to 19nm-by-19.5nm, delivering a 25 percent reduction of the memory cell area and allowing SanDisk to continue leading the industry in building smaller, more powerful flash memory products.

SanDisk's second-generation 19nm memory die uses the most sophisticated flash memory technology node to-date, including advanced process innovations and cell-design solutions. SanDisk's All-Bit-Line (ABL) architecture with proprietary programming algorithms and multi-level data storage management schemes help yield multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory chips that do not sacrifice performance or reliability. In addition, SanDisk's three bits per cell X3 technology, implemented in the second-generation 19nm node will deliver the lowest-cost flash solutions to address multiple growing end-markets for flash memory.

SanDisk's latest breakthrough in shrinking the circuitry used in flash memory chips allows higher capacity products and lower cost manufacturing techniques to be employed when creating SanDisk's flash memory solutions. Consumers and businesses worldwide will benefit from this new advanced manufacturing technology by having access to higher capacity and smaller-sized flash memory chips from SanDisk for mobile phones, tablets, Solid State Drives (SSDs) for client and enterprise markets, and consumer products.

About SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK) is a global leader in flash memory storage solutions, from research and development, product design and manufacturing to branding and distribution for OEM and retail channels. Since 1988, SanDisk's innovations in flash memory and storage system technologies have provided customers with new and transformational digital experiences. SanDisk's diverse product portfolio includes flash memory cards and embedded solutions used in smart phones, tablets, digital cameras, camcorders, digital media players and other consumer electronic devices, as well as USB flash drives and solid-state drives (SSD) for the computing market. SanDisk's products are used by consumers and enterprise customers around the world.

SanDisk is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 and Fortune 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States. For more information, visit www.sandisk.com.

----
© 2013 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk and the SanDisk logo are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation, registered in the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for technologies, performance, costs, product capabilities, markets and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: the market demand for our products may grow more slowly than our expectations or the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q and our annual report on Form 10-K. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.

— WebWireID174971 —

Neubiberg, Germany - - Next week at the PCIM 2013 trade show for power electronics, Infineon Technologies AG (FSE: IFX / OTCQX: IFNNY) will present the new 2EDL EiceDRIVER™ Compact half-bridge gate driver, which is intended for applications with a blocking voltage of 600 Volts. Equipped with a very fast bootstrap diode and resistor, the components enable high efficiency in a very compact construction. This makes them ideal for space-saving installations in consumer electronics as well as household appliances. They can also be used in fans, pumps, engines and forklifts. The new family of driver ICs, designed for use with power semiconductors such as in the newest CoolMOS™ generation, exhibit improved switching behavior which reduces energy loss in a multitude of power applications.

'With the introduction of the Compact products, we can offer an in-depth driver IC program that differentiates by application as well functionality. The EiceDriver™ Compact is aimed directly at the mass market in consumer as well as industrial areas,' said Oliver Hellmund, responsible for marketing the EiceDRIVER™ at Infineon. Depending on current strength and packaging, the price per component ranges from €0.31 to €0.61 for orders of 10,000 units. Along with the Compact class, the EiceDRIVER™ family also includes the EiceDRIVER™ Safe, which is designed exclusively to meet high demand on security and reliability in the industrial market. The EiceDRIVER™ Enhanced class offers improved functionality in the industrial and, to a degree, the consumer markets.

The seven devices in the new2EDL EiceDriver™ Compact class are designed for use with IGBTs as well as with MOSFETs. They are available in DSO-8 and DSO-14 packages. The output current for the new devices is set to 0.5 or 2.3 amps. With the integrated low-resistance and very fast bootstrap diode, the 2EDL EiceDRIVER™ sets new standards in the market of driver ICs with more than two amp output current strength. The bandwidth of the EiceDRIVER™ range enables a variety of applications. Driver ICs in the DSO-14 assembly also have extended creepage. This means they meet requirements for higher protection classes and can even be used in industrial applications.

