The Kynix Blog

When you hear the word battery, what do you think? Those annoying pink Duracell rabbits, the ones you have stolen from the back of the remote control or the fact that your phone’s battery may as well cease to exist because nowadays it barely lasts all of five minutes? It is a common fear in most of us, that whilst we are out having a good time your phone’s battery is quickly fading in your pocket. However, we never seem worried about the battery’s eventual lifespan, which for the record is normally between three and five years. There are in fact ways to keep your battery in pristine condition for a long and powerful life; even though batteries do not enjoy eternal life. Many smartphone manufacturers insist that devices rate batteries at 300-500 cycles, which isn’t necessarily good news for us. Apple claims that its laptop batteries reach 80% of their original capacity after just 1,000 charges. After this point batteries aren’t able to hold as much electricity and will power your device for increasingly shorter periods of time. Whilst you taken on all this negative battery news fear not; let’s take a look at some tips to extend your battery’s lifespan, whether that is an iPhone, Android phone, Windows phone, tablet, or laptop. Let’s start with something that is on everyone’s minds – the big question; when re-charging a battery should you let it run to zero before charging full to 100%? One reason why people are unsure is something they’ve heard of called the battery ‘memory effect’. What is battery memory effect?Battery memory effect is about batteries remembering remaining charge if you don’t let them go all the way to zero too often. So a battery frequently charged from 20-80% might ‘forget’ about the 40% that’s left uncharged (0-20% and 80-100%). Sounds like a bit of an old wives tale? Well it sort of is true, but only for older nickel-based (NiMH and NiCd) batteries, not the lithium-ion batteries in your phones now. Fortunately for us, Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries don’t suffer the memory effect so you basically what is best for them is the total opposite; charge them often but not all the way throughout the day, and don’t let them drop to zero. Don’t charge your phone battery from zero to 100%The golden rule with Li-ion batteries is to keep them 50% or more most of the time, so when it drops below 50% if you can just top it up a little bit. ‘Little and often’ as they say a few times a day seems to be the optimum to aim for. But ideally don’t charge it all the way to 100%. It won’t be fatal to your battery if you do fully recharge, I mean most of us are forced to do this every now and again in an emergency, but constantly doing a full recharge will shorten the battery’s lifespan. So a good range to aim for when charging a Li-ion battery is from about 40-80% in one go. Try not to let the battery drop below 20%. When should I do a full battery charge?Experts recommend that you do a full zero to 100% battery recharge, or as they call it a ‘charge cycle’ maybe once a month only. This is so the battery can recalibrate - a bit like restarting your computer, or, for humans, going on holiday and relaxing. Another top tip; the same rule applies to laptops. Should I charge my phone overnight?Most modern smartphones are clever enough to stop charging when full, so there isn't a great risk in leaving your phone charging overnight. However some experts have recommended you remove the phone from a case if charging for a long time, as a case could lead to over-heating. This is what Lithium-ion batteries do not like. Should I use fast battery charging?Many Android phones have a feature that allows for fast charging, often referred to as Qualcomm Quick Charge or, in Samsung's case, Adaptive Fast Charging. These phones have special code usually located in a chip known as the Power Management IC (PMIC) that communicates with the charger you are using and requests that it send power at a higher voltage. However, unfortunately for the Apple lovers out there, the iPhone 6 doesn’t feature fast charging, but its Qualcomm PMIC is smart enough to recognise when you use a higher-amp charger (like the one you get with the iPad), which is a good thing because fast charging will heat up that Li-ion battery and cause it increased wear and tear. For this exact reason, phones shouldn’t be left in a hot car, on the beach or next to the oven. Overheating the battery will suffer long-term effects on its lifespan and on the other hand so will a super-cold one, so don’t leave your device in the freezer or out in the snow. If you can, switch off fast charging on your Android phone. Can I use any charger?It is best to use your charger, so where possible use the charger that came with your phone, as it is sure to have the correct rating. Or make sure that a third-party charger is approved by your phone's manufacturer. Cheap alternatives from Amazon or eBay may harm your phone, and there have been several reported cases of cheap chargers actually catching on fire. Storing battery tipsDon’t leave a Li-ion battery li-ing around too long at 0%. Try to leave it at around 40-50%. These batteries drain at about 5-10% a month when not in use. So if you let your battery discharge completely and leave it uncharged for a long period of time it may eventually become incapable of holding a charge at all – RIP it’s officially dead. It’s unlikely you’ll leave your smartphone lying in a drawer for very long, but think about laptops, battery packs or spare batteries that are unused for long periods of time. So try to keep them all at least half charged. Ref.ML-621S/ZTNML-614S/FN

