Dolphin Integration breakthrough innovation for TSMC 180 nm BCD Gen 2 process: Up to 30% savings in silicon area with the new SpRAM RHEA

Grenoble, France – November 27, 2017 -- The BCD process technology has been around since the mid-eighties, but there has more recently been phenomenal interest and growth in BCD technology. This has been driven by the growing need in Power Management IC (PMICs), motor-control, power audio and many other applications targeting the consumer, industrial or automotive markets. The need for more intelligence embedded in these integrated circuits has led to the integration of MCUs and consequently of RAMs, with growing requirements for larger capacity.

Relying on robust, dense and low-power RAMs is pivotal for Fabless companies; the appraised single-port RAM RHEA compiler combines all three of these characteristics. Users of the TSMC 180 nm BCD Gen 2 process now benefit from the most competitive RAM. Thanks to its innovative architecture, the density of RAMs has improved by up to 30% and dynamic power consumption savings can reach up to 50%. Furthermore, the single-port RAM RHEA compiler supports multiple power saving modes, thus reducing static power consumption by up to 8 times in minimum data retention mode, as low as 1.0 V, compared to stand-by mode.

A SpRAM RHEA instance of 2kx32 is as dense as 0,342 mm2 and features a dynamic power consumption as low as 65,27 uA/MHz, with a leakage current reduced down to 1,6 uA. SoC designers targeting the TSMC 180 nm BCD Gen 2 process now benefit from a ready-to-use compiler to instantiate RAMs between 256 bits and 328 kbits. Multiple form factors are supported to ease SoC integration. The memory compiler provides all views needed for a fast and smooth SoC integration including for BIST support.

"This new RAM compiler for the TSMC 180 nm BCD Gen 2 process relies on our robust RHEA architecture," says Frederic POULLET, Business Operations Manager for memories at Dolphin Integration. "The SpRAM RHEA has benefited from our stringent qualification process and is silicon proven in numerous processes down to 55 nm, in various variants such as uLP, uLPeF, LP, LP eF and HV. The BCD process technology is a perfect example of the relentless innovation that drives the semiconductor industry in terms of application, design and process technology. Driven by markets that did not exist some years ago and the increasing interest from SoC designers for its impact on power loss, cost and board space, the demand for the TSMC 180 nm BCD Gen 2 process has exploded in recent times. We are very excited to contribute to this trend."

Discover ou SpRAM RHEA in BCD Gen2 process

To streamline the evaluation process of SoC designers, the SpRAM RHEA compiler for TSMC 180 nm BCD Gen 2 process is now available on our MyDolphin secure space. It allows you to test any memory configuration and to generate the full set of front-end views including .LEF files.

About Dolphin Integration

Dolphin Integration contributes to "enabling low-power Systems-on-Chip" for worldwide customers - up to the major actors of the semiconductor industry - with high-density Silicon IP components best at low-power consumption.

"Foundation IPs" includes innovative libraries of standard cells, register files and memory generators as well as an ultra-low power cache controller. "Fabric IPs" of voltage regulators, Power Island Construction Kit and their control network MAESTRO enable to safely implement low-power SoCs with the smallest silicon area. They also star the "Feature IP": from ultra-low power Voice Activity Detector with high-resolution converters for audio and measurement applications to power-optimized 8 or 16 and 32 bit micro-controllers.

Over 30 years of experience in the integration of silicon IP components, providing services for ASIC/SoC design and fabrication with its own EDA solutions, make DOLPHIN Integration a genuine one-stop shop addressing all customers' needs for specific requests.

It is not just one more supplier of Technology, but the provider of the DOLPHIN Integration know-how!