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High-voltage 180nm technology in production at TSMC |
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Feb 04, 2005 at 04:00 AM |
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company has entered volume
production of what it claims is the industry's first 40- volt,
0.18-micron, high voltage (HV) technology. The technology allows
designers to produce single-chip TFT LCD drivers for portable
applications, thereby reducing chip count, saving real estate and
power, while providing the imaging performance necessary for advanced
portable displays.
Available in 1.8-volt, 5-volt and 40-volt triple gate oxides, the
process features a superior isolation scheme that allows highly
reliable integration of low-voltage and high-voltage circuitry for the
lifetime of the device, with minimal noise and excellent immunity to
latch-up. "The design community has been anxiously awaiting the
delivery of a 40-volt, low-power 0.18-micron process for volume
production," said Genda Hu, vice president of marketing for TSMC. "This
development enables a whole new class of display drivers."
The new process is based on, and fully compatible with, TSMC's
industry-leading 180nm, low power process that maximizes power
conservation. The process supports all logic and analog IP and
libraries that are proven in TSMC's 0.18-micron low-power process,
thereby providing not just a power and area savings, but a design
budget savings as well. To enhance optimization of display quality for
individual hand-held systems, TSMC is also developing special
intellectual property (IP) elements enabling one-time programmability
(OTP) and multiple-time programmability (MTP). These IPs are expected
to be available in 2005 without additional process steps.
The TSMC 0.18-micron HV technology is also available on TSMC's
Cybershuttle prototyping service for quick and inexpensive verification
and engineering samples. Backend services, including gold bumping, are
offered through TSMC as well.
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