AMI Semiconductor Integrates 8051 Core and I3T- based SoC Enabling Reduced Component Count Designs

Mixed-signal technology and popular core combination plus availability of demonstration board and emulation kit accelerates development time and minimizes iterations

Pocatello, IDAHO - Dec. 8, 2003 - AMI Semiconductor (NASDAQ: AMIS), a designer and manufacturer of state-of–the-art integrated mixed-signal products and structured digital products for the automotive, medical and industrial sectors, today announced that the company has combined the popular 8051 processor core with its own I3T80 mixed-signal, high-voltage technology to deliver leading edge System-on-a-Chip (SoC) devices for the automotive, industrial and medical markets.

The AMI Semiconductor products offer a unique range of accelerated (x7) embedded 8051 cores, Flash memory, high-voltage performance and precision analog capability on a 0.35-micron geometry CMOS process. With the use of I3T technology it is possible to integrate all these elements onto a single piece of small geometry silicon resulting in a solution that significantly reduces the component count for a given application.

To complement the technology, AMI Semiconductor offers a demonstration board and emulation kit, meeting customer’s demands to accelerate the design cycle, allowing the concurrent development of customer software and firmware with the AMI Semiconductor chip design phase. The demonstration board has a fixed 8051 hardware set-up and limited capabilities for software development. The evaluation board, used to accelerate the project design, allows hardware architecture validation and software development by the customer.

In addition to its I3T80 high-voltage technology, AMI Semiconductor also offers its 8051 compatible cores in the company’s range of 0.35-micron and 0.5-micron CMOS technologies that allow the integration of higher precision analog with low power dissipation for applications within the low voltage and wireless segments.

“The Intel MCS-51â architecture still remains the most popular in the world. Combined with the evolution in SoC devices and the steadily increasing performance required in the custom solution business, this has led AMIS to focus on a range of embedded 8051 cores,” said Serge Peeters, microcontroller IP manager for AMI Semiconductor.  “Our design win success has been further enhanced with the offering of demonstration boards and emulation kits, which are of great relevance to customers in our key market sectors. The combination of features, flexibility, geometry and the total solution approach from AMI Semiconductor, has helped customers implement optimised, fully integrated SoC devices for their products in remarkably short development cycles with the minimum of risk and iterations.”

AMIS has already secured 10 significant design wins with embedded 8051 processor- based designs. Bosch and Siebe are two notable successes to-date.

The range of embedded 8051 cores available consists of the Intel 8031 compatible C8051, the Infineon C515 compatible accelerated R80515, and the accelerated R8051 which is RISC code compatible with Intel’s 8031.

For pricing information on the emulation kits, please contact your local sales representative at www.amis.com/sales.

About AMI Semiconductor
AMI Semiconductor (AMIS) is a leader in the design and manufacture of customer-specific integrated mixed-signal products and structured digital products. AMIS is committed to providing customers with the optimal value, quickest time-to-market silicon solutions. Offering unparalleled manufacturing flexibility and dedication to customer service, AMI Semiconductor operates globally with headquarters in Pocatello, Idaho, European corporate offices in Oudenaarde, Belgium, and a network of sales and design centres located in the key markets of the United States, Europe and the Asia Pacific region. For more information, please visit the AMIS Web site at www.amis.com.