Mentor releases optimized flow, new fill automation for GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 22FDX IC manufacturing process October 10, 2018Mentor, a Siemens business, today announced it has qualified complete solutions from its Calibre® nmPlatform™, Analog FastSPICE™ (AFS)™ Platform, Eldo® Platform and Nitro-SoC place and route system for GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 22FDX Fully-Depleted Silicon-On-Insulator (FD-SOI) integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing processes. GF and Mentor have mutually developed an advanced, first-of-its-kind automated fill flow that ensures analog devices are able to leverage the full performance of these new processes in emerging markets such as ADAS/autonomous driving, IoT, 5G communications, cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
QuickLogic Announces Silicon-Proven ArcticPro eFPGA on GLOBALFOUNDRIES 22FDX® Process October 9, 2018SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — QuickLogic Corporation (NASDAQ: QUIK), a developer of ultra-low power multi-core voice enabled SoCs, embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP, display bridge and programmable logic solutions, today announced the availability of silicon-proven and ready-to-use ultra-low power ArcticPro™ eFPGA technology on GLOBALFOUNDRIES 22FDX® (FD-SOI) process technology. The complete software tool suite supporting the development and integration of eFPGA designs on this node is also available. This announcement establishes QuickLogic’s technology and software offering as the industry’s first and only eFPGA solution available for GF’s 22FDX process technology.
QuickLogic宣布ArcticPro eFPGA已在格芯22FDX®工艺上通过芯片验证 October 9, 2018SUNNYVALE, Calif., Oct. 9, 2018 /PRNewswire/ — QuickLogic Corporation (NASDAQ: QUIK), a developer of ultra-low power multi-core voice enabled SoCs, embedded FPGA (eFPGA) IP, display bridge and…
Mentor发布优化流程，针对格芯22FDX IC制造工艺实现全新填充自动化 October 9, 2018Mentor, a Siemens business, today announced it has qualified complete solutions from its Calibre® nmPlatform™, Analog FastSPICE™ (AFS)™ Platform, Eldo® Platform and Nitro-SoC place and route system…
IN2FAB Joins GlobalFoundries FDXcelerator™ Partner Program October 2, 2018Northampton, United Kingdom, October 2, 2018 – IN2FAB announced the opening of a new North American office to support and expand its existing business. The centre will operate in conjunction with the company’s existing facilities in Europe to provide a base for expanded operations.
After Pivot, Differentiation is Chosen Path October 2, 2018By: Dave Lammers Europe and Singapore are two sources of ideas for GF following the decision to pivot away from 7nm technology development. One company that sees strategic value in the 22FDX® solution is Synaptics. While Tom Caulfield was trying to figure out how to re-position GLOBALFOUNDRIES as a differentiated foundry, Rick Bergman, the CEO of Synaptics, had concluded that GF’s 22FDX process could do exactly that: differentiate Synaptics in the market for artificial intelligence-enabled Internet of Things applications. “For the very large customers that we have, we are banking on 22FDX for unique solutions specifically for the IoT market,” Bergman said in a keynote address at the foundry’s annual technology conference, GTC 2018, in Santa Clara. Synaptics Adopting 22FDX Synaptics, with revenues of roughly $2 billion this year, focuses on the human-machine interface (HMI), a market that is rapidly moving to voice-enabled interfaces. On-chip neural network processing in IoT edge devices is a key enabler, requiring the right mix of performance, power consumption, and cost. Bergman said one Synaptics chip has taped out in the fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) 22FDX process, another is “right behind it, aimed at voice and video,” while a third chip will support augmented reality and virtual reality (AR/VR) capabilities. CEO, Rick Bergman, on stage talking about the future of human interfaces and Synaptics at GTC 2018 The company evaluated 28nm bulk transistors and found that “they didn’t have the horsepower required,” he said, while advanced FinFET-based leading-edge processes “require a certain amount of (design) investment, and in many cases the volumes don’t justify it in a fragmented market like IoT.” GF’s non-volatile memory solutions were another factor, he added. Edge IoT devices increasingly are being used to process AI workloads, rather than sending them