Technology trends
Hewlett-Packard Co. (Santa Barbara, CA; www.hp.com/ go/logicanalyzer) has added Web-server capability to its HP 16600A and 16700A logic-analysis systems. This capability allows test-instrument users to access these analyzers over the Internet or through an intranet using Version 4.0 or higher of Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator browsers.
Integrating Identicator Technology`s fingerprint extraction and matching software, Unisys Corp. (Blue Bell, PA; www.marketplace.unisys.com/sp-security) has released its SP BioPin fingerprint-imaging technology that verifies a computer user by a fingerprint instead of a password. If the scanned fingerprint at the computer matches the user`s fingerprint stored in the authentication database, system access is granted and the user can log on.
At its research center, Seagate Technology Inc. (Bloomington, MN; www.seagate.com) has achieved a 16-Gbit/sq in. areal density, more than 250% the areal density of present disk drives, by using merged read-write giant magneto-resistive heads and ultra smooth cobalt-alloy media. This technology can also transfer data at rates to 214 Mbit/s using commercial channels at an error rate of less than 1 in 10 million.
To obtain faster data-transfer rates and extend the length of connecting cables, Matrox Imaging (Dorval, Quebec, Canada) has added low-voltage differential signaling support in its Genesis scalable vision processors and Genesis-LC frame grabbers for interfacing to digital output cameras. Both boards will continue to offer support for the RS-422 and TTL digital signaling standards.
Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Migdal Haemek, Israel) has developed a stitching process that enables the manufacturing of ultrahigh-resolution CMOS image sensors. This process allows the physical merger of multiple design structures onto a wafer during the photolithography procedure, thereby creating a single CIS containing millions of pixels and avoiding the size limitation imposed by the exposure field of lithography steppers.
