Sarnoff ESDdoctor(TM) Offers ESD Solutions For New ICs, Trouble-Shoots Problems In Existing Chips

Silicon IP Cores Drop Into I/O Sections, Work With Standard Processes

PRINCETON, NJ, USA/GISTEL, BELGIUM (May 12, 2005)   Sarnoff Europe (www.sarnoffeurope.com) today announced the availability of Sarnoff Corporation's (www.sarnoff.com) new ESDdoctor(TM), a copy/insert solution that puts robust, full chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection on a new IC design or instantly solves problems with existing chips. ESDdoctor is being introduced at Sarnoff's display at FSA Expo Europe (Booth 5).

With ESDdoctor a fabless semiconductor firm can quickly integrate a working ESD solution into the smallest possible I/O area, with no compromises to its high-performance IC design. This allows fabless semiconductor companies to move products to foundries faster, without having to develop in-house expertise in ESD protection.

"ESDdoctor is just what the name implies   a fast and trustworthy cure for ESD challenges or problems that would otherwise slow up the completion of a design, causing critical market introduction delays and expensive rework and remasking," said Koen Verhaege, Senior Director of Sarnoff's Integrated Circuit Systems & Services Business Unit and Executive Director of Sarnoff Europe. "It's almost as easy as a cut-and-paste operation in a word processing program. Just drop in the core and the ESD design is complete."

Verhaege notes that ESDdoctor solutions are available in forms compatible with such standard processes as TSMC 0.18  and 0.13  for both standard and epitaxial wafers. The designs will also work in other processes with some user customization.

"The big advantage of Sarnoff's ESDdoctor solutions is: you drop them in and they work," said Verhaege.
 
Single Point Solution

ESDdoctor is based on TakeCharge®, Sarnoff's widely accepted ESD technology portfolio. As a single-chip solution, ESDdoctor offers a cost-effective single-instance license which is renewable for additional applications.

Each ESDdoctor license entitles the user to

• An ESD structure layout (in GDSII)
•  Custom, fixed, copy-insert ready
•  Single point solution
• Full chip integration information:
•  Connectivity instructions
•  ESD and AC parameters
•  Design Service support to integrate the solution in the IC

ESDdoctor is part of a growing family of products based on the TakeCharge on-chip electrostatic discharge (ESD) design IP portfolio.  TakeCharge® has been silicon proven in advanced processes down to 65nm CMOS including SOI.  Licensees include Toshiba, Sony, Epson, OKI, JRC, Hynix, Infineon, Altera, PMC-Sierra, Renesas, Ricoh, Matsushita, and Scintera.

About Sarnoff
Sarnoff Corporation (www.sarnoff.com) produces innovations in electronic, biomedical and information technology that generate successful new products and services for clients worldwide. Founded in 1942 as RCA Laboratories, it develops breakthroughs in ICs, lasers, and imagers; drug discovery, manufacture and delivery; digital TV and video for security, surveillance, and entertainment; high-performance networking; and wireless communications. Its history includes the development of color TV, the liquid-crystal display, and the disposable hearing aid, and a leadership role in creating the new U.S. digital and HDTV standard. Sarnoff also founds new companies to bring its technologies to market. It is a subsidiary of SRI International.

About Sarnoff Europe
Sarnoff Europe (www.sarnoffeurope.com), headquartered in Gistel, Belgium, is a subsidiary company of Sarnoff Corporation. Sarnoff Europe assumes worldwide responsibility for the commercialization of Sarnoff's Integrated Circuit Systems and Services portfolio offerings, including the ESD protection families TakeCharge® and ESDdoctorTM, the SelectCoresTM families for Audio, Video, and Communications, and the Sarnoff Bitstreams for video standards compliance testing.