News Article
Singapore`s Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Foundry Announced A Joint
Singapore's Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing foundry announced a joint
technology agreement with IMEC, Europe's leading independent R&D centre for
microelectronics. As a result, Chartered will be offering a 0.18micron
silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS manufacturing capability by H2 2003.
Chartered is joining IMEC's Industrial Affiliation Program on 0.18micron
BiCMOS. This aims at technology optimised for low power, low noise RF
applications in the 2-5GHz range. A preliminary process design kit is due
from Chartered in Q3 2003. Pilot production is expected by the end of that
year.
Silterra Malaysia is accepting tape-outs for its new mixed-signal and RF
CL180MR process. This is based on Silterra's production-proven 0.18micron
technology, providing special features for analogue and radio frequency (RF)
circuits. Among the new features and device elements are triple well, native
transistors, high-value resistors, varactors, vertical bipolar transistors,
metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and thick metal inductor. A
comprehensive process design kit will be available in September 2002. The
transistors have fTs reaching 55GHz. The spiral inductor is fabricated on a
2micron thick top metal layer and has a Q-factor of 10 at 2.5GHz.
Amkor Technology and PMC-Sierra have released to production second
generation flip-chip packaging solutions. PMC-Sierra worked with Amkor to
define the packaging architectures that achieve the lower power and smaller
die sizes needed for networking equipment. The new flip-chip packaging
solutions are used in PMC-Sierra's 10Gigabit Ethernet XENON family of
devices and OC-48 and the OC-192 transport optimised CHESS-III chip set. The
flip-chip technology supports up to 258x3.125Gbit-per-second serial links.
US companies Micralyne and MicroCHIPS have entered into an agreement for the
development of MicroCHIPS' silicon chips for drug delivery. Micralyne is a
developer and OEM and manufacturer of BioMEMS and other MEMS components. The
companies will work together to push the technology to clinical trial.
John Santini, president and chief scientific officer of MicroCHIPS, reports:
"It is a challenge to find a MEMS foundry having the experience of an OEM
manufacturer and the willingness to work with a medical company during
product development when volumes are low. Micralyne has the capability and
experience to produce quality product at both low and high volumes. We look
forward to working with Micralyne in the coming months."
Nanosys has been awarded Phase I of a potential $1.6mn Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the US National Institutes of Health
(NIH). The grant is part of a special SBIR program to facilitate
multidisciplinary work in the field of nanotechnology. The money will be
used to further Nanosys' research and to commercialise a technology using
semiconducting nanowires to create molecular electronic detection systems.
The device could have applications in the medical, environmental and defence
sectors.
The Motorola, Philips and STMicroelectronics collaboration has made its
first product announcement - 90nm cell libraries and a design platform for
system-on-chip solutions. The alliance was set up in April 2002 to jointly
develop future generations of CMOS technology from the 90nm node down to
32nm over the next five years, with the participation of TSMC for process
development and alignment. The collaborative project is based at ST's R&D
site in Crolles, France.
The design kit allows designers to start next generation system-on-chip
(SoC) product development for low-power, wireless, networking, consumer and
high-speed applications.
Despite the current economic situation, German foundry X-FAB has announced
an expansion to its technology product line with the addition of a
0.35micron CMOS process family. This new CMOS technology for digital and
mixed-signal applications includes options for one or two poly layers and
three or four metal layers. The technology is compatible with industry
standards. The architecture of I/O structures allows for implementation in
3.3V applications, as well as use in conventional 5V circuitry.
CL180MR process. This is based on Silterra's production-proven 0.18micron
technology, providing special features for analogue and radio frequency (RF)
circuits. Among the new features and device elements are triple well, native
transistors, high-value resistors, varactors, vertical bipolar transistors,
metal-insulator-metal (MIM) capacitor and thick metal inductor. A
comprehensive process design kit will be available in September 2002. The
transistors have fTs reaching 55GHz. The spiral inductor is fabricated on a
2micron thick top metal layer and has a Q-factor of 10 at 2.5GHz.
Amkor Technology and PMC-Sierra have released to production second
generation flip-chip packaging solutions. PMC-Sierra worked with Amkor to
define the packaging architectures that achieve the lower power and smaller
die sizes needed for networking equipment. The new flip-chip packaging
solutions are used in PMC-Sierra's 10Gigabit Ethernet XENON family of
devices and OC-48 and the OC-192 transport optimised CHESS-III chip set. The
flip-chip technology supports up to 258x3.125Gbit-per-second serial links.
US companies Micralyne and MicroCHIPS have entered into an agreement for the
development of MicroCHIPS' silicon chips for drug delivery. Micralyne is a
developer and OEM and manufacturer of BioMEMS and other MEMS components. The
companies will work together to push the technology to clinical trial.
John Santini, president and chief scientific officer of MicroCHIPS, reports:
"It is a challenge to find a MEMS foundry having the experience of an OEM
manufacturer and the willingness to work with a medical company during
product development when volumes are low. Micralyne has the capability and
experience to produce quality product at both low and high volumes. We look
forward to working with Micralyne in the coming months."
Nanosys has been awarded Phase I of a potential $1.6mn Small Business
Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the US National Institutes of Health
(NIH). The grant is part of a special SBIR program to facilitate
multidisciplinary work in the field of nanotechnology. The money will be
used to further Nanosys' research and to commercialise a technology using
semiconducting nanowires to create molecular electronic detection systems.
The device could have applications in the medical, environmental and defence
sectors.
The Motorola, Philips and STMicroelectronics collaboration has made its
first product announcement - 90nm cell libraries and a design platform for
system-on-chip solutions. The alliance was set up in April 2002 to jointly
develop future generations of CMOS technology from the 90nm node down to
32nm over the next five years, with the participation of TSMC for process
development and alignment. The collaborative project is based at ST's R&D
site in Crolles, France.
The design kit allows designers to start next generation system-on-chip
(SoC) product development for low-power, wireless, networking, consumer and
high-speed applications.
Despite the current economic situation, German foundry X-FAB has announced
an expansion to its technology product line with the addition of a
0.35micron CMOS process family. This new CMOS technology for digital and
mixed-signal applications includes options for one or two poly layers and
three or four metal layers. The technology is compatible with industry
standards. The architecture of I/O structures allows for implementation in
3.3V applications, as well as use in conventional 5V circuitry.
