short introduction on sofics - solutions for ics

AUGUST 2014

ESD SOLUTIONS ATYOUR FINGERTIPS

SOFICS © 2014 Proprietary & Confidential 2

Sofics?

• Semiconductor IP provider– Sofics = “Solutions for ICs”– IP portfolio

Since 2000: On-chip ESD protection for CMOS, SOI applications up to 5V Since 2010: On-chip ESD protection for applications 5V to 100V

– New (non-ESD) portfolio’s under development• Consulting

– On-chip ESD protection support– Partnerships with IC design houses (sofics.com/index.php?view=partners)

• Test lab– ESD relevant analysis– Transmission Line Pulsers, HBM, MM, Latch-up, IEC 61000-4-2

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Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) is responsible for >20% of IC failures

SOFICS © 2014 Proprietary & Confidential

• Importance of ESD for IC industry– Occurance of ESD events

Wafer fabrication, testing, dicing Packaging, assembly, testing IC transportation Board level assembly, testing System level assembly, testing Functional use of systems

– Silicon melting, junction or gate breakdown– Industry quotes about ESD failures:

“Responsible for 20-30% of IC failures” “25.8% of the products rejected” “Estimated 8 to 33% of all product losses”

Grounded surface


Sofics on-chip ESD clamps protect a broad range of applications and technologies

1 IC release per dayincludes Sofics on-chip ESD protection

50+ different processesincluding CMOS down to 28nm, BCD, SOI...

30+ TSMC customersinclude Sofics ESD IP for beyond standard IOs

60+ customersprotect chip interfaces with Sofics ESD

75+ patentsin Sofics’ clean ESD IP portfolio


SOFICS supports 60+ IC companies worldwide


3 main reasons why IC designersrely on Sofics solutions

Reduce IC costlower development, design, silicon and manufacturing costs

Pass any ESD/EOS/LU specificationflexible technology adapts to your requirements

Enhance IC performancelowest leakage, capacitance ...


Reduce development cost: ESD clamps available

250+ ESD clamps verifieddatasheets available on www.sofics.com

0.35um down to 28nmevery CMOS node and more: BCD, SOI...

from 0.85V to 100Vinterface and core protection

Adaptable cellsprotect against various requirements

Portablebetween foundries, nodes

http://www.sofics.com/


ZMDI Licenses Sofics® PowerQubic® ESD ClampsAutomotive EMC Requirements on 0.18um 24V Chips

ZMDI decided to work closely with Sofics on PowerQubic ESD/EOS protection for their latest devices fabricated in a TSMC 0.18um gen II BCD (bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) process with 24V interfaces.“Automotive electronics are exposed to high levels of electrical stress, so ZMDI needsthe best available ESD/EOS protection for our products,” said Frank Shulze, Business Line Manager, Sensing and Automotive. “We ran evaluations of several ESD solutions for chips fabricated in a 0.25um BCD process. PowerQubic clamps were superior in the EMC test, as well as in parameters such as meeting flexible clamping voltage specifications. “So we selected Sofics to provide ESD/EOS protection for a new line of 0.18um devices that will meet our specifications, at a lower cost than building the clamps from scratch.”

January 2013 – Cost, time reduction


Selects Sofics to Develop On-ChipESD Protection for 60V Products

Sofics has been selected by Analog Devices (ADI) to develop a library of on-chip electrostatic discharge and electrical overstress (ESD/EOS) clamps based on its PowerQubic technology for ADI devices with 60V interfaces. The clamps will enhance the reliability of the devices by protecting them from ESD, EOS, and latchup, while enabling maximum performance.

PowerQubic provides robust on-chip protection for high-voltage interfaces in such applications as power control and mixed signals without the need for costly process changes. David Robertson, vice president of analog technology for ADI. “We need strong, sophisticated ESD protection for 60V devices without compromising the mixed signal performance of the products and we look forward to working with Sofics to that end.