to the cloud. For IoT edge solutions, Bergman said Synaptics requires “extremely low power,” using FDX’s forward and back-biasing capabilities to switch to high performance, when needed, for products such as smart speakers. “With biasing, we can gain performance when we need it, and when we don’t need it we have very low power. Since IoT tends to be a very competitive market, cost is an important factor as well,” he said. Learning from Europe…. After being named CEO of GF in early March, Caulfield began visiting customers, including the major European semiconductor companies. These companies had looked at the rising costs of leading-edge designs, the slowing improvements to Moore’s Law scaling, and made their own pivots. “They learned that leading edge is not the only game in town, that innovation is shifting toward the creation of differentiated features. They have prospered as a result. I came away from there knowing what we had to do to differentiate ourselves. And I knew we had to get out of our mind the idea that we had to have leading-edge technology to be strategic to these customers,” Caulfield said. …And from Singapore Caulfield said he wants the larger GF to learn from the foundry’s Singapore operation, which has mastered the skills needed to ensure zero defects, provide improvements to its technology platforms, and hone manufacturing discipline: achieving high yields on a wide variety of products while keeping the fabs full. “Much of our revenue in differentiated silicon comes from Singapore,” he said, adding that “the revenue model for GF is Singapore.” He made the point that many people are fixated on leading-edge technologies, currently 7nm and beyond, with relatively little attention given to the many advances in power, MEMs, RF, and other technologies. The heart of the day-long GTC 2018 was spent describing the innovations which differentiate GF in those areas. GF’s technologists are coming up with ways to boost the performance of the 12nm FinFET process, adding options such as high-voltage and NVM offerings. By halting 7nm logic development, executives promised that more of the foundry’s resources will be available for power, analog, IoT, automotive, and other markets which have their own technology differentiations. Three Ways GF is Different During a coffee break, I asked Subramani Kengeri, vice president of client solutions, if the pivot away from 7nm might leave GF fighting for business with foundries such as Taiwan’s UMC or China’s SMIC. Kengeri said GF differs from its competitors in three ways: first, the breadth of offering and level of technology differentiation is much greater. In automotive, eNVM, HV, mixed-signal, FinFET, Silicon Photonics and several other key areas, GF simply offers a much richer and more complete technology portfolio than other foundries. With its FDX technology, it offers a unique solution. In RF it dominates. “Thinking RF? Think GF,” was a clever refrain heard from Bami Bastani, senior vice president of GF’s business units. Secondly, Kengeri said GF has superior packaging technologies, and going forward will have more resources to invest in packaging to support growing needs for heterogeneous integration. And thirdly, GF — having acquired Chartered Semiconductor and IBM Microelectronics and grown to $6 billion in revenues — is a more global company than its competitors, with fabs in United States, Germany, and Singapore, and a strong global client solutions team. Caulfield said with the pivot decision behind it, GF is focused on improving manufacturing efficiencies and boosting fab utilization rates, while adding capacity where needed in RF, power, automotive, and other fast-growing markets. “We want to fill the assets that we have,” he said. GF will continue to invest to create further new features on these offering platforms About Author Dave Lammers Dave Lammers is a contributing writer for Solid State Technology and a contributing blogger for GF’s Foundry Files. Dave started writing about the semiconductor industry while working at the Associated Press Tokyo bureau in the early 1980s, a time of rapid growth for the industry. He joined E.E. Times in 1985, covering Japan, Korea, and Taiwan for the next 14 years while based in Tokyo. In 1998 Dave, his wife Mieko, and their four children moved to Austin to set up a Texas bureau for E.E. Times. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, Dave received a master’s in journalism at the University of Missouri School of Journalism.
