Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Corporation (HLMC), one of the most advanced pure play wafer foundries in China, and Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NASDAQ: CY), a leading provider of embedded nonvolatile memory solutions, today announced the production of low power embedded flash, aimed at the growing market of IoT and the other low power micro-controller unit (MCU) applications, using HLMC's 55-nanometer(nm) low-power (LP) process technology with Cypress's SONOS (Silicon Oxide Nitride Oxide Silicon) embedded flash memory intellectual property (IP).
This embedded flash product has already entered risk production in 2016. The technology and IP will be available for full production by HLMC customers in the second half of 2017.
HLMC 55nm LP embedded flash platform is optimized for low power, making it ideal for MCU and IoT applications. It is developed based on HLMC's mature 55nm LP technology. The corresponding proven solutions for this platform are also ready including cell library, memory, and the other fundamental IPs. Compared to other embedded NVM IP which need 9 to 12 additional masks, SONOS requires 3 mask layers only inserted into a standard CMOS process and delivers low wafer and die costs with unmatched scalability. SONOS process developed in HLMC has achieved best-in-class reliability, 10-year data retention with customer product proven, 200,000 program/erase endurance cycles, and robust resistance to soft errors. Based on this platform, HLMC can provide customers the differentiated solution with high performance, low power, and low cost advantages. HLMC has also been keeping on developing the embedded flash with smaller cell size , better performance and reliability.
"With the rapid growth in MCU, IOT, etc, and the strong demand for low cost and low power embedded flash , we are excited to reach this milestone and look forward to a fast production ramp to meet our customers' demand," said Jack Qi Shu, Vice President at HLMC. "HLMC and Cypress' SONOS is a cost-effective embedded nonvolatile memory that delivers proven high customer product proven yields. Its reliability and efficiency are ideal to those applications in mass production
"The combination of HLMC's robust 55nm LP process technology and manufacturing expertise along with the high-performance and leading reliability of our SONOS flash memory enabled a smooth path to achieve production of these low power embedded flash products," said Sam Geha, Senior Vice President of the Memory Products Division at Cypress. "Our collaboration with HLMC is another example of how Cypress is working with the world's leading foundries to establish SONOS as the industry's top choice for an embedded nonvolatile memory platform."
About Cypress
Cypress (NASDAQ: CY) delivers high-performance, high-quality solutions at the heart of today's most advanced embedded systems, from automotive, industrial and networking platforms to highly interactive consumer and mobile devices. With a broad, differentiated product portfolio that includes NOR flash memories, F-RAM and SRAM, Traveo microcontrollers, the industry's only PSoC programmable system-on-chip solutions, analog and PMIC Power Management ICs, CapSense capacitive touch-sensing controllers, and Wireless BLE Bluetooth Low-Energy and USB connectivity solutions, Cypress is committed to providing its customers worldwide with consistent innovation, best-in-class support and exceptional system value. To learn more, go to http://www.cypress.com/.
Cypress, the Cypress logo PSoC, CapSense and TrueTouch are registered trademarks and Traveo and F-RAM are trademarks of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. All other trademarks are property of their owners.
About HLMC
Shanghai Huali Microelectronics Corporation (HLMC) is a leading pure-play foundry in mainland China. HLMC currently has a 300mm wafer fab with the capacity of 35000 wafers per month. The construction of fab 2 began at the end of 2016 and will expand the capacity of 40000 wafers per month. HLMC offers a variety of technologies covering 55nm-40nm-28nm logic processes and specialty technologies for a wide range of applications. HLMC is devoted to providing domestic and overseas customers with comprehensive foundry solutions and value-added services. Headquartered in Shanghai, China, HLMC extends its sales and technical supports to customers in Taiwan, Japan and North America. Learn more about HLMC online at http://www.hlmc.cn/.