December 2012 – Pass specifications


NVIDIA Licenses Integrated, Overvoltage-Tolerant I/O and ESD Technology from Sofics® and ICsense

GISTEL & LEUVEN, BELGIUM (April 24, 2012) – Sofics® bvba (www.sofics.com) of Gistel, a leading provider of ESD solutions for ICs, and ICsense (www.icsense.com) of Leuven, a prominent designer of analog, mixed-signal, and high-voltage ICs and turnkey ASICs, today announced that NVIDIA has licensed their integrated ESD and I/O technology to provide a stable 3.3V I/O with robust ESD protection on its Icera® modem processors that use 1.8V transistors .

The license includes customized ESD solutions from Sofics and ICsense’s overvoltage-tolerant I/Os. These solutions are based on a novel circuit technique proven in TSMC 0.18um, 40nm, and 28nm processes that allows I/Os to handle more than 2X the voltage of the transistors on the chip.

April 2012 – Enhance IC performance


http://www.icsense.com/


TakeCharge: Silicon proven in advanced CMOS

65nm CMOS10+ customers70+ products in mass-production

40nm CMOS10+ customers30+ products in mass-production

28nm CMOS5 customersSeveral products ramping

Specialty ESD clamps available

• Broad solution coverage on TSMC technology– Portable to other nodes/domains

Node Voltage domains350nm HV 3.3V, 15V250nm BCD, gen. I and II 12V, 24V, 40V, 60V >>> PowerQubic license TSMC-Sofics180nm BCD, gen. I and II 18V, 24V, 32V, 40V, 60V 180nm CMOS 1.8V, 3.3V, 5V130nm CMOS 1.0V, 1.2V, 3.3V, 5V, 7V90nm CMOS 1.2V, 1.8V, 3.3V65nm CMOS 1.0V, 1.2V, 1.8V, 2.5V, 3.3V, 5V40nm CMOS 0.9V, 1.2V, 1.8V, 3.3V, 5V28nm CMOS 0.85V, 0.9V, 1.8V, 3.3V, 5V, 5.5V, 12V20nm SoC No requests16nm FinFET Negotiations ongoing with 2 customers

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TSMC 28nm: 28Gbit/s pin protection

• Normal operation specifications– Low cap

DTSCR + reverse diode + metal: 80fF– Low Return loss

Inductor in series with SCR lowers S11 peaks at ~10GHz and 20GHz

S11 - Return Loss

Spec

Without Inductor

With Inductor

S11

Freq (Hz)50 GHz


PowerQubic ESD solutions for High Voltage interfaces

• >20 product implementations– Several customers – >20 projects– Different product types supported

Automotive LIN Transceivers Automotive sensors (Temp, humidity, Air flow) Automotive LED drivers Industrial CAN interface Industrial DAC Industrial High Voltage RS485 Li-ion battery control Switching/power regulator Hearing implant interface protection


Sofics solution: PowerQubic clamp – example

• Automotive LIN interface protection clamp– High ESD performance

16A TLP current (@ 48V) 24kV HBM 6kV IEC 61000-4-2 direct injection

– EOS tolerant Load dump pulse ISO 7637-2 Tolerant above 40V

– Transient Latch-up immune High holding voltage At high temperature For fast events

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I [A]

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PowerQubic adapts to applications, processes

• Flexible solution set for different voltages, applications– Different concepts, applied in portfolio of novel device types

Hebistor, quadristor, SMOS, RCS, MCA, MCE, …– Tunable for triggering, holding and protection performance

By layout variation By schematic adaptation

– Standard process compatible: no process changes Several concepts are even compatible with standard CMOS process flow No additional masks, and no special implants required

• Multiple projects, customers, product implementations– Silicon proven in BCD, HV CMOS and advanced CMOS– >35 voltage domains protected (5V – 60V)– >15 man years of research & development


Sofics

PowerQubic, TakeCharge, Sofics are trademarks of Sofics bvba

Contact us


• Sofics contactPieter Donck [email protected] Bart Keppens [email protected]

SOFICS bvba – RPR 0472.687.037Groendreef 31, 9880 Aalter, Belgium(tel) +32-9-21-68-333, (fax) +32-9-3-746-846www.sofics.com

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]
