*****For immediate use March 18th, 2002
NEC Delivers New ASIC Device Platform for Mid-Volume Applications
- Architecture Delivers High Performance and Broad IP Integration Capabilitieswith Short Turnaround Times and Low Cost -
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| NEC's New ASIC "ISSP Series" |
TOKYO, SANTA CLARA, Calif. and DUESSELDORF, Germany, March 18, 2002 - Leveraging its expertise in leading-edge cell-based ASIC design, NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) and its wholly owned subsidiaries in the United States and Europe, NEC Electronics Inc. and NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH., today introduced a new cost-effective, high-function, easy-to-design ASIC architecture targeting mid-volume designs. Representing a new class of ASIC devices known as Instant Silicon Solution Platforms (ISSPs), this architecture not only delivers the performance and intellectual property-integration benefits traditionally associated with leading-edge cell-based ASICs, but also introduces two very significant advantages: a remarkably easy design flow for the user and the ability to customize a design using only the two upper metal layers. Targeting designs with volumes between a few thousand and 100,000 units, the new architecture offers up to a 75 percent reduction in turnaround time from design start to sample delivery as well as non-recurring engineering (NRE) costs up to 10 times lower than similar cell-based designs.
NEC's first ISSP devices are based on NEC's UX4 ASIC process, which features
0.13-micron (
m)
(drawn) transistors enabling high performance and low power dissipation. Using
the same production-proven process technology for both cell-based and ISSP design
enables NEC to quickly develop new platforms while leveraging a robust cell-based
intellectual property (IP) portfolio. This approach also provides NEC customers
with an easy and low-cost upgrade path to cell-based ASIC design when device volumes
increase.
"NEC's new ISSP architecture represents an innovative ASIC solution for mid-volume designs that require high performance, and takes advantage of our strong experience in manufacturing, deep sub-micron design flow automation and intellectual property integration," said Kyuichi Hareyama, general manager, 2nd System LSI Division, NEC Electron Devices, NEC Corporation. "Based on requests from our customers, we developed our ISSP devices to significantly reduce the risk, overall cost and turnaround time associated with traditional fine-geometry ASIC designs. At the same time, NEC has maintained the high levels of performance and functionality ASIC designers demand to differentiate their solutions from competitive products."
ISSP - A New Class of ASIC Device
ISSP devices combine the benefits of cell-based ASIC design with easily customizable upper layers to meet individual design requirements. This technology is ideal for designers who need up to 300-megahertz (MHz) performance as well as the design complexity offered by cell-based ASICs. However, the platforms are generally very easy to design, offer much lower power dissipation than field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), and in many instances offer lower NRE costs than cell-based designs. In delivering ISSP products, NEC leverages its expertise in cell-based ASIC design and its industry-leading position in gate array design.
NEC's First ISSP Device Architecture
NEC's first ISSP devices are fabricated using NEC's proven UX4 cell-based ASIC process, which has been in mass production since 2000. The device architecture is a five-metal-layer design with two easily customizable upper layers to meet individual design requirements. The bottom three layers are predefined with NEC IP and design-for-test blocks, and include circuitry to minimize signal integrity and clock skew issues. With this support, NEC dramatically reduces ASIC development costs by eliminating the need for customers to invest in large, specialized design teams and purchase expensive design tools to address deep submicron issues such as timing and signal integrity. The first ISSP products address a wide range of applications including telecom, networking, consumer, industrial and computing, and include embedded high-density static random access memory (SRAM) and multi-function phase-locked loops (PLLs).
Although NEC's ISSP devices will be available in mass production in Q3 2002, NEC Networks, an NEC Corporation in-house company, has already begun a design for broadband optical transmission networking equipment (SpectraWaveTM Series) and expects to deliver samples by the end of March 2002. The in-house company was able to develop the product more quickly and with fewer engineering resources than required with other standard ASIC products or even FPGAs.