The level-shift in the new EiceDRIVER™ Compact series is based on Silicon-on-Insulator technology. This places the active transistor layer on the top of an insulator, which results in outstanding robustness against latch-up effects when the component is exposed to extreme temperature and voltage conditions. In a latch-up effect, a semiconductor enters an uncontrolled low-resistance state. This can lead to a short circuit or thermal overload and destroy the component. In addition, the coreless transformer technology introduced by Infineon will also be available for the new Compact class. This makes faster switching operations possible without any loss of performance.

Availability and additional information

Samples of the 2EDL EiceDRIVER™ Compact class are in stock; a corresponding customer evaluation board can be ordered now and will be available within the next few weeks. Products can be ordered starting in August 2013. For more information about the driver IC family, go to www.infineon.com/eicedriver. Infineon will present the new 2EDL EiceDRIVER™ from May 14 until 16, 2013 at the PCIM trade show in Nuremberg in hall 9, booth 311. More information about the products highlighted at the trade show can be found at www.infineon.com/PCIM2013.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, mobility, and security. In the 2012 fiscal year (ending September 30), the Company reported sales of Euro 3.9 billion with close to 26,700 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY).

— WebWireID174289 —

The development combines all of the tuning circuits which had previously been necessary for each frequency band, allowing for a stable connection to the network regardless of the location and the wireless standard of the device. In addition, by detecting the radio frequency component directly, a reduction in the size of the chip and its power consumption has also been achieved. In applications where they power supply can be problematic, sensor network radio powered by batteries have become possible. Through this technology, connecting devices and equipment will become easier, accelerating the development of a new business model for cloud applications.
The developed technology has the following features.

- Supports all frequency bands (400MHz, 900MHz, 1.2GH and 2.4GHz) for IEEE802.15.4x sensor network radio[3] regulations.

- The surface area of the chip which supports multi band is 12% smaller than a conventional single band chip.

- More effective demodulation process introduced to reduce power consumption. The working time is expected to be more than 20 years under typical wireless network operating conditions in the field of smart meters and HEMS applications, with data transmission every 30 seconds with a 1200mAh battery.
This development is based on the following new technologies.

* 1. Multi-band technology makes the removal of some inductors on receivers and filters on transmitters that were previously necessary for each frequency band possible through digital assist analog circuits.
* 2. Demodulator with direct frequency detection scheme for reducing the circuit size and power consumption of the receiver.

Panasonic holds 25 Japanese patents and 14 overseas patents, including pending applications, for this development.

This result was supported in part by the "R&D of radio communication infrastructure technology using multiband/multimode compatible sensors" of The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan. A part of this technology will be presented at Wireless M2M Expo 2013 at Tokyo Big Sight, Japan on May 8-10.

More on the Technology

1. Multi-band technology makes the removal of some inductors on receivers and filters on transmitters that were previously necessary for each frequency band possible through digital assist analog circuits

The undesired 3rd and 5th order harmonics are generated on the power amplifier circuit for transmitting high frequency radio signal. Panasonic has developed a new technology for reducing the harmonics by controlling the phase of high frequency signals. The technology has made it possible to implement a filterless power amplifier circuit compatible with a very wide frequency band without increasing power consumption and chip area by eliminating the harmonics filtered circuits dependent on the frequency. In addition, the traditional amplifier circuits have the inductors constructed of spiral conductors. However multi-band amplifier circuits have inductors for each of the frequency bands they support, so their chip sizes increases. For this problem, Panasonic has developed active inductor type amplifier circuits combining small sized transistors, resisters and condensers, which work as an active inductor in the equivalent circuit which are automatically synchronized with the frequency band by compensating for the device characteristics variations.

The developed low noise amplifier circuits in the receiver have been reduced in size to about 10% of that of conventional single band amplifier circuits, realizing a reduction of about 12% of the overall chip size.

2. Demodulator with direct frequency detection scheme for reducing the circuit size and power consumption of the receiver

In the past, FSK[4] demodulation circuits were used on receiver signal processing of sensor radio, and the signal was handled on the time axis and demodulated by detecting the frequency, such as in the Arctangent scheme[5]. Therefore, it had some issues such as operating time and power consumption for signal processing to reject noise from the received signal. Panasonic has developed a new demodulation scheme to detect the frequency components directly using Short-time DFT[6]. This technology enables a reduction in circuit size, operating time and power consumption for signal processing.

