Foundry Launches 0.18-µm High-Voltage Process

Tower Semiconductor (www.towersemi.com), an independent specialty foundry, has added an LDMOS process to its 0.18-micron technology platform. The technology enables designers to integrate high-density logic and mixed-signal circuits together with high-voltage drivers on a single chip. High-voltage LDMOS technology is widely used in LCD drivers for cell phone and other handheld displays.

Operating at 12-V gate and up to 25-V source/drain voltages, the new devices can be easily used with Tower’s off-the-shelf 0.18-micron devices, such as one-time programmable (OTP) and multi-time programmable (MTP) memory solutions. Further development also is being done to enhance this offering with 40-V source/drain ratings and lower power-on resistance, while reducing mask count. Such offerings also address the specifications of a wide variety of power-management products.