austriamicrosystems' business unit Full
Service Foundry successfully introduced its newly
developed and state-of-the-art 0.18μm high-voltage
CMOS process with a comprehensive
half-day technology seminar on system-on-chip
(SOC) and high-voltage design techniques.
The exceptionally well-attended technology
seminar held one day prior to this year's GSA
Emerging Opportunities Expo & Conference in
Santa Clara, California was very appreciated by
the participating designers and engineers from
industry-recognized companies. Many highly
experienced semiconductor industry veterans
enjoyed the detailed information about high-voltage
design techniques with austriamicrosystems
and IBM's next generation of 0.18μm high-performance
analog/mixed-signal technology,
which is ideally suited for a wide variety of
applications such as power management, motor
control, print drivers, direct current/direct current
(DC/DC) converters, switched power supplies,
liquid crystal display (LCD) drivers and backlight
controllers. The new 0.18μm high-voltage CMOS
process enables integration of more digital logic
and is therefore the perfect solution for SOC
designs. Further specialty technology seminars
will be announced soon.
For additional information, contact:
Ron Vogel
(T) 408-345-1790
(E) ronald.vogel@austriamicrosystems.com
(W) www.austriamicrosystems.com
Advanced Technology Investment Company
(ATIC) of Abu Dhabi and Chartered
Semiconductor Manufacturing announced
a definitive agreement whereby ATIC would
acquire Chartered, one of the world's top
dedicated foundries. The proposed acquisition
will be effected by way of a scheme of
arrangement under section 210 of the Companies
Act of Singapore, subject to customary
conditions. The transaction is expected to close
during Q4 2009. The transaction would allow
ATIC to build on the complementary platforms
of Chartered and GLOBALFOUNDRIES
with Chartered's customer relationships and
capabilities in 8-inch and 12-inch fabrication, and
GLOBALFOUNDRIES' advanced technology
expertise, capacity profile and global footprint.
For additional information, contact:
Tiffany Sparks
(T) 408-941-1185
(E) tiffanys@charteredsemi.com
(W) www.charteredsemi.com
Pioneering the open foundry business model
in China since 1997, CSMC Technologies is
a leading pure-play specialty analog foundry
providing fabless design houses and integrated
device manufacturers (IDMs) with 6-inch and
8-inch manufacturing services.
CSMC's Fab 2 commenced 8-inch wafer
production with emphasis on high-voltage
analog, mixed-signal and power processes in
2008. Potential analog products can be utilized
in a broad range of end-market applications,
including consumer electronics, communications
devices, computer peripheral equipment and
automotive. The target capacity of Fab 2 is
30,000 8-inch wafers per month in early 2010,
with process technologies advancing to the
0.13μm node.
For additional information, contact:
Jessie Shen
(T) 86-510-88113349
(E) shenj@csmc.com.cn
(W) www.csmc.com.cn
Fujitsu Microelectronics America (FMA), a
leading wafer foundry and application-specific
IC (ASIC) service provider, offers world-class
semiconductor solutions to fabless and system
companies. Based on its advanced CMOS processes
and application-optimized design intellectual
property (IP), Fujitsu's technology platforms are
available from the 180nm to 65nm nodes to
customer-owned tooling (COT) customers.
For customers who prefer a full-service
engagement model, FMA provides complete
turnkey ASIC services for quick time-to-revenue.
Fujitsu's technical experience, design expertise and
complex packaging capabilities are key to its long
track record of consistently delivering first-pass
success in SOC development and production.
For additional information, contact:
David Fung
(E) dfung@fma.fujitsu.com
(W) www.fujitsu.com
Jazz Semiconductor, a Tower Group
Company, and Entropic Communications
announced volume production of silicon tuners
adopted by LG for its LCD and plasma TVs.
Entropic used Jazz's cost-effective 0.18μm CMOS
process and its world-class radio frequency
(RF) modeling for its multi-mode silicon tuner
design which enables a low system cost and high-performance
solution to fuel digital TV and set-top
box momentum worldwide.
Jazz and Tower signed a memorandum
of understanding (MOU) with SVTC to
expand their aerospace and defense (A&D)
microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)
customer base and provide SVTC's A&D
customers with access to select Jazz technology
and U.S. manufacturing facilities.
Jazz announced its optimized SiGe technology
targeted at replacing GaAs components in the
growing millimeter wave and cell phone markets,
lowering cost and increasing integration. In
addition, Southwest Integrated Circuit Design
(SWID) selected Jazz's 0.35μm SiGe BiCMOS
process and models to achieve first-time success
for its digital satellite tuner.
For additional information, contact:
Melinda Jarrell
(T) 949-435-8181
(E) melinda.jarrell@jazzsemi.com
(W) www.jazzsemi.com
MagnaChip Semiconductor, a leading Asia-based
designer and manufacturer of analog
and mixed-signal semiconductor products
for high-volume consumer applications, now
offers foundry customers a cost-effective high-performance
0.11μm high-voltage 30V process
technology and is developing a 0.11μm high-voltage
20V process which is targeted for release
by the end of 2009.
MagnaChip's 0.11μm high-voltage 30V
process achieves cost reduction by dramatically
reducing the pitch of the high-voltage transistor
when compared to other foundries and also
provides technology competitiveness with the
smallest static random access memory (SRAM)
cell size at the 0.11μm node and reduced
mask layers. These features combine to enable
MagnaChip's customers significant advantages
over their competitors.
For additional information, contact:
(T) 82-43-718-4114
(W) www.magnachip.com
Kilopass Technology, the leading provider of
semiconductor logic non-volatile memory
(NVM) IP, and Semiconductor Manufacturing
International (SMIC), one of the world's leading
foundries, announced their embedded one-time
programmable (OTP) partnership. Kilopass is the
first embedded OTP NVM partner in SMIC's
65nm and 45nm processes. The 65nm OTP test
chip tapes out at the end of 2009 followed by
45nm in mid-2010.