The basic building block of the architecture is a module comprising a combinational block and a sequential block. Facilitating high fault coverage testing and eliminating the designer's need to perform design for test (DFT), all testing technologies, including SCAN, BIST, BSCAN and TestBus, are embedded in the base master of the architecture. Likewise, the unit module and routing resources are optimized to minimize deep sub-micron issues such as signal integrity, and clock domains are embedded in the base master to eliminate clock-skew issues. This unique process delivers the performance and functionality benefits of an ASIC with the reduced cost and short design time traditionally associated with gate arrays and FPGAs.
Operating with system clock speeds of up to 300MHz and local clock speeds of 400MHz, NEC's first ISSP devices offer densities of up to one million usable gates, up to 60,000 internal registers and up to one megabit of embedded configurable memory. The products operate with an internal supply voltage (V) of 1.5V and interface to 2.5V and 3.3V input/output sources (I/Os). With an internal power consumption of 0.014 microwatts per MHz per gate, NEC can ensure a low power design.
Designers will also have access to NEC's sophisticated OpenCAD
design framework, which includes physical floorplanning, timing driven layout,
hierarchical design and other leading-edge design technologies. Further easing
the design of ISSP products, NEC plans to offer the ISSP architecture to customers
in an online design environment similar to NEC's online Gate Array Design Center,
introduced in 2001.
Future ISSP products will also include embedded processor cores and high-speed interface cores to deliver a system solution. NEC's ISSP architecture will also support hardware/software co-simulation/co-verification on a block-based system design approach. As new ISSP platforms are introduced, NEC will support additional applications including optical transmission, base station, router, storage, server, digital consumer, large system integration (LSI) tester, industrial automation and other broadband equipment.
For more information about NEC's ISSP products, please visit the NEC Electron Devices web site at http://www.ic.nec.co.jp/issp/english
About NEC's UX4 Process Technology and CB-12 Cell-Based ASIC Library
NEC's UX4 process technology features 0.13-m drawn transistors and 1.5V core operation, which enables a combination of high performance, extremely low power consumption and high density. NEC's UX4-based IP library, CB-12, has been designed into several customer products and enables the implementation of systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) for a wide range of applications such as telecomm, network, consumer, automotive and industrial. To meet both time-to-market and complex system-level design challenges, NEC also supplies total design support for hardware, software and system integration.
NEC offers a rich portfolio of ASIC pre-verified megamacros to increase the hardware design efficiency of a typical system-on-chip project, which requires processor/digital signal processors (DSP) cores, memory, peripherals and analog functions.
About NEC Corporation
NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY) 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 approximately $43 billion in fiscal year 2000-2001. For further information,
please visit the NEC home page at: http://www.nec.com.
About NEC Electronics Inc.
NEC Electronics Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., is one of the leading
developers, manufacturers and suppliers of semiconductor products in the United
States. Committed to meeting customers' cost, performance and time-to-market requirements,
the company offers solutions ranging from standard products, including electron
components, to system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions, as well as customized products
for next-generation designs. NEC Electronics also offers customers the benefits
of a local manufacturing facility in Roseville, Calif., and the global manufacturing
capabilities of its parent company, NEC Corporation (NASDAQ: NIPNY). For more
information about products offered by NEC Electronics Inc., please visit the NEC
Electronics web site at http://www.necel.com.
About NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH
NEC Electronics (Europe) GmbH, headquartered in Duesseldorf, Germany, is a leading
developer, manufacturer and supplier of semiconductor products in Europe. Committed
to meeting customers' cost, performance and time-to-market requirements, the company
offers solutions ranging from standard products to system-on-a-chip (SoC) solutions,
as well as customized products for next-generation designs. NEC Electronics also
offers customers the benefit of state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Ireland,
and the global manufacturing capabilities of its parent company, NEC Corporation.
For more information, please visit the NEC Electronics web site at: http://www.ee.nec.de.
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Instant Silicon Solution Platform, ISSP and NEC Electronics Inc. are either trademarks or registered trademarks of NEC Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. OpenCAD is a registered trademark of NEC Electronics Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. SpectraWave is a trademark of NEC Networks, NEC Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
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