Notes

[1] Sensor Network
Wireless system for transmitting the environmental data detected by some sensors such as home sensors for temperature, humidity, luminance and power consumption
[2] M2M (Machine to Machine) Sensor Network
The system network to provide autonomously the most suitable service where each devices can communicate without human intervention
[3] IEEE802.15.4x Sensor Network Radio
One of the near field wireless communication standards on IEEE. Though the transmission rate is slower than WLAN and Bluetooth, it is possible to connect with many devices on a network, add or remove the devices without cumbersome settings, and reduce power consumption, making it a suitable wireless standard for M2M sensor networks.
[4] FSK (Frequency-shift keying)
A digital modulation scheme
[5] Arctangent scheme
A demodulation scheme for FSK modulation. calculating the differential value of signal arctangent
[6]Short-time DFT (Discrete Fourier Transform)
A demodulation scheme with operation of discrete Fourier transform

About Panasonic

Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development and engineering of electronic technologies and solutions for customers in residential, non-residential, mobility and personal applications. Since its founding in 1918, the company has expanded globally and now operates over 500 consolidated companies worldwide, recording consolidated net sales of 7.85 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2012. Committed to pursuing new value through innovation across divisional lines, the company strives to create a better life and a better world for its customers. For more information about Panasonic, please visit the company's website at http://panasonic.net/.

— WebWireID174266 —

Broadcom, a global innovation leader in semiconductor solutions for wired and wireless communications, will contribute engineering resources to collaborate directly with Linaro and will participate in the organization's steering committees directing the activities of Linaro's engineering team.

'We've been very impressed by the Broadcom engineers who have actively participated in our Linaro Connect events and in the establishment of the Linaro Networking Group (LNG),' said George Grey, CEO of Linaro. 'Linaro is very pleased to welcome Broadcom as a member. We value Broadcom's communications expertise and we look forward to delivering a high ROI, leveraging their input and contributions as part of the combined work of our engineering teams.'

'We look forward to working with Linaro and the open source community to drive the Linux-on-ARM architecture,' said Ajith Mekkoth, Broadcom Vice President, Software Engineering, Mobile Platform Solutions.  'Together with Linaro, we are committed to accelerating innovation in the development of Linux-based devices and furthering the adoption of open-source software across the network.'

Linaro has a unique business model where multiple companies jointly invest in a software engineering team that creates core open source software in a collaborative and transparent environment. The effectiveness of the Linaro approach has been demonstrated by Linaro's growing membership, and by Linaro becoming one of the largest company contributors to recent Linux kernels*. Linaro's contribution to improving ARM's support in the open source Linux community has also been recognized by Linus Torvalds**.

*Sources: Some 3.8 development statistics Jonathan Corbet, LWN, 13 February 2013: https://lwn.net/Articles/537110/ (subscription required); Statistics from the 3.7 development cycle Jonathan Corbet, LWN, 28 November 2012: http://lwn.net/Articles/527191/ (subscription required) and earlier LWN articles.

** Sources: Linaro Connect (LCA13) Monday Keynote: Jon Corbet founder of LWN.net, 4 March 2013: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAmPRljN_Ww (from 13 minutes 15 seconds. ); Torvalds touts Linux's advances in power, ARM and cell phones Paula Rooney, ZDNet, 30 August 2012: http://www.zdnet.com/torvalds-touts-linuxs-advances-in-power-arm-and-cell-phones-7000003509/

About Linaro
Linaro is the place where engineers from the world's leading technology companies define the future of Linux on ARM. The company is a not-for-profit engineering organization with over 150 engineers working on consolidating and optimizing open source software for the ARM architecture, including developer tools, the Linux kernel, ARM power management, and other software infrastructure. Linaro is distribution neutral: it wants to provide the best software foundations to everyone by working upstream, and to reduce non-differentiating and costly low level fragmentation.