Kilopass and SMIC have been collaborating
since 2005 with the development of 180nm,
130nm and 90nm OTP. Their customers have
seen much success in applications including
trimming, boot code and security key storage
for multimedia processors, microcontroller units
(MCUs) and radio-frequency identification
(RFID) ICs.
For additional information, contact:
(T) 86-21-3861-0000
(W) www.smics.com
SilTerra Malaysia Sdn. Bhd., a leading RF
CMOS technology provider, announced the
release of Smart Process Design Kit (PDK) for
its 0.13μm RF CMOS technology. Smart PDK
is an advanced solution providing statistical
metal-oxide semiconductor field-effect transistor
(MOSFET) process variation, statistical
interconnect parasitic extraction and spiral
inductor simulation/synthesis. The solution
strives to ensure first-time silicon success for
RF designers, on top of the advanced model
that was released in 2H 2008 (BSIM4 and
surface potential-based model PSP). SilTerra's
0.13μm RF CMOS technology offers thick-metal,
single-poly, (up to) eight-metal layer
metal-insulator-metal capacitors as an option.
Its 0.13μm RF CMOS technology has been
running volume production since 2H 2008.
For additional information, contact:
Lu Ping Chiang
(E) pingchiang_lu@silterra.com
(W) www.silterra.com
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing
(TSMC) has added a low-power process to its
28nm high-k metal gate roadmap. The new
process is expected to enter risk production in
Q3 2010 and will follow risk production of
the 28nm low-power silicon oxynitride process
at the end of Q1 2010. Risk production of the
28nm high-power process is expected at the
end of Q2 2010. TSMC's 28nm development
and ramp has remained on schedule since
the company announced the technology in
September 2008.
To fully utilize the power of the 28nm
technology family for a broad range of
differentiating products, TSMC is working
closely with customers and ecosystem partners
to build a comprehensive design infrastructure
based on the company's Open Innovation
Platform™. The Open Innovation Platform™,
hosted by TSMC, is open to TSMC's customers
and partners.
Established in 1987, TSMC is the world's
largest dedicated semiconductor foundry. As
the founder and leader of the dedicated foundry
business, TSMC has built its reputation
on providing advanced wafer production
processes and unparalleled manufacturing
efficiency. From its inception, TSMC has
consistently offered the foundry segment's
leading technologies and TSMC-compatible
design services to its customers. The company's
total managed capacity exceeds eight million
8-inch equivalent wafers, while its revenues
represent approximately 50 percent of the
dedicated foundry segment. TSMC became the
first semiconductor foundry seven years ago to
enter the ranks of the top 10 IC companies in
worldwide sales. According to an IC Insights
report, TSMC ranked number five in worldwide
sales in 2008.
For additional information, contact:
Ferda Mehmet
(E) ferda.mehmet@ar-edelman.com
(W) www.tsmc.com
Tower Semiconductor announced several
customer engagements including an MOU with
Intersil to co-develop a next-generation power
management platform, the largest potential
partnership in Tower's history. Intersil will
utilize the platform to manufacture leading-edge
power ICs in Tower's fab.
Tower announced the successful sampling of
a new CMOS imager that will serve in Medigus'
line of disposable miniature cameras and its new
medical devices camera, the smallest of its kind
in the world.
Tower announced deals with Korean
customers Dongwoon and Taejin to develop
high-volume light-emitting diode (LED)
lighting devices and low-power, high-efficiency
voltage regulator ICs, respectively. Tower also
announced it will manufacture 3PEAKIC's
energy-saving LED driver ICs used for backlight
LED panels in handheld devices such as cell
phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and
personal navigation devices (PNDs).
For additional information, contact:
Melinda Jarrell
(T) 949-435-8181
(E) melinda.jarrell@tower-usa.com
(W) www.towersemi.com
Cadence Design Systems has delivered an end-to-end Common Power Format (CPF)-based,
low-power and design for manufacturability
(DFM)-aware design reference flow for United
Microelectronics' (UMC) 40nm process
technology. The new reference flow provides
designers with a reliable, UMC-validated
methodology incorporating the latest in low-power
techniques, model-based DFM analysis
and optimization capabilities for maximum
power efficiency, superior quality of results and
accelerated yield ramp.
In addition to low power, the UMC
reference flow also employs the Encounter
Digital Implementation System's full suite of
integrated, foundry-certified, model-based
DFM capabilities for lithography. This enables
designers to confidently prevent, analyze and
optimize for potential DFM hotspots during
the physical implementation flow.
For additional information, contact:
(T) 886-3-578-2258
(E) sales@umc-usa.com
(W) www.umc.com
The X-FAB Group recently announced a
comprehensive, analog/mixed-signal high-temperature
CMOS foundry process for ICs
requiring operating temperatures up to 175
degrees Celsius. The modular 0.35μm process
XA035 is the first to enable high temperature-capable
SOC solutions, combining high-voltage
and embedded NVM elements. Design support
includes the XA035 lifetime calculator, a unique
new tool that calculates the expected IC lifetime
for a given mission profile to help determine
lifetime/temperature trade-offs. The XA035
process surpasses the stringent Automotive
Electronics Council (AEC)-Q100 qualification
tests for automotive IC quality and reliability.
Compared to the more costly discrete solutions,
it allows for the manufacturing of cost-effective IC solutions for operation in hostile
environments. The XA035 process is ideally
suited for high-precision analog circuits, sensor
front ends and brushless DC motor controls for
automotive, industrial, aerospace and military
markets.
For additional information, contact:
(T) 408-844-0066 ext. 101
(E) info@xfab.com
(W) www.xfab.com
