Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), has announced volume production availability of the industry’s first 40-V, 0.18-µ high-voltage (HV) technology. The technology will allow designers to produce single-chip TFT LCD drivers for portable applications, thereby reducing chip count, saving real estate and power, while providing the imaging performance necessary for advanced portable displays.
Using TSMC’s 0.18-µ process technology, designers can save chip count by combining a standard LCD source driver and gate driver chip with a sophisticated power management IC for extended battery life on TFT displays. At the other end of the spectrum, designers can create a highly integrated system-on-chip design, such as a graphics controller and integrated TFT or CSTN driver for high-end VGA displays supporting the leading cell phone features.
Available in 1.8-V, 5-V and 40-V triple gate oxides, the process features an isolation scheme that allows highly reliable integration of low-voltage and high-voltage circuitry for the lifetime of the device, with minimal noise and excellent immunity to latch-up.
“The design community has been anxiously awaiting the delivery of a 40-V, low-power 0.18-µ process for volume production,” said Genda Hu, vice president of marketing for TSMC. “This development enables a whole new class of display drivers.”
The new process is based on, and fully compatible with, TSMC’s 0.18-µ low-power process that maximizes power conservation. The process supports all logic and analog IP and libraries that are proven in TSMC’s 0.18-µ low-power process, thereby providing not just a power and area savings, but a design budget savings as well. To enhance optimization of display quality for individual handheld systems, TSMC is also developing special intellectual property (IP) elements enabling one-time programmability (OTP) and multiple-time programmability (MTP). These IPs are expected to be available in 2005 without additional process steps.
The TSMC 0.18-µ HV technology also is available on TSMC’s CyberShuttle prototyping service for quick and inexpensive verification and engineering samples. Backend services, including gold bumping, are offered through TSMC as well.
For more information, visit www.tsmc.com.