ams schedules 2016 multi-project wafer starts for analog foundry customers

Unterpremstaetten, Austria (November 11, 2015) — The Full Service Foundry division of ams AG (SIX: AMS), a leading provider of high performance analog ICs and sensors, today announced its fast and cost-efficient IC prototyping service, known as Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) or shuttle run, with an updated schedule for 2016. The prototyping service, which combines several designs from different customers onto a single wafer, offers significant cost advantages for foundry customers as the costs for wafers and masks are shared among a number of different shuttle participants.  

The recently introduced voltage scalable High-Voltage transistors are now also available for shuttle participants. Optimized for various drain-source voltage levels (V_DS ) from 20V to 100V and providing significant lower on-resistance, the truly scalable transistors result in significant area savings when compared to a standard transistor. Foundry customers developing complex High-Voltage analog/mixed-signal applications instantly benefit from more dies per area.  

ams’ best in class MPW service includes the whole range of 0.18μm and 0.35μm specialty processes. In order to provide leading analog semiconductor process technologies, manufacturing and services, ams offers four MPW runs in 0.18μm CMOS (C18) process as well as four MPW runs in its advanced 0.18μm High-Voltage CMOS (H18) technology supporting 1.8V, 5V, 20V and 50V devices. For its 0.35μm specialty processes a total of 14 runs are offered in 2016. ams' 0.35μm High-Voltage CMOS process family, optimized for High-Voltage designs in automotive and industrial applications, supports 20V, 50V and 120V devices as well as truly voltage scalable transistors. The advanced High-Voltage CMOS process with embedded EEPROM functionality as well as the 0.35μm SiGe-BiCMOS technology S35 are fully compatible to the base CMOS process and complete ams’ MPW service portfolio.  

Overall, ams will offer almost 150 MPW start dates in 2016, enabled by co-operations with worldwide acting partner organizations such as CMP, Europractice, Fraunhofer IIS and Mosis.
Customers located in APAC region may also participate via our local MPW program partners
Toppan Technical Design Center Co., Ltd (TDC) and MEDs Technologies.  

The complete schedule for 2016 has now been released and detailed start dates per process are available on the web at www.ams.com/MPW.  

To take advantage of the MPW service, ams’ foundry customers deliver their completed GDSII-data on specific dates and receive untested packaged samples or dies within a short lead-time of typically 8 weeks for CMOS and 12 weeks for High-Voltage CMOS, SiGe-BiCMOS and Embedded Flash processes.  

All process technologies are supported by the well-known hitkit, ams’ industry benchmark process design kit based on Cadence, Mentor Graphics or Keysight ADS design environments. The hitkit comes complete with fully silicon-qualified standard cells, periphery cells and general purpose analog cells such as comparators, operational amplifiers, low power A/D and D/A converters. Custom analog and RF devices, physical verification rule sets for Assura and Calibre, as well as precisely characterized circuit simulation models, enable rapid design starts of complex high performance mixed-signal ICs. In addition to standard prototype services, ams also offers advanced analog IP blocks, a memory (RAM/ROM) generation service and packaging services in ceramic or plastic. 

Learn more about the comprehensive service and technology portfolio of Full Service Foundry at www.ams.com/foundry.