austriamicrosystems Supports Design for Manufacturing (DFM) Reference Design Flow for Its High-Voltage CMOS Process Technology; DFM Enhanced Design Flow for High-Voltage Product Design Helps to Maximize Customers' Yield.

UNTERPREMSTAETTEN, Austria -- austriamicrosystems' business unit Full Service Foundry announced today the availability of its Design for Manufacturing (DFM) reference design flow for its High-Voltage CMOS process.

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) for analog high-voltage chip design is a highly demanded necessity in order to ensure fast ramp-up and stable volume production. austriamicrosystems' DFM-enhanced reference design flow utilizes specific analog high-voltage DFM tools such as design and layout verification of circuit robustness, yield optimization, parasitic simulation or safe operating area check. As a further service, austriamicrosystems provides full design support including analog high-voltage DFM guidelines and DFM design review as optional services to its foundry customers.

The new DFM reference flow fully supports austriamicrosystems' 0.35um High-Voltage CMOS process (H35), a new generation advanced analog and mixed-signal technology offering 20V and 50V HV MOS devices and very low 'on resistances'. H35 is available in several process options and therefore ideally suited for a wide variety of applications like power management, motor control, printer head drivers, DC/DC converters, switched power supplies, LCD drivers and backlight controllers, to name a few.

"Using our DFM reference design flow ensures optimization towards yield and robustness of analog High-Voltage CMOS designs" says Peter Gasteiner, Senior Vice President and General Manager of austriamicrosystems' business unit Full Service Foundry. "Offering DFM services gives us a clear competitive advantage and strengthens our position as a leading supplier of High-Voltage CMOS silicon foundry services. Our customers benefit from improvements during project ramp up and reduced time-to-market."

austriamicrosystems' benchmark process design kit "HIT-Kit" fully integrates these DFM features and ensures optimization towards yield and robustness of the design during the whole design process. It 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 excellent characterized circuit simulation models enable rapid design starts of complex high performance mixed-signal ICs.

All I/O structures within the design kit are silicon-validated and meet the military ESD and JEDEC latch-up standards. In C35 technology the total I/O libraries consist of more than 1800 cells supporting 3.3V and 3.3V/5V designs. The specialty High-Voltage CMOS process H35 with its floating libraries even includes more than 2400 core and periphery cells.

About austriamicrosystems

austriamicrosystems' business unit Full Service Foundry has successfully positioned itself in the mixed-signal foundry market offering well-established RF CMOS, High-Voltage CMOS, BiCMOS and SiGe-BiCMOS processes. With superior support during the design phase, with high-end tools and experienced engineers, austriamicrosystems succeeds to be an attractive analog/mixed-signal foundry partner especially for fabless design houses.

austriamicrosystems is a leading designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, combining more than 20 years of analog design capabilities and system know-how with its own state-of-the-art manufacturing and test facilities. austriamicrosystems leverages its expertise in low power and high accuracy to provide industry-leading customized and standard analog products. Operating worldwide with more than 800 employees, austriamicrosystems focuses on the areas of power management, sensors & sensor interfaces, portable audio and car access through its business units Communications, Industry & Medical, Automotive and Full Service Foundry. austriamicrosystems is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange in Zurich (ticker symbol: AMS). www.austriamicrosystems.com