Chartered Offers Advanced Market-Specific Solutions for Performance-Driven Consumer and Wireless Products

Leading foundry begins prototyping ultra-low leakage high-voltage, SiGe BiCMOS and OTP solutions

MILPITAS, Calif. and SINGAPORE - September 6, 2005 - Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq: CHRT and SGX-ST: Chartered), one of the world's top dedicated semiconductor foundries, today announced the availability of high-performance value-added solutions for advanced consumer and wireless products. Currently in prototyping, the additional solutions include:

0.18-micron ultra-low leakage (ULL) high-voltage process for FPD drivers for mobile products
0.18-micron and 0.35-micron silicon germanium (SiGe) BiCMOS processes for single-chip ultra-wide band (UWB) communications and noise-sensitive TV tuners
0.18-micron and 0.25-micron one-time programmable (OTP) solutions for RFID chips and microcontroller units (MCUs)

The solutions are developed as plug-in modules on top of Chartered's baseline CMOS processes and leverages existing design infrastructure, therefore enabling designers to optimize performance and cost efficiencies, while realizing high yields in volume production.

"Our latest, advanced value-added solutions anticipate and address the technical opportunities for emerging technologies and products in the digital consumer and wireless communication space," said Kevin Meyer, vice president of worldwide marketing and platform alliances at Chartered. "We are committed to innovating and extending our value-added solutions platform to be well-positioned to collaborate with our customers at the product development stage and support their product differentiation and volume ramp."

Advanced Value-added Solutions

Chartered's 0.18-micron ULL high-voltage process features a very competitive low-leakage transistor in the unit pico Ampere (pA) range optimized for emerging mobile applications, such as low-temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) thin-film transistor (TFT), OLED mobile display drivers and mobile power management. It is also integrated with a single-poly, non-volatile memory fuse for analog and LCD module contrast trimming. Additionally, the process is supported by dual-gate and triple-gate oxide plug-in options; compact, low-power SRAM cell at below 4 micron2 for single-chip solutions; and complete third-party design enablement solutions to enable competitive time to market.

Chartered's 0.35-micron high-performance SiGe BiCMOS process can achieve a peak fT greater than 50 GHz and a peak fmax greater than 60 GHz, therefore offering superior performance while optimizing cost efficiency for wireless communication devices. Besides TV tuners, the process also provides a cost-effective solution for manufacturing the RF transceiver and power amplifier chips for cellular phones. Chartered's 0.18-micron SiGe BiCMOS process targets performance-driven and highly integrated wireless products. Both processes feature very high-density MIM capacitors of 4 fF/micron2 and deep trench isolation to enable noise isolation in noise-sensitive products, such as TV tuners.

Additionally, Chartered offers, with immediate availability, 0.25-micron and 0.18-micron OTP solutions suited for multiple functions, such as code storage, firmware updates, data storage and fuse trimming in embedded systems. Bit cell sizes are very competitive ranging from 5.2 micron2 to 1.8 micron2 with memory sizes ranging from 8 bits to a few Megabits. Using the OTP solutions, designers are able to simplify data coding; reduce design cycle time by using byte programming; and achieve fast access time of less than 40 nanoseconds. Further, the OTP implementation minimizes overall cost of ownership through pass-through yield benefits derived from using proven baseline processes and enable die area efficiency as a minimal number of probe pads are required.

About Chartered

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq: CHRT, SGX-ST: CHARTERED), one of the world's top dedicated semiconductor foundries, offers leading-edge technologies down to 90 nanometer (nm), enabling today's system-on-chip designs. The company further serves the needs of customers through its collaborative, joint development approach on a technology roadmap that extends to 45nm. Chartered's strategy is based on open and comprehensive design enablement solutions, manufacturing enhancement methodologies, and a commitment to flexible sourcing. In Singapore, the company operates a 300mm fabrication facility and four 200mm facilities. Information about Chartered can be found at http://www.charteredsemi.com.