IN2FAB加入格芯FDXcelerator™合作伙伴计划 October 2, 2018Northampton, United Kingdom, October 2, 2018 – IN2FAB announced the opening of a new North American office to support and expand its existing business. The centre will operate in conjunction with the…
转型之后，差异化是必选之路 October 2, 2018 作者: Dave Lammers 决定停止7nm技术开发后，欧洲和新加坡成为格芯的两个创意来源。Synaptics看到了22FDX®解决方案蕴含的战略价值。 Tom Caulfield正在尝试将格芯重新定位为差异化晶圆厂，Synaptics首席执行官Rick Bergman总结说，格芯22FDX工艺确实能让Synaptics在支持人工智能的物联网应用市场中脱颖而出。 在圣克拉拉举办的2018 GTC大会上致辞时，Bergman表示：“我们希望22FDX能为广大的客户群带来专门针对物联网市场的独特解决方案。” Synaptics采用22FDX Synaptics专注于人机界面(HMI)，今年的营收近20亿美元，该市场正快速转向支持语音的界面。对于物联网边缘设备，片上神经网络处理是一个关键支持因素，但需要权衡性能、功耗和成本。 Bergman表示，一款Synaptics芯片已经在全耗尽式绝缘体上硅(FD-SOI) 22FDX工艺中完成流片，另一款芯片“紧随其后，瞄准语音和视频市场”，第三款芯片则支持增强现实和虚拟现实(AR/VR)功能。 首席执行官Rick Bergman参加GTC 2018大会，正在畅谈人机界面和Synaptics的未来 评估28nm体硅晶体管后，公司发现“它们不具备所需的功率”，而基于FinFET的先进工艺“需要一定的（设计）投资，且在很多情况下，例如物联网这样的碎片化市场，数量并不能说明问题”。他补充说，格芯的非易失性存储器解决方案是另一因素。 边缘物联网设备越来越广泛地用于处理AI工作负载，而不是将它们发送至云。对于物联网边缘解决方案，Bergman表示Synaptics需要“超低功耗”，必要时，会使用FDX的前向背栅偏置功能来切换至高性能模式，以适用于智能扬声器等产品。他表示：“借助偏置，需要性能时我们可获得高性能，不需要性能时我们可获得低功耗。由于物联网属于竞争非常激烈的市场，成本也是一个重要因素”。 向欧洲学习…. 3月初被任命为格芯首席执行官后，Caulfield开始拜访客户，包括欧洲各大半导体芯片公司。这些公司已经注意到先进制程的设计不断上升的成本，以及摩尔定律的放缓，由此实施了自身转型。 Caulfield表示：“这些公司意识到，先进制程并不是唯一的主导力量，创新正在向创造差异化特性迁移。他们的转型取得了成功。这让我茅塞顿开。我们必须摆脱这样的想法：只有先进的技术对客户具有战略意义。” …向新加坡学习 Caulfield表示，他希望格芯能够学习其新加坡工厂的运营模式，该晶圆厂力求确保零缺陷，改进技术平台，同时秉承制造原则：充分利用晶圆厂的产能，实现各种产品的高良率。 Caulfield表示：“差异化晶圆的业务收入的大部分来自新加坡”，“新加坡是格芯应有的营收模式。” 他指出，目前许多人都专注于先进技术，包括当前的7nm和更高级的技术，但很少关注功率、MEMS、RF和其他技术的进步。为期一天的GTC 2018大会重点说明了格芯在这些领域的创新。格芯的技术人员正在想办法提高12nm FinFET工艺的性能，添加了高压和NVM产品等选项。停止7nm逻辑工艺开发之后，管理层承诺将晶圆厂的更多资源分配给具备技术差异化优势的功率、模拟、物联网、汽车和其他市场。 格芯有三个不同之处 在休息间隙，我向客户解决方案副总裁Subramani Kengeri提出一个问题：放弃7nm是否会让格芯面临与联华电子或中芯国际争抢业务的情况。 Kengeri表示与竞争对手相比，格芯有三个优势：第一，产品涵盖范围更广，技术水平更具优势。在汽车、eNVM、高压、混合信号、FinFET、硅光和其他几个关键领域，相比其他晶圆厂，格芯提供的技术组合更丰富、更完整。格芯凭借FDX技术提供独特的解决方案。格芯在RF领域占据主导地位。用格芯业务部高级副总裁Bami Bastani的话说：“提到RF，就想到格芯。” 第二，Kengeri认为格芯具有出色的封装技术，未来将对封装进行更多投资，以支持日益增长的异构集成需求。第三，格芯收购了特许半导体和IBM微电子业务之后，营收增长至60亿美元，与竞争对手相比，格芯的全球化程度更高，在美国、德国和新加坡都设有晶圆厂，还拥有强大的全球客户解决方案团队。 Caulfield表示，除了做出转型决策，格芯还专注于提高制造效率和晶圆厂的利用率，同时面向RF、功率、汽车和其他快速增长且有需要的市场增加产能。他表示：“我们想要填满现有的产能。” 格芯将继续投资，以在这些产品平台上进一步创建新功能 关于作者 Dave Lammers是固态技术特约撰稿人，也是格芯的Foundry Files的特约博客作者。他于20世界80年代早期在美联社东京分社工作期间开始撰写关于半导体行业的文章，彼时该行业正经历快速发展。他于1985年加入E.E. Times，定居东京，在之后的14年内，足迹遍及日本、韩国和台湾。1998年，Dave与他的妻子Mieko以及4个孩子移居奥斯丁，为E.E Times开设德克萨斯办事处。Dave毕业于美国圣母大学，获得密苏里大学新闻学院新闻学硕士学位。
GLOBALFOUNDRIES Delivering 8SW RF SOI Client Chips on 300mm Platform for Next-Generation Mobile Applications September 25, 2018RF SOI technology builds on manufacturing legacy that reaches new milestone with more than 40 billion chips shipped Santa Clara, Calif., September 25, 2018 – GLOBALFOUNDRIES announced today at its annual Global Technology Conference (GTC), that the company’s mobile-optimized 8SW 300mm RF SOI technology platform has been qualified and is in production. Several clients are currently engaged for this RF SOI process, tailored to accommodate aggressive LTE and Sub-6 GHz standards for front-end module (FEM) applications, including 5G IoT, mobile device and wireless communications. Leveraging the 300mm RF SOI process, 8SW delivers significant performance, integration and area advantages with up to 70 percent power reduction and 20 percent smaller overall die size compared to the previous generation. The technology enables superior LNAs (low-noise amplifiers) switches and tuners by supplying higher voltage handling and a best-in-class on-resistance (Ron) and off-capacitance (Coff) for reduced insertion loss with high isolation. The optimized RF FEM platform helps designers develop solutions that enable extremely fast downloads, higher quality connections and reliable data connectivity for today’s 4G/LTE Advanced operating frequencies and future sub-6GHz 5G mobile and wireless communication applications. “GF has now delivered more than 40 billion RF SOI chips for the world’s smart devices, and this latest