To ensure commercial quality software, Linaro's work includes comprehensive test and validation on member hardware platforms. The full scope of Linaro's engineering work is open to all online. To find out more, please visit http://www.linaro.org.

— WebWireID174071 —

San Jose, California and Cambridge, United Kingdom, - – NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) today announced its acquisition of Code Red Technologies, an embedded software development tools provider, as a strategic addition to its microcontroller business line. Code Red Technologies is recognized industry-wide for innovative tools enabling rapid development and debugging of full-featured applications for 32-bit ARM® microcontrollers. These tools include the popular LPCXpresso IDE (integrated development environment) – a very low-cost, end-to-end development platform for NXP LPC microcontrollers – enabling embedded developers to develop applications from initial evaluation through to final production. The financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

LPCXpresso is based on Eclipse, with enhancements specific to LPC microcontrollers. Since its release in 2009, the LPCXpresso community has grown steadily, with over 66,000 unique software activations of the LPCXpresso IDE since January 2010.

'With LPCXpresso, NXP has built a strong foundation for a vibrant embedded development ecosystem around LPC microcontrollers. Bringing the Code Red team into our organization gives us the ability to jump-start our in-house software expertise, deliver world-class software libraries and integrated tools to our customers, and rapidly build on the momentum behind the LPCXpresso IDE,' said Jim Trent, vice president and general manager, microcontroller business line, NXP Semiconductors.

'Joining forces with NXP enables us to focus on what we do best – simplifying the development experience for customers through tools and software. Through closer integration, we'll also be able to bring our ARM and LPC experience into new market segments on a global scale, developing and tailoring software for specific applications and solutions,' said John Rayfield, co-founder and CEO, Code Red Technologies.

Current Code Red customers using non-LPC platforms will continue to have support through May 2014. In addition, the full Red Suite product will continue to be sold for 8 months through to the end of December 2013. The Code Red team will be consolidated into three locations, including San Jose, California; Cambridge, UK; and Syracuse, New York.

About NXP Semiconductors

NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions that leverage its leading RF, Analog, Power Management, Interface, Security and Digital Processing expertise. These innovations are used in a wide range of automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing applications. A global semiconductor company with operations in more than 25 countries, NXP posted revenue of $4.36 billion in 2012. Additional information can be found by visiting www.nxp.com.

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Neubiberg, – The Thermal Interface Material (TIM) developed by Infineon Technologies AG for the reduction of contact resistance between the metal surface of power semiconductors and the heat sink has been launched successfully. Using the EconoPACK™ + of the new D Series, customers were able to see for themselves that conductivity was substantially improved with the heat conducting paste. As a result of strong customer demand, Infineon is now planning to expand the range. In the first quarter of 2014 the product groups 62mm, EconoDUAL™ 3 and PrimePACK™ 2 are going to be available with TIM pre-applied. Toward the end of the first half of 2014 the modules EconoPACK™ 4 and PrimePACK™ 3 as well as the modules Econo 2 and 3 are to be available with the material. The launch of the TIM-applied production series Easy 1B and 2B, Smart 2 and 3, and IHM / IHV is planned for 2015.

In order to be able to meet the greatly increasing demand, Infineon has set up a production line for applying TIM to the modules at the Hungarian Backend site for power electronics in Cegléd. The thermally conductive paste is applied to the modules using a stencil-printing process. An elaborate quality assurance procedure integrated into the fabrication process guarantees that no air is trapped when joining the module and the heat sink. Special technical processes and machines were developed just for the fabrication process.

'TIM and the process developed by us for applying the paste makes it possible for the first time to assure a maximum value instead of typical values,' says Dr. Martin Schulz, the manager responsible for qualification in Application Engineering at Infineon Technologies AG. 'Against the background of increasingly higher power densities, the thermal budget can now be planned more precisely in the design stage of applications.'

TIM allows significantly reduced contact resistance between the metal surface of the power semiconductor and the heat sink. The transfer resistance from module to heat sink for the new EconoPACK™ + D Series is reduced by 20 percent. This optimized thermal transfer improves the lifetime and reliability of modules. As the material functions reliably from the start, a special burn in cycle is not necessary as has been the case in the past for many comparable materials with phase-changing properties. The heat conducting paste is also free of silicone and electrically nonconductive.

