WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – January 31, 2012 – Triad Semiconductor Inc., the industry’s leading supplier of configurable mixed-signal ASICs, today announced the availability of a family of three new mixed signal via configurable arrays (VCAs). The new arrays, VCA-3, VCA-5, and VCA-8 are the smaller siblings to VCA-6. VCA-6 is Triad’s million-gate plus mixed signal via configurable array. These new VCAs all share the same type of high-performance analog and digital configurable circuits as VCA-6. These new smaller arrays are ideal for cost optimized mixed signal applications that can benefit from single chip integration. This family of arrays (VCA-3, 5, 6 and 8) is fabricated on IBM’s 180nm RF-CMOS process (7RF) providing cost-effective, high-precision mixed signal solutions. Fabricated in North America, these arrays are ideal for commercial applications and can support a full ITAR-compliant flow as needed for defense applications.

Technical Highlights
The VCA-3, VCA-5, and VCA-8 family of devices share similar analog and digital resources. The arrays provide a range of analog and digital capabilities with VCA-3 being the smallest of the new arrays while VCA-5 and VCA-8 have similar die sizes with different mixes of analog and digital resources to better match a range of design requirements. This spread of capabilities allows designers to match their high-performance, mixed-signal requirements to exactly the VCA that best fits their needs thereby optimizing cost, package size and power consumption.

VCA-3 Technical Details
28 single-ended amplifiers, 16 fully-differential amplifiers, 17.9M ohms of resistance, 3,030 resistors, 625pF of capacitance, 4,037 capacitors, 334 PFETs, 339 NFETs, 81 PNP BJTs, 744 switches, resistive DAC tile, 56,700 ASIC gates, 83Kbits of dual-port SRAM, 144Kbits of via-ROM, 124 configurable I/O.

VCA-5 Technical Details
32 single-ended amplifiers, 8 fully-differential amplifiers, 21.54M ohms of resistance, 2,996 resistors, 615pF of capacitance, 4,250 capacitors, 525 PFETs, 534 NFETs, 81 BJTs, 528 switches, 5 current steering DAC tiles, resistive DAC tile, 100,800 ASIC gates, 147Kbits of dual-port SRAM, 192Kbits of via-ROM, 160 configurable I/O.

VCA-8 Technical Details
28 single-ended amplifiers, 12 fully-differential amplifiers, 15.9M ohms of resistance, 2,582 resistors, 543pF of capacitance, 3,469 capacitors, 270 PFETs, 275 NFETs, 648 switches, resistive DAC tile, 151,200 ASIC gates, 221Kbits of dual-port SRAM, 288Kbits of via-ROM, 160 configurable I/O.

All of the analog and digital resources are arranged into tiles. A single Via-Only™ mask layer change configures and interconnects these analog and digital resources into a wide range of mixed signal circuits. If the design can be conceived of as an interconnection of op-amps, resistors, capacitors, logic and memory then the design can be implemented on a Triad VCA. As with all Triad VCAs, a wide variety of package options can be supported to best match system requirements. An ITAR-compliant design and manufacturing flow coupled with an expansive packaging offering makes these VCAs a good choice as an End-of-Life (EOL) or obsolescence re-design solution. Older FPGA, FPGA plus analog, and EOL ASICs can be replaced quickly and inexpensively with these VCA solutions.

About Triad Semiconductor, Inc.
Triad Semiconductor, Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company with headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, develops and produces configurable mixed-signal ASICs. The company’s groundbreaking via-configurable array (VCA) technology delivers ASICs with silicon-proven analog and digital functions more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional full-custom approaches. Triad’s single-mask, Via-Only™ routing cuts engineering effort and fabrication time, resulting in fast-turn prototypes and allowing design changes to be made at minimal cost. For more information, please visit www.triadsemi.com or call (336) 774-2150.

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Editorial Contact:
Reid Wender
Triad Semiconductor
Vice President of Marketing
Tel 336-774-2150
Fax 336-774-2140
E-mail: info@triadsemi.com
www.triadsemi.com

SANTA CLARA, CA, —January 17, 2012— Berkeley Design Automation, Inc., provider of the world’s fastest nanometer circuit verification, today announced that Triad Semiconductor Inc., the industry’s leading supplier of configurable mixed-signal ASICs, has selected the company’s Analog FastSPICE (AFS) Platform for block-level characterization and full-circuit verification of their analog and mixed-signal designs.

“Triad develops complex analog and mixed-signal designs using via-configurable arrays that present unique circuit verification challenges,” said James C. Kemerling, CTO at Triad Semiconductor. “With AFS we can perform full-circuit verification of switched capacitor circuits such as delta-sigma modulators and filters which was not practical with our existing tools. AFS has shown as much as 10x performance improvement over traditional SPICE on PLLs and ADCs with nanometer SPICE accuracy.”

The Analog FastSPICE Platform is the world’s fastest nanometer circuit verification platform for analog, RF, mixed-signal, and custom digital circuits. The AFS Platform delivers foundry-certified nanometer SPICE accuracy 5x-10x faster than any other simulator on a single core and an additional 2x-4x performance with multithreading. For circuit characterization, the AFS Platform includes the industry’s only comprehensive silicon-accurate device noise analysis and delivers near-linear performance scaling with the number of cores. For large circuits, it delivers >10M-element capacity, the industry’s fastest near-SPICE-accurate simulation, and mixed- analog-digital co-simulation with leading Verilog® simulators. Available licenses include AFS circuit simulation, AFS Transient Noise Analysis, AFS RF Analysis, AFS Co-Simulation, and AFS Nano SPICE.

