From ore to finished product
From its original home buried underground in a mine to its use in a finished product such as wire or pipe, copper passes through the stages outlined below. When it is recycled it can pass through some over and over again.

1. Mining and crushing
The beginning for all copper is to mine sulfide and oxide ores through digging or blasting and then crushing it to walnut-sized pieces.
2. Grinding
Crushed ore is ball or rod-milled in large, rotating, cylindrical machines until it becomes a powder usually containing less than 1% copper. Sulfideores are moved to a concentrating stage, while oxide ores are routed to leaching tanks.
3. Concentrating
Minerals are concentrated into a slurry that is about 15% copper. Waste slag is removed. Water is recycled. Tailings (left-over earth) containing copper oxide are routed to leaching tanks or are returned to the surrounding terrain. Once copper has been concentrated it can be turned into pure copper cathode in two different ways: leaching and electrowinning or smelting and electrolytic refining.
4a. Leaching
Oxideore and tailings are leached by a weak acid solution, producing a weak copper sulfate solution.
5a. Electrowinning (SX/EW)
The copper-laden solution is treated and transferred to an electrolytic process tank. When electrically charged, pure copper ions migrate directly from the solution to starter cathodes made from pure copper foil. Precious metals can be extracted from the solution.


OR

4b. Smelting
Several stages of melting and purifying the copper content result, successively, in matte, blister and, finally, 99% pure copper. Recycled copper begins its journey by being resmelted.
5b. Electrolytic-refining
Anodes cast from the nearlypure copper are immersed in an acid bath. Pure copper ions migrate from the anodes to "starter sheets" made frompure copper foil where they deposit and build up into a 300-pound cathode. Gold, silver and platinum may be recovered from the used bath.
6. Pure copper cathodes
Cathodes of 99.9% purity may be shipped as melting stock to mills or foundries. Cathodes may also be cast into wire rod, billets, cakes or ingots, generally as pure copper or alloyed with other metals.
7. Cathode is converted into:
§ Wire rod - coiled rod about 1/2" in diameter is drawn down by wire mills to make pure copper wire.
§ Billet – 30’ logs, about 8" diameter, of pure copper are sawed into these shorter lengths which are extruded and then drawn as tube, rod and bar stock of many varied sizes and shapes. Rod stock may be used for forging.
§ Cake - slabs of pure copper, generally about 8" thick and up to 28' long, may be hot-and cold-rolled to produce plate, sheet, strip and foil.
§ Ingot - bricks of pure copper may be used by mills for alloying with other metals or used by foundries for casting.

The word copper comes from the Latin word "cuprum", which means "ore of Cyprus". This is why the chemical symbol for copper is Cu.

· Copper is believed to be the first metal to be used in quantity by early humans and it combines more useeeeeful properties than any other metaal.

· Copper is the onlyy naturally occurring metal other than gold that has a distinctive colour. Like gold, copper is an excellent conductor of heat and electricity.

· Copper is the eight most abundant metal in the earth’s crust. It is mined in at least 63 countries, including Chile, USA, USSR, Canada, Zambia, Poland, China, Uganda, Nicaragua, Australia and Mexico.

· Copper is easily mixed with other metals to form alloys such as bronze and brass. Bronze is an alloy of tin and copper, and brass is an alloy of zinc and copper.

· Copper melts at 1083 C and boils at 2567 C

· Copper is tough, ductile and malleable and is resistant to corrosion (it does not rust very easily).

·&ammp;ammp;nbbsp;Copper is classified as a Transition Element and occurs as a native metal and in a variety of compounds.

Copper is the eighth most abundant metal in the Earth’s crust. It occurs in at least 160 minerals and is one of the few metals that occur naturally in commercially workable quantities.

Since the beginning of history, copper has played an important part in human development. Ancient civilizations made crude weapons and tools from copper and later civilizations developed this knowledge to hammer copper into sheets to make ornaments, household utensils, tools and water pipes.

Today copper appears everywhere in our everyday lives. It is hidden away in many objects that we use in our homes and offices on a daily basis like telephones, computers, radios, TVs and motor vehicles.

