Sarnoff Europe and UMC Sign IP Alliance for ESD Protection

GISTEL, Belgium & HSIN CHU, Taiwan -- June 05, 2007 -- Sarnoff Europe (www.sarnoffeurope.com) today announced that it has signed an agreement with UMC to make available its on-chip ESD protection solutions through the foundry’s IP Alliance program. Under this agreement, Sarnoff Europe will create additional value for UMC fabless customers by making its TakeCharge® ESD protection solutions available for applications in 90nm and 65nm CMOS, as well as for 180nm HV-CMOS.

Sarnoff Europe develops TakeCharge Design Kits (TDK), semi-automated tool sets with a library of scalable ESD design solutions. These TDK’s enable the non-ESD-expert to efficiently implement ESD protection, and attain first time right, first to market results in each product IC design.

Sarnoff Europe’s ESD solutions are fully qualified for industry standard specifications, meeting 2000V HBM (Human Body Model) and 200V MM (Machine Model) even for the highest speed pins, RF, analog, mixed signal and other low cap applications in 65nm CMOS. The TDK solutions delivered are scalable and enable customers to design for different ESD performance specifications if required by the IC application.

“With the addition of Sarnoff Europe’s TakeCharge on-chip ESD protection design solutions to our IP Alliance Program, UMC can provide its fabless customers easy access to superior ESD design solutions from an industry wide recognized leader in its field,” Ken Liou, director of the IP and Design Support Division at UMC.

“Sarnoff Europe is excited to cooperate with UMC for the benefit of the fabless customers,” said Koen Verhaege, Executive Director of Sarnoff Europe. “Fabless companies designing advanced applications both in standard CMOS and HV-CMOS can rely on first-time-right ESD design solutions proven in more than 275 volume production IC’s to date.”

TakeCharge® technology is silicon proven in advanced processes down to 65nm CMOS, with 45nm ESD design solutions already in full development, and is widely used by leading IC producers worldwide, including Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Renesas, Matsushita, Epson-Seiko, OKI, NJR, Ricoh, Infineon, ST-Microelectronics, Tower Semiconductor, Altera, PMC-Sierra, ON-Semiconductor, Nanotech Semiconductor, Redmere Technology, AMI Semiconductor, Scintera, and more.

About Sarnoff Corporation

Sarnoff Corporation (www.sarnoff.com) produces innovations in electronic, video and vision technologies that generate successful new products and services for our government and commercial clients worldwide. Founded in 1942 as RCA Laboratories, Sarnoff makes continuous breakthroughs in ICs, lasers, imaging and sensing devices; biomedical diagnostics; digital TV and video for security, surveillance and entertainment; high-performance networking; and wireless communications. Sarnoff is a subsidiary of SRI International.

About Sarnoff Europe

Sarnoff Europe (www.sarnoffeurope.com) headquartered in Gistel, Belgium, is a subsidiary company of Sarnoff Corporation. Sarnoff Europe assumes worldwide responsibility for the development and commercialization of Sarnoff’s TakeCharge® on-chip ESD protection IP.

About UMC

UMC (NYSE: UMC) (TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SoC) designs, including volume production 90nm, industry-leading 65nm, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC's 10 wafer manufacturing facilities include two advanced 300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based Fab 12i which are both in volume production for a variety of customer products. The company employs approximately 13,000 people worldwide and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.

Contact Sarnoff Corporation Fill out this form for contacting a Sarnoff Corporation representative. Your Name: Your E-mail address: Your Company address: Your Phone Number: Write your message: