Cover Story
Making a Defect into a Turning Point
A string of major recalls of over 100,000 units have been announced for lithium ion rechargeable batteries, instantaneous gas water heaters, forced flue (FF) heaters, and shredders. Acting in line with a keener consumer awareness of defects in products, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is getting started on a system for electrical appliance recalls. Electronics manufacturers will have to consider this a turning point rather than a difficult situation and show they possess the resolve to stay several steps ahead of the times to ensure product safety.
Case 1 Lithium Ion Rechargeable Batteries
Hundreds of batteries recalled due to a few accidents
Case 2 Instantaneous Gas Water Heaters
Modifiable configuration itself found at fault
Case 3 FF Heaters
Vicious cycle brought on by long-term use
Analysis
The new electrical appliance recall system-product safety being called into question
Countermeasures
Ensuring safety past expected service life
Initiatives to stay several steps ahead of the times are essential
Leading Trends
Will the Future Be Good or Bad? The White Color LED Market Moves into a Crucial Phase
It is becoming increasingly probable that even Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers will get caught up in an expected shakeup of the light-emitting diode (LED) industry, which centers on white LEDs. The underlying reasons are the anticipated radical changes to the market and industry structure as well as ever more complex relations among manufacturers as they tackle the issue of intellectual property rights. Device manufacturers, the users of LED, are also likely to be affected.
Leading Trends
The 10GBASE-T Ethernet Standard Moves towards Productization
Data transmission speeds of Ethernet over twisted pair cables are now as fast as 10 gigabits/second. The standard specification was approved in June 2006. Awaiting the new standard is competition in the form of existing standards employing optical fiber or coaxial cables.
Keyword
EMS
Tech Tale
Renewing Information Is the Key to a Car Navigation System (Part 6):
One Day Before, a Rival
Guest Paper
Developing a Multicore Microprocessor by Connecting CPU Cores through On-chip Network
Fabless microprocessor manufacturer, Boston Circuits, Inc., has developed "gCORE," an architecture for microprocessors that contain multiple interconnected CPU cores that imitate a networking environment. Grid computing, as it is called, is achieved on the chip. Envisaged for use as the main processor in digital household appliances, units integrating up to 16 CPU cores are to be rolled out from the end of 2007, and next-generation types will contain 32 or more CPU cores. For this reason, the architecture was designed so that processing overhead would not increase even when the processor contained many CPU cores. Specific tactics included employing an on-chip network that connects the CPU cores and other elements via a routing circuit, as well as using a dedicated circuit within the microprocessor for thread assignment CPU cores.
NETs Buyers' Guide
Chip Packaging
New names for semiconductor packaging keep emerging. For example, while IC packaging have come to use mainly ball grid arrays (BGAs), in which solder balls are laid out in a grid pattern on the bottom of the packaging, the number of different packaging types in catalogs shows no sign of decreasing. The main reason for this is a proliferation of original names bestowed upon them by their manufacturers. Many of the new types of packaging being developed by manufacturers would usually come under the conventional BGA or LGA (land grid array) classifications, but companies are trying to highlight the features of their own products by giving them unique names. Surface-mount packaging in particular is an area in which new products keep appearing and this article explains the correlation between their original names and standard names as defined by standardization bodies.
NETs Seminar
Interactive Interface Functionality for Next Generation Optical Disks (Part 4):
This Is How You Make Packages with Blu-ray Java Attached
In this series clarifying the facts about interactive operation functions for next-generation optical discs, the last installment in the Blu-ray Java section explains the authoring process up to creation of disc images for titles using Blu-ray Java applications.
NETs Seminar
Solar Cells (1st Half): The Shortage of Polycrystalline Si Materials Will Continue for a While
The RoHS directive, which bans the use of hazardous substances, came into effect in the European Union on July 1, 2006. However, many US companies are still unclear about this regulation. While industry associations have issued documents announcing measures against the use of lead and other steps, there are many firms whose RoHS directive compliance measures are still at the planning stage.
NETs Seminar
The Start of the IPTV Standardization Process (Part 3): Guarantying a Fixed Quality Level over an IP Network
The recent rise in solar cell production has highlighted a shortage of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) materials. Polysilicon solar cells make up a large portion, around 70 percent, of solar cells and demand for polysilicon materials is set to continue. In this installment, we receive an explanation of the current supply and demand status of polysilicon materials as well as an outlook for the future.
What's New
- Rumors Saying "It's Against the RoHS Directive" Swirl Around
- China Decides on Combined Proposal for Over the Air Digital TV Standard
- Oki's Latest Printers Use Thin Film Bonding Technology for Differential Materials
- Sony Solves Alignment Problem with Newly Developed Optical Interconnect Meant for Consumer Electronics
- A Patent for a Circular User Input Device for Mobile Phones Is Granted
- Samsung Redesigns Flash Memory Cell Structur
- The Reason Why Mass Production of the PlayStation 3 Was Delayed