One of the reasons copper is so important is that it can be made into alloys. That means it can be combined with other metals to make new alloys, like brass and bronze. These are harder, stronger and more corrosion resistant than pure copper.



Uses for Copper

Electrical conductor: Copper is an excellent conductor of electricity. For the past 50 years about half the world’s copper consumption has been used for this purpose. It is used in electric generators and motors, lighting fixtures and wiring, radio and TV sets, computers and almost everything electrical.

Heat conductor: Because of copper’s ability to conduct heat it is used for motor vehicle radiators, air conditioners and home heating systems.

Industry: Copper’s corrosion resistance and ease with which it can bejjjoinedhave madee copper the choice fooor plumbing and piping systems, automotive fuel lines, sea water desalination plants and hydraulic systems. It is also used in the manufacture of motor vehicles, aircraft, coins, scientific instruments and as a trace element in fertilizer.

In today's systems environments, there are only two Constants: change and growth. Applications are expanding at a dramatic rate, and systems are evolving to keep pace. A key driver behind this constant, rapid change is the explosive impact of the World Wide Web and other media-intensive applications. The Web is emerging as the source of first resort for information, entertainment and even communications, placing tremendous demands on the systems that store and serve up that data to hundreds, thousands or even millions of users. As rich media content-- including streaming audio and video--becomes commonplace on the Web, these demands are compounded at an incredible rate.

In the corporate environment, enterprise-wide information access via company intranets and the rise of new "ebusiness" models is driving a proliferation of media-intensive, server-based applications-- from imaging to data warehousing. The deployment of these types of applications is driving companies to increase their demand for storage each year.

The Storage Challenge

While these trends are driving rapid evolution throughout the IT environment, nowhere are they being felt more than in the area of network storage. In some applications, demand for storage capacity is doubling every few months. Once a "peripheral" concern, storage is today an issue of strategic importance.

To address this critical issue, many companies are taming to new, network storage topologies, from Storage Area Networks (SANs) to Network Attached Storage (NAS) to IP-SAN storage appliances. They are looking to these topologies to help them reduce the burden on the server network created by the tremendous increase in data volumes, while helping them to access data information faster and more reliably. They are looking for solutions that enable them to expand as their storage requirements grow without affecting the existing systems or application processes. At the same time, companies are looking to centralize the management of their storage network and reduce the overall cost of managing their storage resources.

A New Approach

Regardless of the storage topology they choose, to keep pace with their rapidly changing storage requirements, companies need a new, more flexible storage architecture that addresses scalability in multiple dimensions. They need networked storage solutions that are versatile enough to change rapidly in response to changing business requirements-solutions that drive down the immense cost of managing complex storage infrastructures, while enabling cost-effective growth and expansion. Flexibility is even more critical for OEMs, channel partners, VARs, and other third-party distributors. To compete effectively, they need a common storage solution that can be configured to meet a variety of application requirements, minimizing the number of specialized components required to meet the diverse needs of their customers.

To respond to this need, subsystem vendors are focusing on modular, flexible storage frameworks that increase flexibility, while reducing cost and technology risk. Storage solutions are created from flexible, modular "building blocks" based on open standards. This approach is fundamentally different than some existing storage architectures, which are based on application-specific designs that limit their flexibility.

The modular architecture enables network storage solutions that are scalable in all four key dimensions: functionality, interface, capacity, and performance. The result is a highly cost-effective, "all-in-one" solution that meets the full range of storage needs of today--while enabling rapid scaling or reconfiguration to meet the needs of tomorrow.

Functional Flexibility

The modular architecture provides an unprecedented degree of configuration flexibility. Control functionality is provided by hot-swappable modules based on a compact, industry leading form factor such as 2U. The platforms can be configured for virtually any storage configuration--including JBOD, RAID, SAN, and other network storage topologies (i.e., iSCSI)--simply by sliding in the appropriate module(s). This modular design also provides a cost-effective, "single card" migration path to the best-of-breed technologies in the future--including emerging intelligent networking technologies that place application intelligence within the storage platform.