generation of RF SOI technology is another proof point that we’re poised to meet accelerating global demand for solutions that deliver seamless, reliable data connectivity everywhere,” said Christine Dunbar, vice president of RF business unit at GF. “The mobile market continues to favor RF SOI, and GF’s industry leading, 8SW process in 300 mm manufacturing is specifically designed to help our clients take advantage of more frequency bands that will deliver ultra-reliable communications across high-band LTE and future 5G applications.” “We are proud to support GF’s new advanced and differentiated 8SW technology on 300mm RF SOI substrates and to continue our long-term strategic engineering and manufacturing collaboration enabling next-generation connectivity solutions,” said Dr. Bernard Aspar, EVP, Soitec. “We are ready to deliver the 300mm RF SOI substrates in high volumes to meet GF clients’ growing market demands.” “SEH congratulates GF on their 8SW platform. SEH believes 300 mm RF SOI products are an important technology, whose time has come,” Nobuhiko Noto, General Manager of SOI Division at SEH. “SEH has been a long time partner on RF technology and looks forward to supporting GF for their future generations of RF technologies as well. We will continue to be a supplier to the 300 mm RF SOI market as it grows.” GF’s manufacturing legacy and deep technical expertise in RF SOI process has resulted in more than 40 billion RF SOI chips shipped for next-generation RF-enabled devices. 8SW is manufactured on GF’s 300mm production line at Fab 10 in East Fishkill, N.Y., enabling clients to take advantage of advanced tooling and processes for faster time-to-market with industry-leading RF SOI. Qualified process design kits are available now. For more information on GF’s RF SOI solutions, contact your GLOBALFOUNDRIES sales representative or go to www.globalfoundries.com. About GF GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) is a leading full-service foundry delivering truly differentiated semiconductor technologies for a range of high-growth markets. GF provides a unique combination of design, development, and fabrication services, with a range of innovative IP and feature-rich offerings including FinFET, FDX™, RF, and power/analog mixed signal. With a manufacturing footprint spanning three continents, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of clients across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit globalfoundries.com. Contact: Erica McGillGLOBALFOUNDRIES(518) 795-5240[email protected]
Imagination and GLOBALFOUNDRIES Collaborate to Deliver Ultra-Low-Power Connectivity Solutions for IoT Applications September 25, 2018Imagination brings Ensigma Ultra-Low-Power Connectivity IP to GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ 22FDX® process London, UK and Santa Clara, USA – September 25, 2018 – Imagination Technologies and GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) announced today at its annual GTC 2018 conference, a joint collaboration to provide ultra-low-power baseband and radio frequency (RF) solutions for Bluetooth Low Energy® (BLE) and IEEE 802.15.4 technology, using Imagination’s Ensigma connectivity IP on GF’s 22nm FD-SOI (22FDX®) platform. In addition, Imagination has joined GF’s FDXcelerator™ Partner Program. The combination of 22FDX technology and Imagination’s Ensigma IP provides a power and cost efficient solution that customers can easily integrate into their System on Chip (SoC) designs. The collaboration will enable mutual customers to create innovative and differentiated connected devices for the Internet of Things (IoT) using Imagination’s silicon-proven, ultra-low power Ensigma connectivity engines in GF’s ultra-efficient 22FDX process. David McBrien, executive vice president of sales and marketing, Imagination, says: “By working with partners such as GF, we continuously enhance our IP for the latest processes. 