ams schedules 2017 multi-project wafer starts for analog foundry customers

Premstaetten, Austria (24 October, 2016) -- ams AG (SIX: AMS), a leading provider of high performance sensors and analog ICs, today announced its fast and cost-efficient IC prototyping service, known as >Multi-Project Wafer (MPW) or shuttle run, with an updated schedule for 2017. The prototyping service, which combines several IC 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 all shuttle participants.

ams’ best in class MPW service offers the whole range of 180nm and 0.35μm specialty processes including the recently introduced 180nm CMOS technology (“aC18”). The aC18 process supports a large number of 1.8V and 5.0V NMOS and PMOS devices (substrate based, floating, low leakage and high threshold voltage options) and fully characterized passives including various capacitors. Area-optimized high-density and low-power digital libraries with gate densities up to 152kGates/mm², updated digital and analog I/O libraries with up to 6 metal layers as well as ESD protection cells with up to 8kV HBM level complete the offering. ams’ aC18 process is ideally suited for sensor and sensor interface devices in a wide variety of applications. All 2017 MPW runs in aC18 technology will be manufactured in ams’ state of the art 200mm fabrication facility in Austria ensuring very low defect densities and high yields. 
In addition to the four aC18 MPW runs, ams will also offer four MPW runs in its advanced 180nm High-Voltage CMOS (aH18) technology supporting 1.8V, 5V, 20V and 50V devices. For its 0.35μm specialty processes a total of 14 runs are offered in 2017. 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 with the base CMOS process and complete ams’ MPW service portfolio.

Overall, ams will offer almost 150 MPW start dates in 2017, enabled by co-operations with worldwide 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.

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 Full Service Foundry.