This design offers the tremendous advantage of a single, modular platform able to satisfy virtually any network storage need. This dramatically simplifies stocking and sparing for OEMs--reducing their overall costs, while greatly increasing their responsiveness to customers' needs. For end users, modular functionality enables companies to reconfigure existing storage platforms as their needs change, without costly "forklift" upgrades. For example, a JBOD platform can be transformed into a RAID platform by swapping a single module. The JBOD module can be retained for use in another platform or as a spare, protecting the entire technology investment. This modular approach also enables cost-effective redundancy with hot-swappable components to meet the availability requirements of demanding enterprise, transaction processing, and Web commerce environments.

The Chinese government will soon introduce policies to curb over-investment and smelting capacity expansions in the Chinese copper industry, according to Wang Gongmin, vice president of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIA).

Speaking with reporters after addressing delegates at Beijing Antaike Information Development Co.'s China International Copper Forum in Zhangjiagang, Wang said measures will focus more on copper smelting and less on refining capacity, as the latter is not increasing as substantially as smelting. He declined to say when the policies will be introduced.

About 1.16 million annual tonnes of smelting capacity currently is being added as the result of expansions of existing plants or new plants being built, according to Wang, while another 950,000 tonnes are in the planning stage. "It is hard to say when this new capacity will be commissioned, as the government might even not allow them to expand," he said.

China has smelting and refining capacity of about 1.6 million tonnes and 3 million tonnes per year, respectively, according to Wang.

Wang declined to comment on market rumors that the government might introduce a copper concentrate import permit system similar to that in place for alumina, saying he had not heard of such plans by the government.

The industry has been speculating that China will clamp down on the sector to curb the expansion plans of small copper smelters following a speech by a National Development Commission official who said the government is concerned that smaller smelters are expanding too rapidly. He said the government does not want a repeat of the situation in the aluminum sector, where over-expansion caused a supply glut.

Analogix Semiconductor has introduced a new family of physical-layer transceiver ICs that lets system designers replace fiber optics with less-expensive copper media in system-to-system interconnects, yet still achieve the high performance associated with fiber.

Analogix's new D-PHY xGC family of physical-layer transceiver (PHY) chips includes the first device to deliver 6.25 Gbps raw serial performance per copper twisted pair. With an aggregate capacity of 25 Gbps full-duplex over a single InfiniBand copper cable at up to 30 meters, it offers twice the speed and distance of today's standard 10GBASE-CX4 chips.

This D-PHY 5GC device is also the first high-speed transceiver to operate over unshielded twisted pair, providing a less costly alternative to InfiniBand cable at a time when a high-speed UTP-based standard could be up to two years away. It offers designers major advantages in high-speed, short-distance interconnect scenarios, such as stackable switches or cross-rack clusters, where costly fiber was previously the only choice.

The D-PHY 5GC and a standards-based counterpart, the D-PHY 2.5GC, are already sampling to customers. The D-PHY 2.5GC, designed for customers connecting heterogeneous multi-vendor systems over copper media, is fully compliant with the 10GBASE-CX4 standard, offering 4X3.25-Gbps performance. However, it operates over distances of up to 40 meters--nearly triple the 15-meter specification of the standard.

A second generation of the D-PHY xGC devices, offering serial speed of up to 12.5Gbps and aggregate capacity of 50Gbps over InfiniBand cable and 25Gbps over UTP, will be available in 2005. Like the 5-Gigabit devices being introduced, the two upcoming 10-Gigabit D-PHY xGC devices will include both a standards-based version (the emerging IEEE 10GBASE-T standard) and a proprietary version offering higher speed and media flexibility.

Advanced equalization and low-jitter transmission address high-speed issues

Sending high-speed signals over copper cable, particularly unshielded cable, poses special challenges: high levels of crosstalk, impedance discontinuities at the cable/connector interface, and electromagnetic interference (EMI) that occurs at high frequencies. The D-PHY xGC family addresses these challenges through a combination of advanced technologies on both the receive and transmit sides. Two-stage, active linear equalization on the receiver, with low power and die-area requirements, provides an appropriate high-frequency signal boost without introducing new noise effects or aggravating existing ones. The highly sensitive receiver can recover signals from Analogix's very low-jitter transmitter, which uses minimal pre-emphasis and a low output swing to increase crosstalk immunity and address other noise issues. The D-PHY xGC family also meets FCC Part 15 Class A EMI specifications.