22FDX is an appealing option for customers designing cost-sensitive devices. The collaboration has made our Ensigma connectivity IP even more power and area efficient. The availability of silicon-proven baseband and RF enables customers to rapidly introduce single-chip wireless devices requiring only a single external antenna.” “Imagination’s IP and BLE solutions complement GF’s 22FDX FD-SOI capabilities, enabling clients to leverage low-power, low-cost designs for IoT and connected applications,” said Mark Ireland, vice president of ecosystem partnerships at GF. “We are pleased to welcome Imagination as a partner in our FDXcelerator program to further broaden IP and design service choices and flexibility that will best match client requirements.” Ensigma IP for 22FDX provides a complete IP solution comprising analogue RF/AFE as a hard macro complete with a fully synthesizable baseband IP for applications such as wearable computing, health care, and home control. The solution for ultra-low power Bluetooth Low Energy and IEEE 802.15.4 is currently in development with lead customers, with silicon available in early Q4 2018. As a part of GF’s FDXcelerator Program, Imagination will join the rapidly-growing number of industry leaders committed to provide a broad set of resources, including EDA tools, IP, silicon platforms, reference designs, design services and packaging and test solutions specific to 22FDX technology. The program’s open framework enables members to minimize development time and cost while simultaneously leveraging the inherent power and performance advantages of FDX technology. The Ensigma Bluetooth Low Energy / IEEE 802.15.4 baseband and RF IP is available for immediate licensing. For sales and licensing information, contact [email protected]. About GF GLOBALFOUNDRIES (GF) is a leading full-service foundry delivering truly differentiated semiconductor technologies for a range of high-growth markets. GF provides a unique combination of design, development, and fabrication services, with a range of innovative IP and feature-rich offerings including FinFET, FDX™, RF, and power/analog mixed signal. With a manufacturing footprint spanning three continents, GF has the flexibility and agility to meet the dynamic needs of clients across the globe. GF is owned by Mubadala Investment Company. For more information, visit globalfoundries.com. About Imagination Technologies Imagination is a global technology leader whose products touch the lives of billions of people across the globe. The company’s broad range of silicon IP (intellectual property) includes the key processing blocks needed to create the SoCs (Systems on Chips) that power all mobile, consumer and embedded electronics. Its unique software IP, infrastructure technologies and system solutions enable its customers to get to market quickly with complete and highly differentiated SoC platforms. Imagination’s licensees include many of the world’s leading semiconductor manufacturers, network operators and OEMs/ODMs who are creating some of the world’s most iconic products. See: www.imgtec.com. Follow Imagination on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, RSS, Facebook and Blog. Imagination Technologies, Ensigma, and the Imagination Technologies logo are trademarks of Imagination Technologies Limited and/or its affiliated group companies in the United Kingdom and/or other countries. 22FDX is a registered trademark of GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Wi-Fi® is a registered trademark of Wi-Fi Alliance. The Bluetooth® word mark and logos are registered trademarks owned by the Bluetooth SIG, Inc. All other logos, products, trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Imagination Technologies’ Press Contacts: David Harold+44 (0)1923 260 511[email protected] Jo Ashford+44 (0)1923 260511[email protected] GLOBALFOUNDRIES Press Contact: Erica McGillPhone: 518-795-5240Email: [email protected]
