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Samsung Galaxy Nexus I515 – LTE Version

Friday, March 30th, 2012
What does LTE mean to the manufacturer?  Well, not really just LTE, but the entire complexity around multi-band support. We have already reported on the incredible number of individual devices required to deliver the radio functionality in the iPad 3. Over 19 chips, many of which have more than one die inside. Now the iPad is a device with relatively low space constraints and (being Apple) relatively little price sensitivity.  So how do others tackle this problem? The answer in this case, appears to be with different BoMs.

At right is shown the Samsung Galaxy Nexus 4G LTE phone. The battery is shown because it is (slightly) larger than the non 4G version and features the built-in NFC antennae.



Comparing 2 Different Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phones

Case in point: Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus line of products. The company’s flagship smart phone features the latest and greatest Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system, a 4.65 inch “HD SuperAMOLED” screen, and for Verizon in the US, and soon in Canada with our local provider,  support for LTE. This is distinct from the Samsung Galaxy Nexus GT9250 (3G version from Hong Kong) that we  previously looked inside. In fact it almost appears that the boards were laid out by completely different teams and so a second teardown blog was in order.



A couple of notable differences

Most of the major silicon inside the two variants is the same but there are some different chipsets supporting the radio function as well as some less obvious changes.

Firstly, the Broadcom BCM4330 was part of a Murata module in the GT9250 and stand alone in the I515. We also found an SMSC USB Transceiver (arrowed) from the USB333X family. This chip is promoted as being a transceiver with support for “RapidChargeAnywhere” technology to reduce battery charging time. SMSC is part of a consortium that contributes to the BC 1.1 standard.What we found interesting is that its board location near the processor and baseband suggest that it is being used as the board-level communications between two parts.  We didn’t do any board-level reverse engineering, but it seems reasonable  that the battery features are not being used here.

Here is a look at the major silicon in the I515 BoM with some close-ups of the board:

Applications Processor TI OMAP 4460
Memory Samsung K4X51323PK LP DDR2
Gyroscope Invensense MPU3050M
Primary Camera Samsung S5K4E5YA 5 Mp, 1.4 um
Accelerometer Bosch BMA220
GPS SiRF GSD4T-9600B
Near Field Controller NXP65N00 Smart Card IC (NXP PN544)
WiFi Broadcom BCM4330
Transceiver Future Communications FC7780 and FC7851
Touchscreen Controller MELFAS 8PK782
Li-Ion Management Maxim MAX17403
Flash Memory SanDisk SDIN5C2 32 GB NAND flash
Baseband VIA Telecom CBP7.1
Front End Module Avago ALM2712
<table width=”619″ border=”0″>
<tr>
<td width=”185″><p>Applications Processor</p>      </td>
<td width=”380″>TI OMAP 4460</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Memory&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>Samsung K4X51323PK 512 Mb LP DDR2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Gyroscope&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>Invensense MPU3050M</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Primary Camera</p>      </td>
<td>S5K4E5YA 5 Mp, 1.4 um</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Accelerometer&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>Bosch BMA220</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>GPS&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>SiRF GSD4T-9600B</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Near Field Controller</p>      </td>
<td>NXP65N00 Smart Card IC containing NXP PN544 &amp; T3035</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>WiFi&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>Broadcom BCM4330</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Transceiver</p>      </td>
<td>Future Communications FC7780 and FC7851</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Touchscreen Controller&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>MELFAS 8PK782</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Li-Ion Management&nbsp;&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>Maxim MAX17403</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Flash Memory&nbsp;</p>      </td>
<td>SanDisk SDIN5C2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><p>Baseband </p>    </td>
<td>VIA Telecom CBP7.1</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Front End Module</td>
<td>Avago ALM2712</td>
</tr>
</table>
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“A” is for Apple

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

Contributed by Jim Morrison

When it comes to Apple, the letter “A” features very prominently at Dialog Semiconductor.

Why you ask? Every time we take a look at the power management ICs in Apple products, we find another Dialog Semiconductor device that has been named with a female first name, beginning with “A,” as we previously blogged about with Dialog Semiconductor’s design win in the iPad 2.

