Vishay has release of two high-resolution automotive grade optical reflective proximity sensors that operate down to 20µm for force sensing applications. In use, an infra-red beam is sent out and its reflection detected. Sensing can be from up-close to half a meter away, and can have enough resolution to detect the displacement of a surface for force, push or glove-independent ...

Imagination has sold its Ensigma Wi-Fi development operations and Wi-Fi IP tech assets to Nordic Semiconductor the low-power wireless communications specialist. The move will enable Imagination to focus on graphics, vision, and AI processing technologies which represent the majority of its business. As well as the transfer of Imagination’s Wi-Fi IP technology, a number of Imagination Technologies employees located in ...

Molex continues to build on its power delivery systems with the MultiCat Connector System, which boasts an impressive range between 4A to 40A.

Car manufacturing figures from the UK Society of Motor Manufacturers & Traders (SMMT) show that, in October last year, the country produced a little under 135 thousand cars. This year that figure had sunk to 110 thousand representing a fall of 18%. As this infographic shows, the total for the year to date is even more suppressed in comparison to the ...

Following default on a $198 million debt repayment, Tsinghua Unigroup has put the construction of a NAND fab and a DRAM  fab on hold, reports the Nikkei. The NAND fab was to have been an $30 billion, 100k wpm facility in Chengdu. No orders for equipment have been placed and the project is on hold. The DRAM fab was to have ...

CML Microcircuits of Essex has introduced a single chip 24bit fractional-N RF synthesiser with VCO for generating RF signals over a continuous range of 49MHz to 2.04GHz. Called CMX940, it is aimed at wireless systems including PMR (private mobile radio), data modems and marine radios. “CML has implemented a dual-loop architecture with a configurable reference path, consisting of a separate PLL and ...

It is being reported that SMIC, the China foundry, is about to be banned from buying US equipment because it supplies the Chinese military. SMIC denies it makes chips for the military. SMIC is already under a restricted import order from the US with all orders requiring US government clearance. SMIC has a capex budget of $4.2 billion for 2020 as ...

Globalwafers, the Taiwanese silicon wafer vendor, is to buy German wafer maker Siltronic for $4.5 billion, reports Bloomberg. Wacker, which owns 30.8% of Siltronic and is its largest shareholder, has approved the deal. The two companies are about to enter a  Business Combination Agreement (BCA) which allows  Siltronic to pursue an essentially unchanged business strategy. The social partnership with the employee ...

Later today, the government will set out a roadmap for the complete removal of Huawei switchgear from the UK’s 5G networks by 2027, and for the diversification of  the country’s telecoms supply chain. “Today I am setting out a clear path for the complete removal of high risk vendors from our 5G networks,”  digital secretary Oliver Dowden (pictured) will say, ...

Energy-generating synthetic skin has been created by Glasgow University researchers. A robotic hand wrapped in their flexible solar skin is capable of interacting with objects without using dedicated and expensive touch sensors. Instead, the skin puts the array of miniaturised solar cells integrated on its soft polymer surface to a clever dual use. https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ig1novmt1r48z0d/AAAdn4clVsEwPIK-UctvK_Gza?dl=0 The cells generate enough energy to ...