More information

You'll find more information about TIM and about the module types using it at www.infineon.com/TIM. Infineon will be presenting the power semiconductors with the heat conducting paste from May 14 to 16, 2013 at the PCIM trade show in Nuremberg in Hall 9, Booth 311. More information is available at www.infineon.com/PCIM2013.

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, mobility, and security. In the 2012 fiscal year (ending September 30), the Company reported sales of Euro 3.9 billion with close to 26,700 employees worldwide. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX) and in the USA on the over-the-counter market OTCQX International Premier (ticker symbol: IFNNY).

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CHANDLER, Ariz., [NASDAQ: MCHP] — Microchip Technology Inc., a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, today announced two new 8-bit PIC® microcontrollers—the PIC16F527 and PIC16F570, which combine the ease-of-use of a PIC MCU with low-cost analog peripherals to create a well-integrated, cost-effective family suitable for a wide range of applications. With an on-chip dual Op Amp module, 8-bit ADC and two comparators, these MCUs are ideal for systems that require signal conditioning and amplification to interpret analog inputs.

The PIC16F527 and PIC16F570 employ a small and highly efficient 8-bit architecture, and add several features to support ease of use and system robustness. The all-new hardware interrupt capability gives designers the freedom to implement more complex functions without adding software overhead, while an integrated Brown-Out Reset (BOR) can detect faults in system power and safely reset the MCU to avoid memory corruption. The two MCUs also feature self-read/write program Flash memory, which allows for high-use data EEPROM functionality. These key features, along with the integration of commonly used analog peripherals, make the PIC16F527 and PIC16F570 well suited for a number of low-cost sensor products, such as smoke detectors, carbon-monoxide detectors, photo sensors and automotive sensor-interface modules.

'At less than $0.39 in high volume, these two new MCUs represent tremendous value in the 8-bit marketplace,' said Steve Drehobl, vice president of Microchip's MCU8 Division.'
Development Support

Microchip's full suite of development tools support the PIC16F MCUs, including the PICkit™ Low Pin Count Demo Board (part # DM164130-9, $25.99), PICDEM™ Lab Development Kit with PICkit™ 3 (part # DM163045, $134.99), PICDEM Mechatronics (part # DM163029, $149.99),PICkit 3 Starter Kit (part # DV164130, $59.99), MPLAB® ICD 3 Evaluation Kit (part # DV164036, $229.99) and the MPLAB XC8 Compiler for 8-bit PIC MCUs.
Pricing & Availability

The PIC16F527 MCU is offered in 20-pin PDIP, SOIC, SSOP and QFN packages, and is available today for sampling and volume production, starting at $0.47 each in 10,000-unit quantities. The PIC16F570 is offered in 28-pin PDIP, SOIC, SSOP and QFN packages, and is expected to be available in June for sampling and volume production, starting at $0.57 each in 10,000-unit quantities.

For additional information, contact any Microchip sales representative or authorized worldwide distributor, or visit Microchip's Web site at http://www.microchip.com/get/JB5A. To purchase products mentioned in this press release, go to microchipDIRECT or contact one of Microchip's authorized distribution partners.

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RSS Feed for Microchip Product News: http://www.microchip.com/get/RAJT
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About Microchip Technology
Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) is a leading provider of microcontroller, mixed-signal, analog and Flash-IP solutions, providing low-risk product development, lower total system cost and faster time to market for thousands of diverse customer applications worldwide. Headquartered in Chandler, Arizona, Microchip offers outstanding technical support along with dependable delivery and quality. For more information, visit the Microchip website at http://www.microchip.com/get/TT5U.

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Note: The Microchip name and logo, PIC, and MPLAB are registered trademarks of Microchip Technology Incorporated in the U.S.A., and other countries. PICkit and PICDEM are trademarks of Microchip Technology Inc. in the U.S.A. All other trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective companies.

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