The applications of rich and successful wireless sensors and elements in industrial process environments are many. They prosper in the harsh industrial elements and deliver continuous data every day without the necessity of running wires from the control room to the sensor and the actuator.

Wireless technology is rapidly gaining converts in the industrial environment. It's now available in a wide range of different implementations including wireless phones, wireless local area networks (LANs), wireless keyboards, and wireless sensors.

Using the airwaves is allowing instrumentation engineers to gather much needed process information with unprecedented ease. The installation of a wireless sensor can be as simple as installing a gauge; but with measurement accuracies better than ±0.1%, features such as automatic self-calibration and direct communication to a plant's process control system, allow wireless sensors to gather the information needed to squeeze extra process performance and to examine parameters that are not presently monitored.

Success in the challenging industrial process environment puts special demands on wireless devices. Understanding these extra application demands and matching them to the right wireless products and technology is fundamental to a successful industrial wireless installation.

Guarded military secret

Wireless technology differs as much as wireless products differ. The first key to understanding is remembering the word wireless is an adjective that describes and modifies something else. A wireless phone, for instance, uses a different communications technology than a wireless LAN uses.

The term generally applies to those devices that communicate over the airways using a digitally based communications protocol. A key difference between wireless devices and the conventional radios, familiar to us all, is radios send their information in an analog signal.

Basic radio communications techniques developed in the beginning of the 1900's. These analog radio waves were at a fixed frequency. As fixed frequency analog signals are easily disrupted and intercepted, legislation and regulation were required to protect radio broadcasters and limit interference.

The military had a difficult time with interference and interception of basic analog radio communications and were searching for ways to make their communications secure. Toward the end of WWII, a famous patent went to Hedy Lamarr for her concept of frequency hopping radio transmission.

This patent was a closely guarded military secret for many years and became the backbone for secure military communications to the end of the 20th century.

With the release of the Lamarr patent, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) established a set of radio frequencies that worked at low power without requiring a user license. With frequency hopping techniques, digital communications, and unlicensed radio transmission, the stage was set for the development of the many wireless devices that are available today.

Number of sinusoidal waves

Robust wireless communication inside the plant rests on several fundamental technology developments.

In digital communications, the information passes as a rapid succession of ones and zeros. In most protocols, a one digit is a given number of sinusoidal waves sent at one frequency, and a zero digit is a given number of sinusoidal waves sent at a slightly different frequency.

A disruption to a digital communication requires that no signal gets through or that a one comes through as a zero. These are major disruptions and very unlikely since ones and zeros are passed as different frequencies. Disruption in radio wave amplitude is fairly easy to do, but it is very difficult to alter the frequency of a radio wave. By putting together a succession of ones and zeros as a header, it is easy for the receiving radio to positively identify the source of the radio transmission and to verify its validity. By counting the number of ones and zeros and transmitting these counts in each message, the receiving radio can verify all the data transmitted properly.

Just like digital signal processing has improved computer computational accuracy and digital communication has improved digital television transmission compared its analog counterpart, digital wireless communication has made a marked improvement over analog signals that are more likely to be subject to interference.

Effects of background noise

The second foundation for robust plant wireless communications is the use of many frequencies. Virtually all robust plant wireless communications utilize multiple frequencies for communications. In North America, the FCC has set aside the radio spectrum from 902MHz to 928MHz for low-power, unlicensed radio communications.

Robust radio communications can take place by spreading the signal over this 26MHz spectrum. An effective technique for spreading the signal is to hop from one frequency to another. This is Frequency Hopping Spread-Spectrum (FHSS). The transmitting radio and the receiving radio simply hop from one frequency to another at exactly the same time, maintaining their own synchronized communication.

