Renesas Technology Licenses Capacitor-less Twin-Transistor RAM to EMT

OTTAWA & TOKYO--May 31, 2006--Renesas Technology Corp., the world's leading microcontroller company, and Emerging Memory Technologies Inc. (EMT), a worldwide leader in embedded memory intellectual property (IP), today announced that Renesas has licensed capacitor-less Twin Transistor RAM (TTRAM) technology to EMT. EMT will develop and expand memory IP based on the TTRAM technology into the emerging silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS market. Renesas will expand TTRAM technology as the mainstream embedded SOI memory IP technology.

Renesas' TTRAM technology offers a dynamic memory cell structure implemented on standard SOI-CMOS technology. The memory cell is composed of only two serially connected transistors and eliminates the need for a metal-insulator-metal capacitor implemented in conventional memory cells. It also eliminates the need for having derivative CMOS processes for capacitors or extra mask set, and complicated on-chip reference voltage sources. Its memory cell structure remains scalable in 65nm or finer process technologies.

"We are proud that EMT has chosen our TTRAM technology for their high density SoC memory IP," said Dr. Kazutami Arimoto, deputy general manager of system core technology division at Renesas Technology Corp. "Customers require high-density memory solutions without compromising design trade-offs in area, performance and power. After licensing the TTRAM technology based memory IP from EMT, embedded memory users will soon be able to benefit from the high-density, cost-effective solutions that were previously only available in bulk CMOS. We are expecting further SOI memory applications growth by combining our TTRAM technology and EMT's excellent memory compilation technology."

"SOI CMOS is set to expand from the high-performance microprocessor segment into the broad CMOS semiconductor market," said Sreedhar Natarajan, president and CEO, Emerging Memory Technologies Inc. "Our recognized world-class memory design capabilities together with Renesas' proven SOI capacitor-less TTRAM technology will allow a new class of silicon solutions using SOI CMOS."

Through the collaboration in TTRAM technology, both companies will provide a high-density memory solution to their customers and contribute to the development of memory IP technology.

About Renesas Technology Corp.

Renesas Technology Corp. is one of the world's leading semiconductor system solutions providers for mobile, automotive and PC/AV (Audio Visual) markets and the world's No.1 supplier of microcontrollers. It is also a leading provider of LCD Driver ICs, Smart Card microcontrollers, RF-ICs, High Power Amplifiers, Mixed Signal ICs, System-on-Chip (SoC), System-in-Package (SiP) and more. Established in 2003 as a joint venture between Hitachi, Ltd. (TOKYO:6501) (NYSE:HIT) and Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (TOKYO:6503), Renesas Technology achieved consolidated revenue of 906 billion JPY in FY2005 (end of March 2006). Renesas Technology is based in Tokyo, Japan and has a global network of manufacturing, design and sales operations in around 20 countries with about 26,200 employees worldwide. For further information, please visit http://www.renesas.com

About Emerging Memory Technologies Inc.

Founded in 2004, Emerging Memory Technologies Inc. specializes in the design and licensing of leading-edge commodity and embedded memory technology in both bulk CMOS and SOI. EMT provides design services and intellectual property (IP) on several memory technologies including DRAM, SRAM, ROM and others. EMT products include BIST/BISR memory controllers and the first commercially available embedded DRAM compiler. EMT is based in Ottawa, Canada. For more information, visit http://www.emergingmemory.com.

Notes

SOI (Silicon-on-Insulator): Semiconductor fabrication technology forming transistors in a thin single-crystal silicon layer, which is created on an insulating substrate.

TTRM: Renesas announced the TTRAM technology on September 26, 2005. For further information, click here