Eta Compute Debuts with World's Lowest Power Microcontroller IP Targeting Energy Harvesting Segment

WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. − April 11, 2017 − Eta Compute, the company that removes power as an obstacle for the infinite Internet of Things (IoT), announced its flagship solution, EtaCore™, the world’s lowest power microcontroller IP, which operates on the smallest energy harvesting supplies without compromising functionality or performance. Operating in deep subthreshold (as low as 0.25V) where conventional approaches fail, the company’s low-power system-on-a-chip (SoC) and microcontroller intellectual property is expected to be the foundation for a wide range of applications that support a more intelligent IoT.

“Enabling large-scale IoT deployment requires low-power solutions for energy-constrained sensors and devices – without compromising on functionality and performance,” said Lakshmi Mandyam, general manager, automotive, IoT and embedded Business Segment Group, ARM. “Eta Compute’s ultra-low power ARM^® Cortex^®-M3 processor-based device will enable our ecosystem to get to market faster, with efficient devices powered by energy harvesting and small coin cell batteries.”

By 2020, it is estimated that there will be 24 billion devices connected by the IoT. Deploying these always-on, always aware devices require a disruptive solution that reduces overall power consumption to enable perpetual operation. Eta Compute’s unique low-power design methodology, IP and custom designs operate within wide variations of temperature, process, voltage, and power supply. Eta Compute’s IP operates in deep subthreshold and includes an ARM Cortex-M3 core that operates from 0.25 to 1.2 volts. The result is smaller products with fewer components operating robustly at voltages as low as 0.25V (90LP process).

Eta Compute offers the only commercially available self-timed technology supporting dynamic voltage scaling that is insensitive to process variations, inaccurate device models and path delay variations. For customers that develop complete SoC products, Eta Compute has added additional low voltage supporting IP such as RTC, AES, and DSP. In addition, an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) sensor interface consumes less than 3uW and an efficient power management supports dynamic voltage scaling down to 0.25V with greater than 80% efficiency are both available.

• PMIC for Dynamic Voltage Scaling delivering 0.2V to 1.5V with >80% efficiency
• 12b 200k Sample/sec SAR ADC with power consumption below 3uW
• Real time clock Digital IP with power consumption below 15nW
• Low Power Embedded DSP optimized for audio applications
• 128-bit block cipher AES that supports key sizes 128, 192 and 256-bits

“A compact, low-power sensor node is the key enabler for the deployment of billions of devices in the IoT,” said Lip Bu Tan, Chairman of Walden International and an investor in Eta Compute. “The team at Eta Compute has a history of successful low-power computing products and has delivered a truly compelling solution for IoT.”

The company’s unique process insensitive and low voltage design methodology enable extremely efficient always-on and always aware processing. Combined with its silicon proven IP and custom circuit conversion, Eta Compute’s IP minimizes design time, costs and risk. Eta Compute’s IP is easily ported to any foundry process and technology nodes simplifying customer adoption. Eta Compute offers a variety of licensing models designed to meet the unique needs of each customer including standard, perpetual and NRE contracts.

About Eta Compute

Eta Compute was founded in 2015 specifically to bring a revolutionary reduction in power consumption to microcontrollers and SoCs used in energy-constrained sensors and devices for IoT. Its initial solutions are revolutionizing low power consumption for IoT by delivering the world’s lowest power analog and digital IP, CPU cores and SoC designs that improve power efficiency by a factor of 10 without compromising functionality or performance. The company was started by industry veterans Gopal Raghavan, Ph.D., Tim Semones, both co-founders of Inphi Corporation and Paul Washkewicz an early executive of Inphi. Their new company is comprised of a team of the world’s leading CPU and SoC architects, analog and digital designers and tool developers.

Eta Compute offers a variety of licensing models designed to meet the unique needs of each customer and the company’s turnkey consulting and design services result in leading-edge technology solutions that exceed customer expectations for low-power, performance and value.

For more information visit EtaCompute.com .