ABSTRACT

Recognition since the mid 20th Century that scientific technology is the key driver of economic development and job growth, has sparked increasing collaboration of government, industry and academia in commercial areas outside the historical focus areas of defense, public health and transportation. Notwithstanding, theories and tools to anticipate innovation with certainty are limited primarily to those instances of incremental innovation, for which historical project analysis provides a sound basis for planning. The capability for real time computation and telecommunication makes rapid development and commercialization of breakthrough innovations imperative for competitive success in the globally connected 21st Century environment. This paper assesses the course of technology from its empirical base in antiquity through the initial scientific technology stage of the 19th and 20th Centuries, to the 21st Century environment governed increasingly by technologies of thinking. It examines the need for and benefits from a new information technology enabled paradigm of Accelerated Radical Innovation (ARI). By combining advanced information and telecommunications technology tools and innovation management techniques in a real-time decision-making environment, the ARI paradigm has the potential to overcome technological, organizational and societal challenges and hurdles, thereby achieving a factor of 10X improvement in radical innovation effectiveness. Further development of this proposed new paradigm is envisioned through a collaborative multi-university program of research and teaching, in collaboration with selected industrial partners to identify methodology variants appropriate for diverse companies and industries. Successful implementation will contribute significantly to the proposed activities required for a 21st Century innovation ecology, envisioned by the National Innovation Initiative report, "Innovate America".

Accelerated Radical Innovation, Paradigm, Challenges, Hurdles, Information Technology

Background and Introduction

From antiquity tacit knowledge and empirical discovery provided the basis for major technology advances, and subsequent incremental improvements associated with the maturing of these technologies and their geographical and temporal propagation (Merrifield 1999). The 19th Century marked the boundary between the ancient world and the modern world (Betz 2003) characterized increasingly by the disciplinary influence of science and the research university in defining the underlying principles for a rapidly growing science and technology infrastructure that enables technological innovation based on scientific technology. The rise of large industrial organizations in the late 19th Century played a significant role through the formation of major, central research and development laboratories seeking competitive advantage based on proprietary technology (Fusfeld 1994). During the 20th Century the size and scope of industrial research grew both geographically and virtually due to the increasing capability of transportation, communication and computing technologies (Gerybadze 1999).

Recognition since the mid 20th Century that technology is the key driver of innovation (Schumpeter 1939, Mensch 1982), has stimulated multidisciplinary management of technology (MOT) research dedicated to better understanding and improving industrial innovation through collaborative industryuniversity-government initiatives (Kelly 1978). National Research Council workshops (NRC 1987, NRC 1991) have further stimulated systematic study of the innovation process leading to the recognition of many diverse individual and organizational roles important for success (Fusfeld 1994, Roberts 1987 and 1988, von Hippel 1986 and 1988). Nevertheless, the complexities inherent to innovation have hindered the development of qualitative and quantitative models for forecasting and prediction (Age 1995). High performance execution of innovation projects to plan are limited to incremental innovation projects for which documented, historical procedures provide a basis for repeated success (Senhar 1995). Due to the unavailability of a sound, general theory for improving radical innovation effectiveness, practical guidelines for breakthrough innovation are still based primarily on historical best practices from case study research (Leifer 2000 and 2001, O'Connor 2001 and 2005, Christensen 1995).

Recently a consensus has emerged (NII 2004) that a more rapid and effective approach to radical innovation is needed for future industrial and societal competitiveness. Existing innovation strategies for cost reduction and continuous improvement over the past 25 years are inadequate, and may prove counterproductive in creating the high growth rate industries and sustained economic development and job creation required for success in the globally connected 21st Century world.

In May 2004, a group of fifty leading scholars and industrial practitioners of radical innovation from around the world (Dismukes 2004, Bers 2004) established the vision for a dramatically improved, global, accelerated radical innovation methodology that could significantly improve the arduous, meandering, often decades-long process of radical innovation, thereby achieving a factor of 2X-10X improvement in innovation effectiveness, as measured by reduced risk, reduced time and reduced cost. To realize this vision, they proposed a mission to develop sound theory and validate practical open-innovation approaches (Chesbrough 2003) that would integrate academic and business innovation professionals and knowledge workers in a collaborative environment enhanced by computer science and telecommunication tools.

China will introduce new policies for aluminum and copper producers in 2006, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Friday in a notice that provided a summary of the government's plans for the industries.