Our most recent examination of the iPad 3 revealed Amelia in the PMIC for Apple’s newest tablet.

Amelia (D1974A) from the iPad 3

Does Dialog like to code their products so that all devices developed for Apple begin with A? Does renowned secrecy at Apple require all suppliers to be so hush-hush that to avoid errors, they talk about Apple using code names? Or does the power management team at Dialog just have a thing for female first names beginning with “A”? Perhaps the design manager has a family of daughters that all have names beginning with A. My family is all names with J so it’s quite possible another family has all As.

The iPhone 3 and 3GS liked Amanda, the iPhone 4 and the iPad 1 liked Ashley (Dialog Semiconductor D1815A), the iPhone 4s has Angelina, Dialog Semiconductor D1881A (my favourite), the iPad 2 has Alison (Dialog Semiconductor D1946A), and now our iPad 3 has chosen Amelia.

Amanda (D1755A) from the iPhone 3 and 3GS

Ashley (D1815A) from the iPhone 4 and the iPad 1

Angelina (D1881A) from the iPhone 4S

Alison (D1946A) from the iPad 2

These die markings are changing because the die design has changed to accommodate new power requirements as we went from A4 processors to A5 to A5X, and other modifications in products that required changes to the PMIC.

This intrigues us enough that we will take a look at products like the Apple TV and MacBooks, to see if we can spot more Dialog devices in search of more sisters.

Analyses available:

Ashley (D1815A) = iPhone 4

Angelina (D1881A) = iPhone 4S

Ashley (D1815A) = iPad 1 (working with A4)

Alison (D1946A) = iPad 2 (working with A5)

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Posted in Computer / Tablet, Phone

Inside the Samsung Galaxy Note (N7000)

Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
What is the Samsung Galaxy Note?

It’s a tablet . . . it’s a phone . . .

It’s Super Phonablet!!!

Has the smartphone/tablet market finally gone too far now that Samsung has launched a new phone that features a massive 5.3″ screen? At first we thought so, but after a few minutes with the Samsung Galaxy Note, we realized that for some people, a device like this made sense.
It didn’t have the wide appeal of the more traditional designs, but with an application like GPS, for instance, the device had a reasonably large screen that delivered a reasonably good app experience, and could still fit inside a reasonably sized jacket pocket. When you need to do real computing, you pull out your Ultrabook and leave the tablets to the children/rest of us.
In terms of a 5″ screen, we’ve been in this territory before, with companies like Dell and Archos making mid-sized devices targeted at the tablet space. By all accounts, they haven’t been resounding successes. Maybe in a phone, Samsung has the right combination of timing and functionality to pull it off.
On the functionality side, it’s time to get that back cover off and start cataloging some design wins.
Samsung Galaxy Note teardown
Samsung Galaxy Note teardown
Samsung Galaxy Note teardown
The main circuit board for the Samsung Galaxy Note

The board is laid out in a typical two-sided fashion, and there are some of the usual suspects winning the sockets (click to zoom). However, like any of these devices, there is always one or two new and interesting design wins. So let us investigate further. First, the applications processor is a flip-chip DRAM on app processor. In this case, we have the K3PE7E700B-XXC1 low power DDR2 and the S5PC210 Exynos 4210 from Samsung.

The primary camera hasn’t been looked at yet. The lab is busy, so we’ll post an update in this blog when we get it. We historically see Samsung and/or Sony design wins inside Samsung phones, and we would expect the same here.
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Circuit Board
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Circuit Board BackSamsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Camera
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Processor
Communications Chips

Murata has the comm’s module in this phone. In this case that means the Broadcom BCM4330 WiFi/Bluetooth/FM chip, but also included is a Broadcom BCM47511IUB2G GPS chip. The addition of a Broadcom GPS makes the chip combination competitive with others, like the TI WiLink7 that includes GPS on-die. Rounding out the communications portion of the device, we find a couple of devices that have package markings from companies that have since been acquired. Namely, Intel’s acquisition of Infineon’s wireless solutions and Skyworks’ acquisition of SiGe. You can see how quickly things are changing in this market.

