Micronas Aligns Automotive and IC Life Cycles with New ActivePackage Concept (0312)

Fear of Product Obsolescence Dissolved; Life Time Supply Secured; Further Advantages for Car Manufacturers

Freiburg, Germany -June 18, 2003- Micronas, a leading supplier of semiconductor solutions for consumer electronics, multimedia and automotive electronics, today introduced ActivePackageTM, a new solution ridding the headache car manufacturers worldwide have shared for many years. During the life cycle of a car, several of the original integrated circuits (IC) that are designed in when the car is launched are made obsolete forcing car manufacturers to carry out expensive redesigns. By physically separating the digital logic element of a chip from the I/O and creating two chips within one package, the new ActivePackage concept solves this problem along with several other difficulties caused through short IC life cycles.

With the ActivePackage approach, there will be two chips per IC package, the logic chip and the peripheral chip. This decoupling allows the core logic to be manufactured in the latest process technology. The programmable peripheral chip converts the core logic's electrical parameters accordingly for the ActivePackage to communicate externally. This enables car manufacturers to design ICs into their cars with "frozen" electrical and mechanical parameters, saving time and money in the future.

"Up until now, car manufacturers have been forced to redesign a car's electronic control unit as soon as the IC manufacturer made a product group obsolete," said Klaus Heberle, vice president automotive at Micronas. "Besides being expensive, the car manufacturer has to go through a learning curve to maximize IC performance. This has proven to be a very serious problem for the adoption of electronics in cars. With ActivePackage, car manufacturers benefit from the progresses in process technology and can integrate chips with a greater level of performance while eliminating the need for redesign."

At the same time chip manufacturers benefit greatly as they now require no special roadmaps for their automotive clients. The functional block can always be manufactured in the latest technology and integrated into the ActivePackage, while other characteristics remain unchanged - effectively solving the lifetime supply problem through adopting a platform approach.

The ActivePackage approach guarantees not only that the electrical parameters remain constant over many generations, but also the pin-out and the mechanical characteristics of the package. The programmable peripheral chip takes care of that by acting as part of the IC package and providing it with a whole new quality - from which the ActivePackage derives its name.

Via a multiplex process, it is possible to reduce the number of internal connections and thereby decrease the relevant pad limit for the functional block considerably, providing another important advantage. Without additional circuitry, logic ICs manufactured in the latest process technology can be connected to a car's electronic control unit via a peripheral chip. Up to now, it has been impossible to connect the latest controllers directly to the electrical system in the car because they could not operate with such high voltages. Car manufacturers now have the latest technologies at their disposal and without the pad limitation, new technologies offer considerable economic advantages.

Additionally, interfaces remain the same over many generations, which also greatly reduce the design and development time and cost. Peripheral modules (Timer, UART, CAN) can be integrated on the peripheral ICs of the ActivePackage platforms. Besides cost and time savings, standardization also produces higher quality. Analog units (A/D converters, reset thresholds, oscillators, voltage regulators for complex ICs) that do not benefit from the progress of process technology can also be integrated on the peripheral chips.

The ActivePackage concept requires multi-chip-packages, which can today be manufactured cost-effectively with high yields. The ICs are bonded on the lead frame and electrically connected with each other. Both steps are part of the assembly and bonding process with no other process steps required.

Due to the separation of the logic and the I/O section, car manufacturers also benefit from the progress made in digital technology while enjoying long-term stability through the programmable peripheral chip of the ActivePackage.
The peripheral chips ensure reliable communications of the car's electronic control units and are manufactured in the most cost-effective technology. As the demand for such chips will not dwindle in the near future, the required raw materials and production lines will also be available on a long-term basis.