JAMES O’RIORDAN
Chief Technology Officer and VP, Corporate Development, Silicon & Software Systems (S3)
With many years of experience under its belt, Silicon & Software Systems (S3) is a company
exhibiting wide knowledge of the analog/mixed-signal market. In my interview with James
O’Riordan, chief technology officer and vice president of corporate development at S3, we discussed
how relationships and extensive experience contribute to successfully delivering analog/mixed-signal
products, who is responsible for improving the supply chain and solving technical challenges,
how to support start-ups during the downturn, the importance of innovation within the electronic
design automation (EDA) industry, and creativity as a value add.
- Jodi Shelton, Executive Director, GSA |
DR. OLIVIER BRIÈRE
Marketing Director, Silicon Foundry Services, MHS Electronics
MHS has established itself as an industry leader within the analog/mixed-signal foundry market
through the acquisition of foundries in Swindon and Nantes. The company’s broad expertise in various
markets has allowed the company to deliver excellent service to its customers. In my interview with
Olivier Brière, marketing director of MHS Electronics, we discussed what has enabled the company to
excel in the analog/mixed-signal market, how the company plans to sustain growth and profitability
in today’s unstable economic climate, how foundries can help fabless companies meet higher quality
standards, and the factors that will re-ignite Europe’s semiconductor industry.
- Jodi Shelton, Executive Director, GSA |
Q: S3’s primary end market is consumer, which brings great success,
but also tight market windows. Therefore, it is important to deliver
first-time-right intellectual property (IP). To reduce risk, mixed-signal IP
must be proven in silicon. However, while silicon-proven IP is good,
integration still remains an issue. How can IP vendors ensure stable
IP integration (e.g., early access to stable process data from foundries)?
A: To receive accurate information from your foundry partners, it is very
important to create close relationships with them. However, when it
comes to integrating mixed-signal IP, especially high-performance IP,
such as the IP developed at S3, an IP vendor that has extensive experience
in integrating such IP into large systems-on-chip (SOCs), which are
often dominated by noisy digital circuitry, brings a clear advantage to
its customers. As an IP vendor, you must actively support the customer
by advising them on how to avoid issues through proper guard rings
and routing. At S3, we do this by providing detailed integration
guidelines, offering support during integration and encouraging our
customers to involve us in reviewing their final Graphic Design System
II (GDSII) so we can identify any potential issues that might impact
the performance of our IP as it is embedded in their design.
A major advantage for S3 has been the 20 plus years of IC
design service experience that we have accumulated. Most of
this experience has come from SOC projects where we have had
the responsibility of integrating various third-party IP and ensuring
performance issues are avoided.
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Q: Founded only three years ago, MHS Electronics has quickly
established itself as a key player within the analog/mixed-signal
foundry market. How has the company’s passionate commitment to
its values and mission contributed to its growth and achievements
in analog/mixed-signal?
A: While it is true that MHS is only three years old, our foundries
in Swindon, UK and Nantes, France were founded in the 1950s and the
1970s, respectively. With such an outstanding heritage within major
semiconductor groups, and proven expertise in complex analog/mixed-signal
products, we have been able to capitalize on our customers’
challenging product development and industrialization programs.
Q: To continue this growth, does MHS plan to expand its foundry
services in the near future, or will you focus on your core offerings?
A: Our strategy is to continue expanding our specialized
foundry services through process technology enhancements in
our current core technologies and through acquisitions. Our
technology roadmap extends our processes in operating voltage and
environmental robustness (e.g., higher operating temperatures).
Concerning acquisitions, we are looking at facilities that will provide
us with better geometries for our radio frequency (RF)/mixed-signal
technologies and with 8-inch capacity. We will also continue to
transfer customer-specific process technologies for second sourcing
and obsolescence management.
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