At right, because it is so incredibly sophisticated, we have included a (low res) polysilicon image of the Infineon transceiver for your interest.
Here is the list:
  • Infineon PMB5712 RF transceiver (shown at right)
  • Infineon PMB9811 baseband processor
  • SiGe 5015T – this part number is not on their website but is presumably an amplifier
  • Silicon Image SiI9244BO RF transmitter
  • Silicon Laboratories Si4709 FM receiver
  • Skyworks SKY77604-11 power amplifier
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Chips
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Chips 2Infineon PMB5712 RF Transceiver
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Chips 7
Other devices cataloged (not all are shown at right):

  • WacomW8501 LCD driver
  • Yamaha YMU823 audio CODEC
  • STMicroelectronics L3G4200D gyroscope (at right)
  • STMicroelectronics LIS3DH accelerometer
  • Maxim MAX8997 power management
  • Audience eS305 audio processor
  • Asahi Kasei AK8975 electronic compass (at right)

We found the Audience chip to be interesting because we first published (and reported on) a similar sized chip from Audience in an iPhone, with different “10C0″ package markings. We’ll be watching for more design wins for this fledgling company.
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Chips 4
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Chips 5
Samsung Galaxy Note Teardown - Chips 6
STMicroelectronics L3G4200D Gyroscope MEMS Die
Atmel AKM8975 Die Photo
Touch screen controller

We at Chipworks love touch screen controllers. They are full of innovation, in a very rapidly growing market, and rich in intellectual property. As a result, we have reported on all the leading devices. Well, the one in the Samsung Galaxy Note is no exception since it is a brand new device from market leader Atmel. To make matters even better, the engineers at Atmel have made our job of analyzing this chip even easier by providing handy “cut here” silicon art to tell us where we need to do our cross-sectional analysis*. Thanks guys! At right is the Atmel MXT540E touch controller package image, die photo, and silicon art.

*For those interested in this chip, we aren’t actually doing any process analysis, but we have launched an analog Circuit Analysis Report on this device.
Samsung Galaxy Note showing Atmel Touch Screen Controller
Samsung Galaxy Note showing Atmel Touch Screen Controller
Samsung Galaxy Note showing Atmel Touch Screen Controller
List of reports related to devices in this teardown blog:
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Inside the Samsung Galaxy Nexus GT-I9250

Friday, December 2nd, 2011
A tasty treat for the holidays – the Samsung Galaxy Nexus
We couldn’t resist the obvious metaphor (and one that has been repeated so many times already), but the Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone featuring Google’s Ice Cream Sandwich operating system has hit the market. For consumers, this means they get a great phone that is rich on features, manufactured by a leading electronics company, and have bragging rights of being among the first to use a new operating system.
Sure the chocolate cookie on the outside is great, but for reverse engineers like us, tech teams seeking competitive intelligence, and IP teams looking for patent hits on high volume products, the tasty part is the frozen cream on the inside.
And this phone has some very tasty insides – among them a brand new TI OMAP processor.

Galaxy Nexus by Samsung
Front side of the board

Over on the right, you can click to zoom on the images. The major silicon identified here includes:
  • Murata SWB-B42 module – inside is the very successful Broadcom BCM 4330 WiFi/Bluetooth SoC. At the right, we’re showing a polysilicon die photo. (Sorry, only low res here. In the Chipworks Store, we have full resolution available).
  • Texas Instruments 6030B power management IC
  • Texas Instruments 6040A2 audio codec and power management
  • InvenSense MPU – 3050 gyroscope sensor


Broadcom BCM4330 Polysilicon Die Photo
Touch screen controller by MELFAS

While Atmel is still the clear leader in this market, we have been seeing more and more design wins going to other companies.  In this case we have the MELFAS 8PK173. The die markings also appeared earlier this year in the Samsung Conquer (with different package markings). Competition is good.

Melfas 8PK173 Touch Screen Controller
Melfas touch screen controller die markings
Other design wins

Intel has two interesting wins with the Intel 9611 and 5712. Why is this interesting? Well, it is the first time we have seen the Infineon PMB9811 and PMB5712 parts rebranded with Intel markings.