Further measures to control capacity expansions and over-investment in the industries have been expected for several months, but the statement contained little new information and market participants said it was a reminder from the government about its stance toward the industries.

In the aluminum and alumina sectors, the NDRC said controls on production will be strengthened by enforcing entrance standards, restricting new projects and preventing over-expansion. Beijing also will support upstream and downstream integration so aluminum smelters can form "complete production chains," and will encourage joint ventures between aluminum smelters and power plants.

Controls over aluminum exports will continue, and companies will be encouraged to form alliances to negotiate for copper concentrate and alumina. A registration scheme for copper concentrate imports will be introduced, similar to systems already in place for copper cathode, iron ore and other commodities.

Beijing also will encourage the recycling of aluminum and copper scrap, the statement said.

While no specific policies were announced, speculation is rife that the government plans to double the export tax on aluminum to 10 percent next year. "After canceling toll trading benefits, there is nothing else they could do to exports but to raise export taxes," a Shenzhen-based analyst said.

China's aluminum exports began to decline in the third quarter, falling 3.4 percent year-on-year to 987,602 tonnes for the first 10 months of the year. But producers might continue to ship aluminum out of China as London Metal Exchange prices are higher than domestic prices, market participants said.

To understand the effect of line width on textural and microstructural evolution of Cu damascene interconnect, three Cu interconnects samples with different line widths are investigated. According to x-ray diffraction (XRD) results, the (111) texture is developed in all investigated lines. Scattered {111} and {111} texture components are present in 0.18-μm-width interconnect lines, and the {111} texture was developed in 2-μm-width interconnect lines. The directional changes of the (111) plane orientation with increased line width were investigated by XRD. In addition, microstructure and grain-boundary character distribution (GBCD) of Cu interconnect were measured using electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) techniques. This measurement demonstrated that a bamboo-like microstructure is developed in the narrow line, and a polygranular structure is developed in the wider line. The fraction of Σ3 boundaries is increased as the line width increases but is decreased in the blanket film. A new interpretation of textural evolution in damascene interconnect lines after annealing is suggested, based on the state of stress and growth mechanisms of Cu deposits.

INTRODUCTION

Recently, Cu interconnect processing technology, the so-called damascene process, became an important issue in the integrated circuitry chips industry because it decreases resistance and capacitance delay losses and the number of processing operations. One of the most important stages in this technology is the Cu electroplating process, which is characterized by excellent gap filling, high deposition rate, low-temperature processing, system simplicity, and good process controllability.1

Because Cu has been introduced as an interconnect material to replace Al, significant research on the relationship between texture and reliability of copper interconnects has been undertaken.2-7 It is well known that a strong (111) texture is beneficial for the improvement of electromigration failure in Al interconnects.8,9 In addition, it was demonstrated10 that the electromigration failure in aluminum thin films can be correlated with the frequency of coincidence site lattice (CSL) boundaries, low or high diffusivity boundaries, and the strength of the {111{ texture.10 In copper damascene lines, however, such correlations have not been firmly established, and the driving force that can affect the evolution of texture and microstructure as line width increases were not clearly identified until now.

In this study, a fully quantitative description of texture in the interconnect lines will be presented and a possible explanation of texture evolution with an increase of the line width will be proposed.

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE

Three copper damascene lines in tetraethylorthosiliate (TEOS) oxide having different line widths from 0.18-2 μm, all having a trench depth of 0.5 μm, and one copper blanket film were investigated. These are listed in Table I. A 400-Å-thick TaN layer was deposited on the surface of a single crystalline Si (100) wafer as the barrier layer; a copper seed layer and then copper electrodeposits are deposited on the top of the barrier layer. To encapsulate Cu interconnects, overlayers of 7,000-Å SiN and TEOS oxide were deposited. The Cu damascene lines and blanket film were fabricated with the same process steps and conditions.

