Tower Semi launches power management platform

MIGDAL HAEMEK, ISRAEL: Tower Semiconductor Ltd, an independent specialty foundry, announced the availability of its new Power Management Platform. The new offering combines high-voltage, fast-switching devices onto the base of its 0.18-micron technology platform. The technology is produced in Tower’s advanced Fab2 facility.

The offering is a fully integrated dual/triple gate 0.18um Power Management platform that supports a wide scale of voltages, including 5, 12, 25 and 42V, respectively.

The switching devices are implemented by high-current-drive LDMOS transistors, and deliver world-class performance of RDSON = 25 mOhms*mmsq, at 33 Volts BVdss.

This performance, which is on an integrated, non-Epi technology, enables implementation of single chip multi-ampere power management integrated circuits. Such integration suits well a wide range of power management applications that require cost effective and sophisticated power switching.

The underlying platform implements basic logic, analog and I/O, at both 5 Volts and 1.8 Volts (3.3V is available upon request.) Among the devices that complement the switches, Tower offers poly resistors; MIM capacitors; LV and HV bipolar transistors; Schottky diodes and thick metal conductors in both aluminum and copper. The platform includes all elements required for both analog and digital SoC power management designs.

In addition to the process and device offering, Tower provides a complete and exclusive Process Design Kit (PDK), as well as extensive customer support.

"We are very excited to provide existing and emerging customers with this comprehensive power management platform," said Yossi Netzer, general manager of Mixed-Signal and RF-CMOS product line at Tower Semiconductor. "The wealth of supporting devices we provide makes implementation easy and rewarding for any designer. The ability to attain effective switches on the same silicon as the control circuits enables the Tower platform to be a very attractive option with high performance, small form factor and attractive cost."

The power management IC market is estimated at $16B by 2010. Its accelerated growth, of 13 percent per annum is due to energy saving and product mobility trends. Tower’s new platform offering addresses the requirements of more than one-third of this market, specifically, products that require integrated solutions and switching voltages in the range of 5V to 42V. The primary applications where the platform will be applied are: LED drivers, line drivers, battery chargers, DC to DC converters, handheld devices’ power supplies and automotive power management.

The power management platform is also available on Tower’s shuttle program for fast and low cost design verification and engineering samples.