With increasing OEM development of compact and low-cost Bluetooth low energy (BLE) devices and accessories, Fujitsu Components America has introduced a new family of ultra-compact, BLE modules based on the Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 System-on-Chip (SoC). The modules provide an economical means for developers to reduce their time-to-market.Fujitsu's new MBH7BLZ01-109003 and MBH7BLZ02-109004 Bluetooth low energy modules are among the smallest on the market. Bluetooth V4.0 single-mode compliant, the modules allow OEMs to quickly develop tiny, power-conscious and cost-efficient Bluetooth Smart consumer devices, such as medical monitors, proximity sensors, smart watches and fitness monitors, as well as emerging applications, such as 3D motion sensors and environmental sensors.Fujitsu offers two versions: A 10.5 x 9.2 x 1.6 mm surface-mount module without antenna, and a 15.7 x 9.8 x 2.0 mm surface-mount module with antenna. The modules feature a built-in MCU, which allows adding upper layer profiles including private profiles and application code. With development tools available from Nordic Semiconductor, it is possible to implement specific processing into the module and compose functions without using an additional MCU. These blank modules contain the complete verified and qualified Bluetooth® low energy protocol stack, offering flexibility and a high level of customization.Nordic Technical Support Center has a range of development tools and reference designs to quickly implement specific processing into the modules. The Nordic Semiconductor nRF51822 SoC is built around a 32-bit ARM Cortex M0 CPU with 256kB flash + 16kB RAM. The separation of protocol stack and application code allows engineers to focus on developing the application code for Bluetooth Smart accessories with assurance that the protocol stack is fully tested and can't be corrupted by application software development. Currently available reference designs include keyboard, mouse and advanced navigation remotes.According to Bob Thornton, Fujitsu Component America's President, combining Fujitsu's proven module packaging technology, distribution network, environmental responsibility and customer privacy with Nordic Semiconductor's ultra-low power SoC, application software development and technical support is a win-win. "Developers will have everything they need to create next-generation BLE products quickly and at a low cost," he said.J. Darren O'Donnell, Director of Marketing & Sales - Americas at Nordic Semiconductor, agreed. "We are pleased to work with Fujitsu to offer the design community an ultra-compact, ultra-low power, single-chip solution that allows engineers to develop a range of Bluetooth low energy and 2.4GHz proprietary designs for cost, power, and size-constrained applications," he said.Reference:KY45-DL16-7PCBA3KY45-DL100-7-PCBA3KY45-ZEPIR0BBS02MODG 

With the advent of the Internet of Things (IoT) era, strong demand has grown for wearable and transparent displays that can be applied to various fields such as augmented reality (AR) and skin-like thin flexible devices. However, previous flexible transparent displays have posed real challenges to overcome, which are, among others, poor transparency and low electrical performance. To improve the transparency and performance, past research efforts have tried to use inorganic-based electronics, but the fundamental thermal instabilities of plastic substrates have hampered the high temperature process, an essential step necessary for the fabrication of high performance electronic devices.As a solution to this problem, a research team led by Professors Keon Jae Lee and Sang-Hee Ko Park of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) has developed ultrathin and transparent oxide thin-film transistors (TFT) for an active-matrix backplane of a flexible display by using the inorganic-based laser lift-off (ILLO) method. Professor Lee's team previously demonstrated the ILLO technology for energy-harvesting (Advanced Materials, February 12, 2014) and flexible memory (Advanced Materials, September 8, 2014) devices.The research team fabricated a high-performance oxide TFT array on top of a sacrificial laser-reactive substrate. After laser irradiation from the backside of the substrate, only the oxide TFT arrays were separated from the sacrificial substrate as a result of reaction between laser and laser-reactive layer, and then subsequently transferred onto ultrathin plastics (4μm thickness). Finally, the transferred ultrathin-oxide driving circuit for the flexible display was attached conformally to the surface of human skin to demonstrate the possibility of the wearable application. The attached oxide TFTs showed high optical transparency of 83% and mobility of 40 cm^2 V^(-1) s^(-1) even under several cycles of severe bending tests.Professor Lee said, "By using our ILLO process, the technological barriers for high performance transparent flexible displays have been overcome at a relatively low cost by removing expensive polyimide substrates. Moreover, the high-quality oxide semiconductor can be easily transferred onto skin-like or any flexible substrate for wearable application." 