To obtain direct, quantitative information of the sample surface texture, diffracted intensity measurements were performed at low grazing-incidence angle geometry using a Rigaku x-ray diffractometer (Tokyo, Japan). The crystallographic texture of the copper interconnects was measured using a Siemens D500 x-ray goniometer with copper tube (Munich, Germany). Pole figures were obtained using the reflection technique, up to a maximum tilt of the specimen of 80° in 5° intervals. The recalculated pole figures, orientation distribution function (ODF), and the fraction of different texture components were calculated by TexTools v. 3.0, commercial software for texture analysis (Resmat, Montreal, PQ, Canada).11

An orientation imaging microscope (OIM) mounted on a Philips XL30 field-emission scanning electron microscope (Eindhoven, the Netherlands) was used to identify the orientation of each grain and the types of grain boundaries in the copper interconnects and blanket film. The CSL grain boundaries were identified from the electron backscattered pattern. The frequency of occurrence of these boundaries, up to Σ29, was calculated.

The passivation layer had to be removed to reveal the underlying interconnect lines for the OIM texture measurements. It was found that etching in 15% HF for 5-10 min allows removal of the top passivation layer without causing damage to the copper interconnect lines.

The Internet Age is upon us. We live in a time when we expect communications to be instantaneous. Response times are measured in seconds, Faster, cheaper, bigger, better is society's mantra. We want the ability to download video streams On our PCs that are of the highest quality. The infrastructure necessary to make this possible is just now being put into place.

It is estimated that 117 million people have access to the Internet and that the vast majority of people do so through their telephone service provider. The speed of the connection is directly related to the system used, Telephone and cable companies are battling it out to be the provider of choice.

Telephone companies are working to increase speeds by adding digital subscriber line technology, which increases the speed of data transmission utilizing the current infrastructure. Cable companies are using cable modem technology, with coaxial cable, to bring high-speed Internet access. But no matter how fast data can be transmitted to one's house, the real bottleneck may be the telephone wiring inside the house.

This brings us to residential communications wiring, an exciting new market for the copper industry, whose potential is just beginning to be tapped.

Today the vast majority of people use conventional telephone wiring to access the Internet. Consisting typically of two pairs of wires, it is adequate for voice, fax and some data communications. Structured wiring, using Category 5 cables or better, can transmit more information faster.

Two markets drive residential communications wiring: new construction and remodeling of existing homes. This year approximately 1.5 million new homes will be built, of which approximately 1.2 million will be single family and 300,000 multi-family homes. New construction represents the "low-hanging fruit" for the structured wiring business. With open walls, these homes are easy to wire properly for a trained installer. And structured wiring is already beginning to penetrate this market.

Parks Associates of Dallas, one of the best-known sources of forecasts for residential technology, estimates that this year about 12 percent of new homes are being wired for the future. By 2004, Parks' mid-line forecast is for 42% of new homes to be wired to accept more information. This market is now in the early-adopter phase, but competitive pressures on builders, driven primarily by consumer demand, should bring structured wiring into the mainstream shortly.

The existing home market represents the greatest potential but it also has the largest obstacles. The nation's housing stock is composed of approximately 106 million single- and multi-family homes. This number has grown almost two-and-a-half times since 1950, when it totaled 43 million homes. If Parks' forecast that 42 percent of new homes will have structured wiring installed in 2004, or about 600,000 homes at today's construction rate, it would take only .6 percent of the existing homes to be wired in that year to match this. number. However, many people would say that retrofitting is difficult or impossible. The U.S. Copper Development Association does not believe that is the case.

A well-wired house, wired according to standards, should:

* use Category 5 or better wiring for voice and data;

* wire virtually every room of the house

* the kitchen, every bedroom, the home office, den, family room, everywhere the need might arise to get connected;

* be wired in a star, or home run, configuration;

* use eight-pin modular connectors, referred to as RJ-45s. These take advantage of all eight wires in the Category 5 cable.

Wiring of RG-6 coaxial cable is usually installed for distributing TV signals throughout the home.

To estimate the potential market for copper wire and cable one must examine structured wiring and coaxial cable. Category 5 cables use 24-gauge wire. Each wire has 1.22 pounds of copper per 1,000 feet. The cable is composed of eight such wires, totaling 9.76 pounds. Adding the twist in the cable results in approximately 10 pounds of copper per 1,000 feet of cable. A reel of 1,000 feet is sufficient to wire all rooms in a typical house, with star wiring from a central distribution device to each major room. It is generally recommended that two runs go to each location.

