*****For immediate use January 15th, 2001
NEC Launches Low Power, Low Cost 0.25-micron CMOS-10HD CMOS Gate Arrays
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TOKYO January 15th, 2001 - NEC Corporation (NEC) (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l) (TSE: 6701) begins taking orders from today for its new low power 0.25-micron CMOS-10HD family of CMOS gate array products, based on a highly integrated cell structure. Sampling begins from March with volume production from April 2001.
The CMOS-10HD family halves development costs and reduces power consumption by 40% to 0.042uW/MHz/gate (operating efficiency of 30%) compared to NEC's previous gate array products. Introducing a low voltage interface buffer as standard, previously only seen in cell base ICs, the new gate arrays can also offer low voltage operation. High speed operation of up to 133MHz at 2.5V also makes the new gate arrays the world's fastest.
NEC's 0.25-micron gate arrays also offer development lead times equivalent to that of their previous generation CMOS-9HD 0.35-micron products thanks to the efficient circuit layout of the CMOS-10HD and the availability of enhanced circuit layout tools. Development of samples with the CMOS-9HD currently stands at approximately 2 weeks.
Underlining the benefits that the CMOS-10HD family offers is an industry-leading line-up of 11 masters, with gate counts from 58,000 to 2.6m, as well as comprehensive packaging options that include QFP, TQFP, FPBGA, PBGA, TBGA and others. The CMOS-10HD family also offers a high number of signal pins in the smallest circuit and surface size able to meet the demands of broadband network applications.
Background
With the increasing requirements of various system applications, improved
process technology has been utilized to realize higher performance and
greater functionality in ASICs. But, while greater integration has achieved
these goals, device structure has conversely become more complicated as
mega function blocks are implemented in single chips and the number of
metal layers increases.
This has led to problems such as signal integrity that occurs finer process technology is used, resulting in drastically increased turn around times for device development. Moreover, engineers are faced with considerable risks as NRE is large with leading-edge devices and, although FPGAs might be an alternative, they lack performance, the security of volume deliveries and relatively high prices.
The CMOS-10HD family is intended to avoid such issues. It is a pure gate array with a low NRE, high rework ability, low power consumption and presents simpler and shorter lead times in design. Highly suitable applications for the new gate array family include broadband communications and networks, as well as a variety of consumer products. For further information on this and other NEC gate arrays, please visit: http://www.ic.nec.co.jp/gatearray
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) (FTSE: 6701q.l) (TSE: 6701) is a leading
provider of Internet solutions, dedicated to meeting the specialized needs
of its customers in the key computer, network and electron device fields
through its three market-focused in-house companies: NEC Solutions, NEC
Networks and NEC Electron Devices. NEC Corporation, with its in-house
companies, employs more than 150,000 people worldwide and saw net sales
of 4,991 billion Yen (approx. US$48 billion) in fiscal year 1999-2000.
For further information, please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec-global.com
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Media Contact:
Aston Bridgman
NEC Corporation
Tel: +81-3-3798-6511
Fax: +81-3-3457-7249
E-mail: a-bridgman@ak.jp.nec.com