A new line of 1.85-, 2.4- and 2.92-mm waveguide-to-coax adapters offer operating ranges up to 65 GHz. Meeting the requirement for a transition from coax to waveguide, or vice versa, the adapters’ targeted applications include satellite communications, wireless communications, industrial, test and measurement, and defense systems. The new line includes 10 adapters that include millimeter-wave frequency ranges with models in the K-band (18 to 26.5 GHz) up to the V-band (50 to 65 GHz). The adapters offer VSWR as low as 1.29:1, while also providing insertion loss performance as low as 0.3 dB. Waveguide sizes available for these new models include WR-42, WR-28, WR-22, WR-19 and WR-15. The adapters feature a right-angle configuration. Those with 2.92-mm connectors use a UG-style square waveguide flange; 2.4-mm and 1.85-mm connector versions use a UG-style circular waveguide flange. Both male and female connector options are available in each frequency band. Reference:AE-SP28U1MSP-TS430PM64AAC164336  

The electronics world has been dreaming for half a century of the day you can roll a TV up in a tube. Last year, Samsung even unveiled a smartphone with a curved screen—but it was solid, not flexible; the technology just hasn't caught up yet.But scientists got one step closer last month when researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Argonne National Laboratory reported the creation of the world's thinnest flexible, see-through 2-D thin film transistors.These transistors are just 10 atomic layers thick—that's about how much your fingernails grow per second.Transistors are the basis of nearly all electronics. Their two settings—on or off—dictate the 1s and 0s of computer binary language. Thin film transistors are a particular subset of these that are typically used in screens and displays. Virtually all flat-screen TVs and smartphones are made up of thin film transistors today; they form the basis of both LEDs and LCDs (liquid crystal displays)."This could make a transparent, nearly invisible screen," said Andreas Roelofs, a coauthor on the paper and interim director of Argonne's Center for Nanoscale Materials. "Imagine a normal window that doubles as a screen whenever you turn it on, for example."To measure how good a transistor is, you measure its on-off ratio—how completely can it turn off the current?—and a property called "field effect carrier mobility," which measures how quickly electrons can move through the material."We were pleased to find that the on/off ratio is just as good as current commercial thin-film transistors," said Argonne postdoctoral scientist and first author Saptarshi Das, "but the mobility is a hundred times better than what's on the market today."The team also tried bending the films to test what happens under stress. In most thin film transistors, the material starts to crack, which, as you might imagine, affects performance. "But in ours, the properties didn't change at all," Roelofs said. "The layers just slide and don't crack."The transistors also maintained performance over a wide range of temperatures (from -320°F to 250°F), a useful property in electronics, which can run very hot.To build the transistors, the team started with a trick that earned its original University of Manchester inventors the Nobel Prize: using a strip of scotch tape to peel off a sheet of tungsten diselenide just atoms thick."We chose tungsten diselenide because it provides the electron and hole conduction necessary for making transistors with logic gates and other p-n junction devices," said Argonne scientist and coauthor Anirudha Sumant.Then they used chemical deposition to grow sheets of other materials on top to build the transistor layer by layer. The final product is 10 atomic layers thick. (See sidebar for an illustration).Next, the team is interested in adding logic and memory to flexible films, so you could make not just a screen but an entire flexible and transparent TV or computer."However, more work needs to be done in developing large-area synthesis of tungsten selenide to realize the true potential for applications of our work," said Sumant.    

VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland has developed a method for the manufacture of thin film transistors using a roll-to-roll technique only. Thin film transistors can now be manufactured using roll-to-roll techniques, such as printing, for the deposition of patterns on the substrate layer of film. This is set to expand the range of electronic components and products, while slashing their production costs. Thin film transistors are more suitable than traditional silicon chip transistors for applications such as large-surface display screens, certain sensor applications, toys, games and smart cards.A transistor is a basic electronic component which can function as an electrical switch, an amplifier or a memory element. For transistor technology, roll-to-roll fabrication techniques have a range of advantages. These include the possibility to use large surface areas, as well as mechanical flexibility, transparency and low production start-up costs. Until now, production of thin film transistors has typically been only partly based on roll-to-roll techniques, resulting in fairly high mass production costs.As the technology matures, it is predicted that the markets for thin film transistors will grow from their current value of three million dollars to around 180 million over the next decade.VTT has developed thin film transistor production techniques as part of the EU POLARIC research project. With the aid of a special self-aligning technique, the method under development eliminates the challenge of aligning the patterns in the different thin film layers accurately against each other in the roll-to-roll process. In addition, the pattern size for transistor components is pushed to the limit of minuteness possible for printing techniques; this means patterns of a few dozen micrometres at their tiniest..Producing thin film transistors using a self-aligning roll-to-roll manufacturing process is one of the few demonstrations internationally so far. Initial experiences of this thin film transistor manufacturing process are promising. It provides VTT with the ideal basis for using the process to test thin film materials as they develop, to develop more complex electronic circuits and to trial various applications. The goal is to keep developing the technology until it matures enough to provide a springboard for new business activities. VTT is now seeking companies interested in developing applications based on printed thin film transistors.