Intel device in the Samsung Nexus
Other devices in the Samsung Nexus
SMIC GPS in the Samsung Nexus
The sweetest part of all . . . the first proven design win of the TI 4460 OMAP microprocessor

No offense to the rest of the design wins inside this phone, but when something new is found in the core of the phone, it is worth sinking our teeth into. This processor is a TI design, fabricated by one of its foundry partners, and features a 1.5 GhZ dual core ARM-based processor. TI is an acknowledged leader in delivering mobile processes with excellent power management, and with this device, you can expect to get great performance and a long battery life.
TI has a couple other sockets not already mentioned, including the TI TPB62631 DC-DC converter and the TWL6030B1AD power management IC. Texas Instruments continues to strike it big in these latest hot phones.
TI OMAP 4460 in the Samsung Nexus
TI OMAP4460
OMAP 4490 Die Markings
Primary image sensor

Samsung shows off its vertical integration here by using one of its own sensors in the primary camera. In this case, the S5K4E5YA 5 Mp, 1.4 µm pixel pitch back illuminated CMOS image sensor.
On the back of the camera module (at right), we see a Winbond W25Q80BWIG, which is, according to Winbond’s website, an 8 Mb serial flash.
Samsung Google Galaxy Nexus Camera Module Back Showing Memory
primary image sensor in the samsung galaxy nexus
Near field controller by NXP

Google wallet is touted as the next big thing. And lets face it, mobile payments in the phone have been an idea long overdue for success in North America. Powering this technology in the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is one of the most advanced NFC chips on the market – the NXP PN544 near field controller.
There are two dies in this chip. Since we have completed an analog circuit analysis on the NFC chip, it gave us the opportunity to include an annotated die photo at the right. Also, see the top metal of the controller chip. The antenna for this device is found under the cover of the battery – an unusual move; battery replacement is easy, but you have to get the right battery or you lose NFC!

Near Field Controller Antenae in Samsung Google Nexus Galaxy
List of reports related to devices in this teardown blog:
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Teardown of the Motorola RAZR Smartphone

Friday, November 18th, 2011

The Motorola RAZR™ is one compact smartphone with a lot to talk about. Measuring only 7.1mm in width, this new Android smartphone features an 8 MP back-facing camera, a 1.3 MP front-facing camera, a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, and a 4.3” Super AMOLED advanced display. And another impressive point is that all of these great features inside the RAZR are protected by the phone’s splash guard coating.


While the RAZR has a lot of interesting discussion points in terms of features, there is even more going on with this phone at the silicon level. This Android device has a considerable number of design wins for Texas Instruments, even surpassing the number of TI devices found inside the RIM BlackBerry PlayBook earlier this year. While we estimated that the amount of TI’s socket wins in the PlayBook totaled approximately $34 in revenue per device for TI, we are estimating even higher for the RAZR, at approximately $40 of revenue per phone. As we mentioned, this is partially because of the increased number of design wins found in the RAZR, but another contributing factor is that 2 TI processors were found in this device, discussed further below. (Some images sourced from pcworld.com)


Processors

Both of the processors were found hiding in package-on-package (PoP) devices. The first applications processor, the TI OMAP4430, was found under the Samsung K3PE7E700M DDR2 SDRAM. We have seen the OMAP4430 from two different foundries so far this year; UMC and one that is yet to be determined. If Texas Instruments is dual sourcing the manufacturing of the OMAP4430, they must have sufficient orders for devices or enough confidence to have devices being fabbed at two foundries. Perhaps TI is gaining back the market share that had earlier been held by the Tegra 2. Way to go. This device, fabricated with a 45 nm process, was also seen in the PlayBook and the Motorola Droid 3 smart phone. Package markings on this device are: (logo)/ OMAP TM/ X4430FCBS/ M1   2/ 18ZEPD9 GP/ G1.

The second processor we saw was the Texas Instruments D7683DM1CBHR. This device was found under the Hynix H9DH1GH51JMP DRAM and is a joint venture between TI and Motorola. Package markings on this device are: (logo)/ D7683DM1CBHR/ HS/4L/ 19A34HJYL/ G1. With likely 1Gb of DRAM in the PoP, this must be doing some serious processing – it’s not that long since that was enough for whole phone! We have seen this a few times now and it appears to be a quickly growing trend.



