Lucent Technologies has announced a venture that plans to produce integrated semiconductor modules for use in next-generation wireless devices, such as cellular phones and personal digital assistants.
Lucent said it has developed a way to integrate memory, logic and other complex analog and digital circuits onto a single silicon chip. The first application planned by the Murray Hill, New Jersey, company will be in the radios that are at the heart of wireless devices.
A Lucent spokesman said the technology, called Chip-Scale Modules, will let the makers of those devices reduce the time it takes to develop them by up to 30 percent compared with using traditional components. The new SyChip venture expects to ship prototypes of the new chips to device makers by year's end, he said.
SyChip's modules will be up to 70 percent smaller than conventional chips, the Lucent spokesman said. That could allow three wireless radios to be placed in a normal-sized cell phone, which potentially would let end users own just one phone for use in the US, Europe and Asia, he added.