.jpg "Motorolla Droid X Teardown - Box") |
At a conference we attended a while back, a question was asked of the panel – “how do we help show value to mobile phone manufacturers to convince them to put my MEMS device in their phone?”. The response from a phone manufacturer was glib. He stated, “we have to decide whether your new piece of silicon should be put in the phone or whether the phone should have a shiny red case . . . you need to show us that for the same BOM we can get more revenue from the consumer.”At the time, the respondent wasn’t wrong. To use Motorola as a case study, its Razr was a major win in no small part due of its external design and sleek promotion. With the current crop of smart phones, that all seems to have changed. By definition these things are nothing more than large black screens (when turned off of course).The differentiation is in the operating systems, applications and usability. Things that are gated by the performance. We’re biased, but can we therefore conclude that silicon is, once again, critical?Given the moves by Apple to acquire chip design firms and the recent phone reviews we have read that give focus to the application processors, maybe the silicon inside can become a differentiator – whether it be devices that increase battery life, improve reception, bring life to the touch screen, or put the applications on hyperdrive.With this in mind, let’s look inside the Motorola Droid X to see who has won the designs in this latest smart phone. |
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 Motorola Droid X Phone (click image to enlarge)  Profile View (click image to enlarge) |
First, a View from the OutsideMotorola Droid X – yup, a large black touch screen.We won’t spend too much time reviewing the phone, but we found it to be light, a little large (at first but after using it for a while, we could see the benefits), and very sensitive to touch. One of our guys felt it was even too sensitive.It boasts a number of features that could be considered better than the obvious competitors, while falling short in a few other areas. Slashgear has a nice review, so if you are interested, you can read more here.Small in profile with a real HDMI output. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Inside the Case (click image to enlarge) |
On the Board – TopThere isn’t too much to be revealed by opening up the case. But we can see that there is one main circuit board located at the back of the phone (top image) with plenty of shielded devices. The front holds the battery, camera module, screen, etc.Our first peek at a design win can be seen by the “Q” located just underneath that large shielded area. At this point, we could speculate on several devices based Qualcomm reference designs – but since we’re here anyway, we’ll just wait to get there later in the story. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 
Shielded Boards (click images to enlarge) |
Going InsideThe PCB removed revealing a lot of shielded components. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 
Boards with Shields Removed (click images |
Removing the ShieldsWe tore down two of these phones to discover that Motorola is using a multi-vendor strategy for their parts . Inside, we found NAND flash from both SanDisk and Toshiba in the respective teardowns. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Hynix Mobile SDRAM (click image to enlarge)
TI OMAPX3630 MM Application Processor |
DRAMThe DRAM and processor are in a familiar stacked configuration. On top is the H8KES0UU0MER mobile SDRAM.Underneath sits the TI OMAPX3630 MM application processor. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Triquint TQM613029 and Avago FEM-7758 (click image to enlarge)  Qualcomm QSC6085 (click image to enlarge) |
The Heart of the Phone Communications ChipsetWe have discovered important design wins for the Motorola Droid X in the communications chipset:
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 TI WL1271A WLAN/BT/FM (click image to enlarge) |
The RadioTI has another design win with the WLAN Bluetooth/FM combination chip. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
 Atmel MXT224 (click image to enlarge) |
Touch Screen ControllerAtmel continues its impressive series of recent design wins with the Droid X. The device is the now ubiquitous Atmel MXT224 touch screen controller. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
  Knowles S192 Package and Die (click images to enlarge)  Noise Canceling Microphone 
AKM AKM8973N Package and Die
Kionix KXTF9 Package and MEMS Structure |
MEMS DevicesThere are three microphones in this phone! The design wins are by Knowles, with the S192, s4.10 (same as the iPhone 4), and an S198. We’re showing both the package markings and the MEMS die of the S192. When looking at the MEMS die, you get a feeling of how they function. The microphone itself has a quite simple design, comprising two parallel polysilicon plates separated by a small air gap. The upper plate (poly 2) is perforated with an array of small holes (which are needed for the MEMS release etch). A solid poly 1 plate forms the bottom capacitor plate. Summary of the 3 microphones.
The compass is the AKM AKM8973N. This is a hall effect sensor (detects the voltage difference across and electrical conductor transverse to an electric current and magnetic field). Confused? Wikipedia might help you. It features an 8 bit ADC, pre-amplifier, DAC, EEPROM, temperature sensor, and digital output. Kionix has the accelerometer with the KXTF9. We haven’t decapped the device yet, but for interest, we are including an image of the MEMS structure from the KXTD9 that we analyzed in detail. While we can’t confirm they are the same yet, you get an idea of the type of sensor inside. |
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Image SensorOmniVision has also scored another win in a top phone with the OV8812 8 Mp, 1.4 µm pixel, CMOS image sensor.The sensor uses Backside Illumination technology to improve the light collection capability for very small pixels. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
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Reverse Engineering Analysis on Technology Found in the Motorola Droid
OmniVision 1.4 µm BSI Pixel Sensor Technology (from OV5642) Process and Circuit Analysis
AKM AKM8973 Hall Effect Sensor / Compass Process and Circuit Analysis
Atmel MXT224 Touch Screen Controller Circuit and Functional Analysis
Texas Instruments OMAP3630 Application Processor Functional Analysis Report
