Cypress Licenses Make-Link Laser Technology From LaserLink.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 13, 2000 Cypress Leads Industry in Implementing Make-Link to Increase Wafer Yields and Reduce Cost of Hard-Wiring Metallic Connections on Semiconductor Dies Cypress Semiconductor Cypress Semiconductor is a semiconductor design and manufacturing company. It began operations in 1982 and listed publicly in 1986. Two years later, the company shifted over to the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol, (NYSE: CY). (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :CY) has become the first semiconductor manufacturer to license and implement LaserLink Technology's innovative Make-Link process to increase manufacturing yields and lower production costs. After one year of joint development with LaserLink, Cypress has verified that Make-Link technology can offer more flexible laser-controlled interconnect at higher yields and densities than traditional laser fuses without additional cost. Cypress will initially integrate Make-Link into its manufacturing processes for SRAMs. Make-Link technology uses a laser to form electrical connections between two otherwise insulated metal layers. Connections are hermetic hermetic /her·met·ic/ (her-met´ik) impervious to air. her·met·ic or her·met·i·cal adj. Completely sealed, especially against the escape or entry of air. since they do not breach passivation passivation the final stage in instrument manufacture, passing the finished instruments through a bath of nitric acid which removes foreign particles and promotes the formation of a protective coating of chromium oxide. . Make-Link is directly compatible with standard multi-level CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) Pronounced "c-moss." The most widely used integrated circuit design. It is found in almost every electronic product from handheld devices to mainframes. interconnect, uses standard laser processing systems, and requires no additional steps or masks. With a broader process window and higher link yield, Make-Link enables semiconductor manufacturers to scale the laser processing pitch by at least a full generation in comparison to existing laser fuse technology. "Cypress aims to use Make-Link technology to raise our chip yields and decrease our processing costs," stated Jose Arreola, Cypress's vice president of research and development. "As we further implement Make-Link, we anticipate migrating the technology into other Cypress products." "The use of lasers to make reliable, low-resistance, low-capacitance, metallic connections on semiconductor chips has, until now, been too expensive to implement on a broad scale. Make-Link from LaserLink does not require any additional production steps or masks, effectively eliminating the cost barrier for manufacturers," said Dr. Joey Bernstein, founder of LaserLink Technology and professor at the University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (also known as UM, UMD, or UMCP) is a public university located in the city of College Park, in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C., in the United States. . "Cypress's commercialization of Make-Link technology establishes its economic and technical advantages over break-link or metal wire cutting technology." Make-Link, a patented technology, offers two to four times the number of connections per square micron than the most advanced break-link technology, and the links can be formed on top of active silicon. The links are metallic and encapsulated by the passivation layers, making them completely non-volatile with significantly higher link yield than comparable break-link designs. Make-Link technology does not degrade the electromigration resistance of the metal and an optimized link can carry nearly the full current density of the interconnecting lines without sacrificing reliability. Unlike deletive techniques, Make-Link's additive connections can reduce the number of operations required to implement logic circuits, and the links can be made to carry greater currents by placing several in parallel with no resistance penalty. With Make-Link, the modern commercial laser systems used to program the chips -- already standard equipment in most semiconductor foundries -- can create connections at the rate of approximately 20,000 per second, much faster than virtually any other electrical programming technique. About LaserLink LaserLink Technology, LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control , is a Maryland-based start-up company start-up company A new business. dedicated to developing applications for and promoting Make-Link technology. The company also provides consulting services to the semiconductor industry on a variety of topics related to laser fuse and anti-fuse technology and semiconductor device reliability. Their home page is located at http://www.makelink.com. About Cypress Cypress Semiconductor is "Driving the Communications Revolution"(TM) by providing high-performance integrated circuit solutions to fast-growing markets, including data communications, telecommunications, computation, consumer products, and industrial control. With a focus on emerging communications applications, Cypress's product portfolios include networking-optimized and micropower static RAMs; high-bandwidth multi-port and FIFO (First In First Out) A storage method that retrieves the item stored for the longest time. Contrast with LIFO. See traffic engineering methods. FIFO - first-in first-out memories; high-density programmable logic devices; timing technology for PCs and other digital systems; and controllers for Universal Serial Bus See USB. (hardware, standard) Universal Serial Bus - (USB) An external peripheral interface standard for communication between a computer and external peripherals over an inexpensive cable using biserial transmission. (USB USB in full Universal Serial Bus Type of serial bus that allows peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, digitizers, data gloves, etc.) to be easily connected to a computer. ). Cypress is No. 1 in the USB and clock chip markets. More than two-thirds of Cypress's sales come from fast-growing communications markets and dynamic companies such as Alcatel, Cisco, Ericsson, Lucent, Motorola, Nortel Networks and 3Com. Cypress's ability to mix and match its broad portfolio of intellectual property enables targeted, integrated solutions for high-speed systems that feed bandwidth-hungry Internet applications. Cypress aims to become the preferred silicon supplier for Internet switching systems and for every Internet data stream to pass through at least one Cypress IC. Cypress employs more than 4,100 people worldwide with international headquarters in San Jose. Its shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) World's largest marketplace for securities. The exchange began as an informal meeting of 24 men in 1792 on what is now Wall Street in New York City. under the symbol CY. More information about Cypress is accessible electronically on the company's worldwide web site at http://www.cypress.com or by CD-ROM CD-ROM: see compact disc. CD-ROM in full compact disc read-only memory Type of computer storage medium that is read optically (e.g., by a laser). (call 800/858-1810). An electronic investor forum, and other investor information, is located at http://www.cypress.com/investor/index.html. Note to Editors: "Driving the Communications Revolution" is a trademark of Cypress Semiconductor. |
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