Nov 14 2013
Multi-project prototyping service offers large cost savings as manufacturing costs are shared between multiple users
Unterpremstaetten, Austria (November XX, 2013), The Full Service Foundry business unit of ams AG (SIX: AMS) today announced its fast and cost-efficient IC prototyping service, known as Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) or shuttle run, with an updated schedule in 2014. The prototyping service, which combines several designs from different customers onto a single wafer, offers significant cost advantages for foundry customers as the costs for wafers and masks are shared among a number of different shuttle participants.
ams’ best in class MPW service includes the whole range of 0.18µm and 0.35µm specialty processes. In order to provide leading analog semiconductor process technologies, manufacturing and services, ams offers four MPW runs in 0.18µm CMOS (C18) process as well as four MPW runs in its advanced 0.18µm High-Voltage CMOS (H18) technology. The H18 process technology is based on IBM’s industry-proven 0.18µm CMOS process CMOS7RF and offers industry-first RF (Radio Frequency) integration and high density SoC (System on a Chip) capability. It is perfectly suited for applications such as smart sensors, sensor interface devices, smart meters, industrial and building controls, and LED lighting control in the automotive, industrial and medical markets.
For the 0.35µm specialty processes, which are based on the 0.35µm CMOS process transferred from TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company), a total of 14 runs are offered in 2014: ams' 0.35µm High-Voltage CMOS process family with a 20V CMOS option, which is ideally suited for power management products and display drivers; a 50V CMOS option, which has been optimized for automotive and industrial applications; and a 120V module, which meets the requirements of sensor and sensor interface chips in high-voltage applications. The advanced High-Voltage CMOS process with Embedded Flash functionality adds to ams’ MPW service portfolio. The CMOS compatible 0.35µm SiGe-BiCMOS technology S35 enables RF circuit designs with an operating frequency of up to 7 GHz combined with high-density digital parts on one single
ASIC.
Overall, ams will offer almost 150 MPW start dates in 2014, enabled by long lasting co-operations with partner organizations such as CMP-TIMA, Europractice, Fraunhofer IIS and Mosis. Japanese customers may also participate via our local MPW program partners Toppan Technical Design
Center Co., Ltd (TDC) and Dai Nippon LSI Design Co, Ltd.
The complete schedule for 2014 has now been released and detailed start dates per process are available on the web at http://asic.ams.com/MPW.
To take advantage of the MPW service, ams’ foundry customers deliver their completed GDSII-data on specific dates and receive untested packaged samples or dies within a short lead-time of typically 8 weeks for CMOS and 12 weeks for High-Voltage CMOS, SiGe-BiCMOS and Embedded
Flash processes.
All process technologies are supported by the well-known hitkit, the ams industry benchmark process design kit based on Cadence design environment. The hitkit comes complete with fully silicon-qualified standard cells, periphery cells and general purpose analog cells such as comparators, operational amplifiers, low power A/D and D/A converters. Custom analog and RF devices, physical verification rule sets for Assura and Calibre, as well as precisely characterized circuit simulation models, enable rapid design starts of complex high performance mixed-signal ICs. In addition to standard prototype services, ams also offers advanced analog IP blocks, a memory (RAM/ROM) generation service and packaging services in ceramic or plastic.