Amsterdam, The Netherlands: The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) has announced that its 0.18-µm automotive embedded flash intellectual property (IP) has passed AEC-Q100 product qualification requirements for a range of automotive applications. The macro features a 27% area reduction compared to equivalent 0.25-µm embedded flash IP.
TSMC says the 0.18-µm generation hits a cost and performance sweet spot, as a lot of IP has been developed for many applications. The addition of this IP enables customers to extend their current 0.18-µm product portfolios to automotive microcontroller applications.
The 0.18-µm automotive embedded flash process entered initial volume production last year. More than 38,000 8-in. wafers and 43 million automotive MCU units have been shipped. So far, TSMC has observed lower failure rates than the previous 0.25-µm generation, which achieved 0.1 ppm or less.
“This new milestone results from a truly synergistic alignment between TSMC’s strength in manufacturing consistency and our customers’ expertise in test methodology. It underscores TSMC’s relentless pursuit to meet the stringent automotive electronics requirements,” said Kuotung Cheng, director of automotive program at TSMC.