SilTerra Malaysia Sdn Bhd has unveiled a new technology for automotive application integrated circuits ("ICs") or chips used in vehicles.
SilTerra's 180nm Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS ("BCD") automotive grade process technology is qualified to meet the AEC-Q100 Grade Zero standard, which is the automotive industry standard that specifies the recommended new product and major change qualification requirements and procedures.
BCD is one of key building blocks of SilTerra's Smart Power Technology platform developed to deliver optimum energy efficient products based on proven mature process technology, intellectual property and design kits. CMOS refers to Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor while DMOS refers to Double Diffused Metal Oxide Semiconductor.
"We are excited for SilTerra to introduce the automotive grade 180nm BCD process to the automotive IC market. Every product that SilTerra offers and technology we use is born from our commitment to meet increasing market demands and exceed customers' expectations. We believe we can offer a significant added value to the automotive application ICs sector," said Tan Sri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, Group Managing Director of Dagang NeXchange Berhad ("DNeX"), and also Executive Chairman of SilTerra.
SilTerra is a strategic investment of DNeX, and Beijing Integrated Circuit Advanced Manufacturing and High-End Equity Investment Fund Center (Limited Partnership) ("CGP Fund")
"The new shareholders of SilTerra will continue efforts to transform SilTerra into a world-class leader in the global semiconductor market in terms of operational excellence and technology advancement. We are also upping the ante with our strategies such as cost optimisation, product mix expansion as well as production capacity enhancement," he said.
SilTerra's 180nm BCD AEC-Q100 Grade Zero automotive grade process is now entering mass production phase, and this is the second important milestone since the achievement of IATF 16949:2016 Automotive Certification in 2018 as the company makes strong progress entering the automotive IC market.
SilTerra's automotive grade 180nm BCD process is able to perform at 60V of operation. It has been qualified with a specially tuned golden path process flow for high-yield output. The process is supported by silicon-characterised Foundry PDK and third party intellectual property ("IP") such as ARM based-Standard Cell Library, SRAM Compiler and eMemory One-Time-Programming IP. These IPs are characterised and validated at temperature ranging from -40oC to 150oC according to the AEC-Q100 Grade Zero industry quality standard.
According to IC Insights Inc, the global automotive IC demand in the BCD/analogue segment is expected to grow at a 15 percent compound annual growth rate from US$9.14 billion or 15.4 billion ICs in 2020 to US$18.1 billion or 33.2 billion ICs in 2025.
Conventional hybrid vehicles contain an average of US$650 value of semiconductor content while full electric vehicles with ADAS level-4 features can contain up to US$1,550 value of semiconductor content. One of the key automotive IC applications is power management IC for management of power supplies, motor driver for automatic head lamp, motor controller for power chassis and power doors, LED drivers for automotive lighting, power switches for batteries and other power applications.
SilTerra is a semiconductor wafer foundry offering fabrication and design support services in CMOS logic, High-Voltage, Mixed-signal, RF, BCD, Discrete Power, Silicon Photonics, Life Science and MEMS technologies down to 90 nanometer feature size. SilTerra's wafer fab has a design-in capacity of 46,000 eight-inch wafers per month and currently serves customers in the US, Taiwan, Korea and China.
About Dagang NeXchange Berhad
Dagang NeXchange Berhad ("DNeX") is a leading provider of award-winning eServices for Trade Facilitation and has a wealth of knowledge, expertise and operational know-how in the provisioning of eServices for Trade Facilitation, as well as Technology Consultancy and Systems Integration. DNeX is also making its mark as a reputable player in Energy, Semiconductor as well as Subsea Telecommunications Services. The company is listed on the Main Market of Bursa Malaysia. For more information on the company, log on to www.dnex.com.my.
Tan Sri Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir, group managing director of DNeX, and executive chairman of SilTerra.
Photo: Company
SilTerra unveils new technology for automotive application ICs
Photo: Company