Similarly for RG-6 coaxial cable, the key point for copper is whether the center conductor is solid copper or copper-clad steel. There is a trend toward solid copper. Copper-clad has the advantage of somewhat greater stiffness to withstand repeated insertion forces, while solid copper has the advantage of being better able to carry a low-frequency current to power a remote-control device, such as a camera in the baby's room. Since a cable installed for TV distribution might later need to be switched to another use requiring power, it's arguably better to use solid copper. An 18-gauge solid-copper-center-conductor wire contains 4.92 pounds per 1,000 feet.

If each run has an upstream and a downstream coax, and one Category 5, which is fairly common, about 2,000 feet of coax might be used per house, or about another 10 pounds of copper, making a total of 20 pounds per house. If a second Category 5 is run to each location, as is recommended, the total becomes about 30 pounds per dwelling. Comparing 20 to 30 pounds of copper in a properly wired house to one or two pounds of station wire (also referred to as quad wire) in a typical house with only basic telephone service, results in an additional 20 pounds per house or more. A recent ruling by the FCC requires only category-type cable be used in certain applications.

Suited for use as electro-magnetic shielding, Mu-copper foil can be applied as wallpaper to transform existing room into Faraday cage with attenuation level of 40-80 dB. Product, which shields against magnetic and electrical fields, is non-flammable and resistant to aging. It can also be used as load bearing basis for floor finishing and floor covering. Doors with hf-seals, vent panels, shielded windows, and power filters are available.

Holland Shielding Systems BV (+31-78-6131366) has developed a new type of Mu-copper foil for electro-magnetic shielding of rooms, buildings and appliances. With this material, which can be applied as wallpaper, an existing room can be transformed easily into a Faraday cage with an attenuation level of 40 to 80 dB.

The material has a high strength and is capable of shielding against both magnetic and electrical fields. It is non-flammable, resistant against ageing and can be used as a load bearing basis for floor finishing, floor covering, etc.

Doors with hf-seals, vent panels, shielded windows and power filters can be supplied fromstock.

Also available: conversion sets for changing existing (wooden) doors into reliable shielded doors, without drastic adjustments.

Applications: measuring rooms, medical examination rooms, shielding against radiation of mobile phones and radar, computer rooms.

Comprehensive documentation with test data is available upon request.

Suited for terminating copper conductors in various electrical connections, HYLUG(TM) uninsulated terminals are manufactured from seamless electrolytic copper tubing with heavy-duty wall thickness. With proprietary brite finish, terminals feature internally beveled barrel end and electro-tin plated terminals for corrosion resistance. Products are UL listed and CSA certified to 600 V and may be used on applications to 35 kV.

Provides simple cable preparation, excellent electrical connection

FCI-BURNDY[R] Products, a leading connector manufacturer and provider of OEM solutions to the industrial, energy, and automotive industries, presents HYLUG(TM) terminals, ideal for terminating copper conductors in a wide variety of electrical connections. Typical uses include heavy-duty industrial, utility, commercial, and telecommunication applications.

HYLUG terminals are manufactured from seamless high conductivity, electrolytic copper tubing with heavy-duty wall thickness. They provide maximum conductivity, low resistance and ductility for an excellent combination of electrical and crimp forming properties. The barrel diameter closely matches commercial (code) cable and Navy cable diameters, providing a strong connector/conductor relationship to produce a high quality electrical connection.

HYLUG terminals feature FCI-BURNDY's propriety brite finish and electro-tin plated terminals to ensure durable long-lasting corrosion resistance. The HYLUG also provides easy cable insertion with an internally beveled barrel end.

Each connector is marked with the wire size and type, die index, color coding, and proper number/location of crimps to provide easy identification and proper tooling and lower installation costs. These terminals require simple cable preparation for an easily installed permanent and inspectable cable termination.

HYLUG terminals are listed by UL (UL STD. 486A) and CSA certified to 600 volts, when applied with the proper tool and die combination. The terminals may be used on applications to 35KV for suitable high voltage applications.