GISTEL, Belgium -- April 21, 2008 -- Sarnoff Europe, a leader in advanced semiconductor design solutions, today announced that Actel Corporation (Nasdaq: ACTL), the leading provider of low-power field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and programmable system chips (PSCs), plans to implement Sarnoff’s TakeCharge on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection solutions into their next-generation programmable products. By licensing Sarnoff’s TakeCharge ESD solution, Actel FPGAs and PSCs will have added protection from ESD, which is a threat to all types of semiconductor devices during testing, packaging, assembly and handling.
“We chose the Sarnoff TakeCharge solution because it provides state-of-the-art ESD protection while ensuring ‘first time right’ design,†said Dr. Esmat Hamdy, senior vice president of technology and operations at Actel Corporation. “The implementation of TakeCharge will allow us to effectively manage ESD protection while continuing to quickly and cost-effectively deliver our next-generation, low-power programmable products to market.â€
Sarnoff Europe’s ESD Design Kit enables engineers to access the most advanced on-chip extreme low-capacitive and area-efficient ESD solutions to meet 2000V Human Body Model (HBM) and 200V Machine Model (MM) industry-standard specifications and assists companies on Charged Device Model (CDM) requirements. Additionally, the ability of the ESD protection solution to be adapted to highly individual design requirements and easily integrated into existing design flows helps companies avoid costly re-spins.
“We’re excited Actel Corporation selected Sarnoff Europe’s TakeCharge as its ESD solution of choice for its industry-leading, low-power FPGAs and PSCs,†said Koen Verhaege, Executive Director of Sarnoff Europe. “TakeCharge provides design teams with a reliable way to create cutting-edge chips and attain first to market results in each FPGA design.â€
Sarnoff’s TakeCharge technology has been silicon and product proven in advanced processes down to 65nm CMOS. Leading global IC producers leveraging this technology include Actel Corporation, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Renesas, Matsushita, Epson-Seiko, OKI, NJR, Ricoh, Infineon, ST-Microelectronics, Tower Semiconductor, Altera, PMC- Sierra, AMI Semiconductor, ON-Semiconductor, Nanotech Semiconductor, Redmere Technology, Gennum Corporation and more.
For more information on Actel’s products, please visit www.actel.com.
About Sarnoff Corporation
Sarnoff Corporation (www.sarnoff.com) produces innovations in electronic, video and vision technologies that generate successful new products and services for our government and commercial clients worldwide. Founded in 1942 as RCA Laboratories, Sarnoff makes continuous breakthroughs in ICs, lasers, imaging and sensing devices; biomedical diagnostics; digital TV and video for security, surveillance and entertainment; high-performance networking; and wireless communications. Sarnoff is a subsidiary of SRI International.
About Sarnoff Europe
Sarnoff Europe headquartered in Gistel, Belgium, is a subsidiary company of Sarnoff Corporation. Sarnoff Europe assumes worldwide responsibility for the development and commercialization of Sarnoff’s TakeCharge on-chip ESD protection IP.