X-FAB launches 180nm SOI foundry technology for automotive applications

     X-FAB's chip foundry AG - Analog/mixed Signal and Micro-electro-mechanical Systems (MEMS) foundry - has announced what it claims is the first cost-effective 180-nanometer silicon insulator (SOI) technology for automotive and industrial applications that need to operate in harsh environments.

     X-FAB says its new kit 40V and 60V high-voltage devices for its XT018 180-nm SOI platform outperform batch complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) technology and offer cost savings of up to 30%. The XT018 technology includes comprehensive design support, which reduces the design cycle and the likelihood of first-to-right success, provides cost-competitive implementation of next-generation automotive solutions, and results in faster time-to-market for the company. These new devices make the XT018 process suitable for advanced automotive applications such as monolithic motor controllers and physical layer transceivers including integrated or standalone LIN/CAN (Local Interconnect Network/Controller Area Network) transceivers.

     "Until now, SOI technology has been seen as quite exotic and very expensive solutions, but our XT018 SOI technology SOI offsets the added cost of making it easier to design with a smaller chip size, higher performance," said Volker, Director of Product marketing at Herbie. "So it makes the first successful move to the right."

     The XT018 platform is specifically designed for next generation automotive, industrial and medical applications with operating voltages up to 200V and operating temperatures up to 175 ° C. The 180nm XT018 modular high voltage SOI CMOS technology combines SOI wafer Deep Trench isolation (DTI) with the benefits of these state-of-the-art six-metal layer 180nm bulk CMOS technology processes. Using SOI chips as the starting material, a combination of junction isolation techniques with trench isolation instead of the more commonly used in CMOS simplifies the design concept to represent X-FAB. SOI chips eliminate parasitic bipolar effects to the substrate, reducing the risk of latching. They have also enabled companies to increase the development of devices such as true isolation diodes and thus reverse voltage protection that are difficult to achieve with volume CMOS or BCD technologies.

     The core of the new release is a low RON 40V NMOS transistor with an on-resistance of just 26mω-sq. mm. This is complemented by powerful 40V and 60V electrostatic discharge (ESD) enhanced devices as well as matching PMOS and depletion transistors.

     "Automotive design requirements are becoming increasingly challenging to fulfill - for example, the latest CAN standards and more stringent specifications for EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) and ESD robustness," Herbie said. "The XT018 technology enables designers to address these challenges," he added.

     The new XT018 SOI technology allows for a more compact design compared to traditional junction isolation schemes, known as X-FAB. For example, it allows the area to be efficiently isolated laterally between the two on a cross-coupled output driver and inductive input circuit block. The simplest integrated isolation device enables a short design cycle, making it possible for the first time to right-power even the needs of complex system-level chips with automotive HV (high voltage) equipment, the company added.

     The enhanced XT018 foundry platform is now available and includes full PDK (Process Design Toolkit) support for all major electronic design automation (EDA) vendors, extensive device feature analysis and modeling, and comprehensive analog, digital, and memory intellectual property (IP). Additional new devices such as depletion transistors, Zener diodes, high-performance bipolar junction transistors (bipolar junction transistors) and a 200V insulated gate bipolar transistor (IGBT) device are also ready to be used.