Sidense Secure Embedded OTP Enables Encrypted USB Drive

Update: Synopsys Expands DesignWare IP Portfolio with Acquisition of Sidense Corporation (Oct. 17, 2017)

Faraday Technology uses Sidense memory IP to develop secure bridge chip

Ottawa, Canada -- September 24th, 2009 -- Sidense Corp., a leading developer of Logic Non-Volatile Memory (LNVM) IP cores, today announced that Faraday Technology Corp. (Faraday), a leader in the USB market, selected Sidense’s 1T-Fuse™ single- transistor bit cell, one-time programmable (OTP) macros for use in a USB secure drive application. The 16Kbit Sidense macro provides a highly secure storage medium for protecting data, applications and IDs on the drive.

“Sidense OTP macros offer our customers an easy-to-implement and reliable means of protecting data and code on chips used in a wide variety of applications,” said Xerxes Wania, President and CEO of Sidense. “Since memory integrity can be compromised by knowledgeable hackers, encrypting sensitive storage data with Sidense OTP is a good way of defending against piracy or malicious modification.”

As an ASIC full service provider, Faraday provides one-stop shop service to its customers in IP development, IP acquisition as well as all the details of integrated circuit implementation and production. This model allows Faraday’s customers to focus on the successful implementation of their products.

“While Faraday was able to supply most of the IP cores needed to implement a bridge chip for our customer’s encrypted USB drive, we turned to Sidense to provide a secure OTP macro,” said Joseph Hong, USA general manager at Faraday. “The cooperative efforts of Faraday and Sidense gave our customer what they needed to successfully bring their encrypted USB drives to market.

About Sidense

Sidense Corp., the only logic non-volatile memory provider listed on EE Times 60 Emerging Startups list for 2009, provides secure, dense and reliable non-volatile, one-time programmable (OTP) memory IP for use in standard-logic CMOS processes, with no additional masks or process steps required. Sidense's patented one-transistor 1T-Fuse™ architecture (U.S. Patent #7,402,855 and others) provides the industry’s smallest footprint, most reliable and lowest power Logic Non-Volatile Memory IP solution and offers an alternative solution to Flash, mask ROM and eFuse in many applications.

Sidense OTP memory is available at 180nm, 130nm, 110nm, 90nm, 65nm, and 55nm and is scalable to 40nm and below. The IP is available at all top-tier semiconductor foundries and selected IDMs. Customers are using Sidense OTP for analog trimming, code storage, encryption keys such as HDCP, RFID and Chip ID, medical, automotive, and configurable processors and logic. For more information, please visit www.sidense.com.

About Faraday Technology

Faraday Technology Corporation is a leading fabless ASIC and silicon IP provider. The company's broad silicon IP portfolio includes Cell Library, Memory Compiler, ARM-compliant CPUs, DDRI/II/III, MPEG4, H.264, USB 2.0/3.0, 10/100 Ethernet, Serial ATA, and PCI Express. With 2008 revenue of US$ 149 million, Faraday is one of the largest fabless ASIC companies in the Asia-Pacific region, and it also has a significant presence in other world-wide markets. Headquartered in Taiwan, Faraday has service and support offices around the world, including the U.S., Japan, Europe, and China. For more information, please visit: www.faraday-tech.com.