eMemory Provides Tailor-Made MTP Solutions in Low-Cost Green Process Platforms, Develops Diverse MCU Product Range

Hsinchu, Taiwan -- Aug. 20, 2014 – eMemory, an embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) industry leader, who has strong capabilities to excel in both R&D and application realms and has accumulated great quantity in mass production for its proprietary silicon IP solutions. While focusing on the development of advanced technologies, the company remains attentive to the evolution of consumer products and industrial trends. For bulk consumer micro-controller unit (MCU) applications, where it focuses on low-cost, low power consumption and high flexibility for circuit designs, eMemory applies its technical advantages to eliminate redundant cells and assists foundry partners to simplify manufacturing processes and design tailor-made green process platforms. The one-time programmable (OTP) and multiple-times programmable (MTP) solutions for the platform are already in place to demonstrate eMemory’s determination in providing one-stop shop eNVM silicon IP service for global clients.

eMemory assists foundry partners to establish green process platforms with its outstanding cell process development capabilities. By removing redundant on-chip cells, eMemory is able to help customers to simply process and reduce mask layers from 27, as typically required, down to less than 15 mask layers; hereby creating a 30% or greater cost savings which is excellent for price-sensitive mainstream consumer electronics clients.

The green process platform originally used the 0.18 micron process of 8 inch wafer foundries as the basis, but further advanced to the 0.153 micron layout design rule this year. When compared to the 0.5 micron or 0.35 micron process of 6 inch wafer foundries, the circuit diameter of the circuit design is narrower and the area of the electric circuit is reduced. As production scale gradually shifts from 6” to 8” wafers, the green process platforms can satisfy the high-volume and low-cost demands of consumer electronics applications, helping customers to achieve greater economy of scale and savings.

eMemory is actively increasing the overall performance of the NeoBit IP for the bulk applications of MCU product lines. eMemory not only significantly reduced the operation voltage of the 3.3V NeoBit IP to 1.2V but also reduced the area of the IP by 30%. As for the green process, the 3.3V components can also be removed from the circuit and design entirely with 5V components. Normally, peripheral circuit with 5V device has better EMI immunity than 3.3V device for MCU related design. Consumer electronics products nowadays focus on powerful features, fast operation speed, and compact design. Consequently, the complex circuit designs and EMI issues became great challenges during the development process. The traditional approach for resolving EMI issues is to use external filtering and sheltering components. However, those additional components would result in higher production costs and lower yields. eMemory’s pure 5V green process MCU solutions help customers to resolve EMI issue fundamentally from the IC design. By avoiding additional circuits and components for pulling up and down voltage in product designs, the solutions can improve both system noise and components compatibilities. Moreover, after increasing IC endurance for transient voltages, the technology is able to extend products’ lifespan as well as enhance liability, making it the excellent choice for consumer electronics and home appliances applications. eMemory further thoughtfully provided a low 1.5V operating voltage condition for the design of the 5V NeoBit IP. This will help customers expand the system application fields for a single product. These 3.3V and 5V NeoBit IP performance improvements not only can lower power consumption and effectively prolong battery life, they also used physical actions to contribute towards energy-saving and carbon reduction.

Embedded flash or EEPROM plugin solutions are used traditionally for storing MCU computing instructions and accessing data. However, embedded flash will in term requires additional masks and increase production complexity. In comparison, eMemory’s eNVM silicon IP based NeoBit and NeoEE series solutions have simple architectures which is easy for process integrations, not to mention the great cost advantage created by the green process.

eMemory’s offers a comprehensive range of silicon IP solutions. For MCU OTP and MTP silicon IP solutions, the company’s NeoBit and NeoEE series can satisfy customer requirements for various applications. Positioning itself as a one-stop solution provider, eMemory also introduces hybrid usage concept to customers. This allows customers to significantly reduce production cost and cover the largest range of specification needs by using NeoBit and NeoEE hybrid Silicon IP product lines, and also help the customers to vastly expand their product application range and level of freedom simultaneously, creating values for the customers using new angles.

eMemory’s green process is based on the company’s NeoBit eNVM technology and extended its portfolio to the high endurance, low capacity NeoEE, which has been implemented in five wafer foundries in Asia and has been applied in 400 design tape outs with excellent yield rates. As the Asia MCU market demand is projected to reach 40,000 units per month based on production volumes of 8” wafers; the market potential for green process MCU solutions is unlimited.

About eMemory:

eMemory (TWSE: 3529) is a global leader in logic process embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) silicon IP. Since established in 2000, eMemory has been devoted to research and development of innovative technologies, offering the industry’s most comprehensive platforms of patented eNVM IP solutions include NeoBit^® (OTP silicon IP), NeoFuse^® (anti-fuse OTP silicon IP), NeoMTP^® (1,000+ times programmable silicon IP), NeoFlash^® (10,000+ times programmable silicon IP), and NeoEE^® (100,000+ times programmable silicon IP) to semiconductor foundries, integrated devices manufacturers (IDMs) and fabless design houses worldwide. eMemory’s eNVM silicon IPs support wide range of applications include trimming, function selection, code storage, parameter setting, encryption, and identification setting. The company has the world’s largest NVM engineering team and prides itself on providing partners a full-service solution that sees the integration of eMemory eNVM IP from initial design stages through fabrication. For more information about eMemory, please visit www.ememory.com.tw.