Memory

As mentioned, the Samsung K3PE7E700M was another device found on the board. This device is a 2 Gb DDR2 SDRAM device, fabricated in a 32 nm process. Package markings on this device are: (logo) 140/ K3PE7E700M-XGC1/ GKHA98E1.

Also cataloged was the Hynix H9DH1GH51JMP DRAM device, found in a PoP device. Package markings found on this device are: (logo)/ H9DH1GH51JMP/ ER4EM 132A/ 5MCY6072C1.


Touch Controller

One non-Texas Instruments device that we weren’t surprised to see turn up was the Atmel MXT224E touch screen controller. This mutual capacitance touch screen controller has been an extremely popular device for smartphones and tablets, scoring design wins in the Motorola XOOM, Motorola Droid Xtreme, Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy Tab, Acer Iconia Tab, and the HTC Thunderbolt. Package markings on this device are: (logo)/ MXT224E/ MAH-1R0/ 1F4481B.


Image Sensor

The primary image sensor found in the Motorola RAZR is the Omnivision OV2B3BA 8 MP, 1.4 um pixel pitch back-illuminated CMOS image sensor (CIS). This is the same CIS as was also found in another high-end smart phone from Motorola: the Droid Bionic XT875. 



WiFi SoC

WiFi socket wins in smart phones have been another interesting topic lately. While the Broadcom BCM4329 used to dominate the 802.11 a/b/g/n, BT 2.1 and FM slot winning countless sockets in tablets, smartphones, and other connected devices, earlier this year, We now see TI winning more and more of these sockets in Smart Phones we have examined in Q3 and Q4 of this year. Texas Instruments entered the market with the WL1283 WiLink 7.0 as a serious competitor for Broadcom.

As the RAZR is heavy on TI devices, this design win went to Texas Instruments with their WL1285 WiLink-7 WiFi SoC. Package markings on the device are: WL1285C/ 19M0JZ3. 

Power Management

One of the power management ICs (PMICs) found inside the RAZR is the Qualcomm PM8028. This device has also been found in the Motorola XOOM and the Motorola ATRIX phone. Package markings on this device are: Qualcomm/ PM8028/ AD4002.1/ H2134 0B4.


The Motorola RAZR was a really interesting phone to look at, and a gold mine for TI. Furthermore, tearing down this phone left us wondering if we will find as many TI devices inside the XOOM 2 tablet.

Other devices

Below is a list of other devices cataloged in the Motorola RAZR:

Manufacturer Part Number Device Type
Asahi Kasei AK8975 Electronic Compass
Atmel Corporation MXT224E Touch Controllers
AVAGO ACPM-5001-TR1 Power Amplifiers
ACPM-5002-TR1 Power Amplifiers
ACPM-5005-TR1 Power Amplifiers
ACPM-5008-TR1 Power Amplifiers
ACPM-7868 Power Amplifiers
Infineon PMB5726 RF Transceiver
Maxim MAX3349E USB Controller
MAX8952 PWM Step Down Regulator
Motorola T6VP0XBG-0001 LTE Processor
Omnivision XT912_Pri-Camera Camera Module
OV2B3BA 8 Mp, 1.4 um pitch, BI CMOS Image Sensor
NXP Semiconductors IP4791CZ12 Other
Qualcomm MDM6600 RF Transceiver
PM8028 Power Management IC
Samsung K3PE7E700M-XGC1 DDR2 SDRAM
Hynix H9DH1GH51JMP SDRAM
SEMTECH RClamp0504P Other
Skyworks SKY77449-17 Power Amplifiers
Sony CXM3520BER RF Switch
ST Ericsson CPCAP 3.2 SoC (System-on-Chip)
STMicroelectronics LIS3DH Accelerometer
Texas Instruments 51001582005 PMIC
bq24304 Charge-control and Protection
M430V294 Unclassified
TPS63010 DC-DC Converter
WL1285C WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n BT 4.0 and GPS
Toshiba THGBM4G7D2GBAIE Flash
Y9A0A111308LA Multi Chip Package
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