“We are excited that Triad Semiconductor selected the Analog FastSPICE Platform for verification of their configurable mixed-signal designs,” said Ravi Subramanian, president and CEO of Berkeley Design Automation. “Triad’s selection of the AFS Platform validates, once again, that Berkeley Design Automation is an essential partner to innovative mixed-signal semiconductor companies.”

About Berkeley Design Automation
Berkeley Design Automation, Inc. is the recognized leader in nanometer circuit verification. The company combines the world’s fastest nanometer circuit verification platform, Analog FastSPICE, with exceptional application expertise to uniquely address nanometer circuit design challenges. More than 100 companies rely on Berkeley Design Automation to verify their nanometer-scale circuits. Berkeley Design Automation has received numerous industry awards and is widely recognized for its technology leadership and contributions to the electronics industry. The company is privately held and backed by Woodside Fund, Bessemer Venture Partners, Panasonic Corp., NTT Corp., IT-Farm, and MUFJ Capital. For more information, visit http://www.berkeley-da.com.

About Triad Semiconductor
Triad Semiconductor, Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company with headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, develops and produces configurable mixed-signal ASICs. The company’s groundbreaking via-configurable array (VCA) technology delivers ASICs with silicon-proven analog and digital functions more quickly and at a lower cost than traditional full-custom approaches. Triad’s single-mask, Via-Only™ routing cuts engineering effort and fabrication time, resulting in fast-turn prototypes and allowing design changes to be made at minimal cost. For more information, please visit www.triadsemi.com

Analog FastSPICE, AFS Nano, and WaveCrave are trademarks of Berkeley Design Automation, Inc. Berkeley Design and BDA are registered trademarks of Berkeley Design Automation, Inc. Via-Configurable Array (VCA) is a trademark of Triad Semiconductor. Any other trademarks or trade names mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

PR for Berkeley Design Automation – Cayenne Communication LLC
Michelle Clancy, 252-940-0981, michelle.clancy@cayennecom.com

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At Triad, Mr. Pratt will be responsible for overseeing and directing the rapidly growing engineering team tasked with creating mixed signal via configurable array (VCA) technology. Triad’s VCA solutions are developed by a veteran team of IC designers that have been handpicked from across the semiconductor industry. This engineering team, led by Mr. Pratt, is delivering semiconductor solutions that range from precision ITAR defense programs to high volume consumer applications.

After graduating from the Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering in 1992, Mr. Pratt cut his teeth in the early days of RF Micro Devices (RFMD) as an RFIC designer. He was directly involved with the design of LNA’s, mixers, quadrature modulators, quadrature demodulators, automatic gain control (AGC) amplifiers, and driver  amplifiers. Over the years, as RFMD grew from eleven people to over 4,000 employees, Pratt took on an ever-increasing set of responsibilities within an engineering organization of hundreds of engineers. He led teams and departments in developing wireless products that shipped in the hundreds of millions. Mr. Pratt brings a wealth of engineering and semiconductor experience to Triad with semiconductor process know-how spanning GaAs HBT, SiGe, BiCMOS and CMOS-only processes. “We are excited about the impact Billy has already made here at Triad and we are confident that he is the right man to oversee the continual engineering growth needed to support the tremendous demand for Triad’s VCA technology in the marketplace” said Lynn Hayden, President and CEO of Triad.

About Triad Semiconductor, Inc.
Triad Semiconductor, Inc., a privately held fabless semiconductor company with headquarters in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, develops, prototypes and produces mixed-signal ASICs. The company’s groundbreaking via-configurable array (VCA) technology delivers ASICs with silicon-proven analog and digital functions more quickly and at lower cost than traditional full-custom approaches. Triad’s single-mask, via-only routing cuts engineering effort and fabrication time, resulting in fast-turn prototypes and allowing design changes to be made at minimal cost. For more information, please visit http://www.triadsemi.com or call (336) 774-2150.

Let’s just face it: analog is hard. Analog designers are a special breed: they resist designs done by computer, and for good reason. There’s a fair bit of the black magic that only a human can bring to the design. According to Cadence’s John Stabenow, users have more or less rejected analog synthesis. Even when it does well enough to do the job required and meet the specs, designers still aren’t comfortable with the aesthetics of the layout – which speaks to the subtlety that imbues analog design.

So when Triad Semiconductor perpetuates the analog array dream with the audacity to bring configurable analog arrays to market, they have to be aware that they’re following in some big footsteps that have led nowhere in particular. And presumably have taken steps to alter the path in a more profitable direction.

Read more over at the IC Design and Verification Journal: Analog Audacity – Triad Offers Configurable Analog Arrays

The Cortex-M0 which has just become the fastest licensed ARM core in history. The core which offers 32-bit performance in the footprint of a 16-bit processor, has been licensed by 15 companies since its launch in February this year.

For more information on Triad’s ARM Powered VCAs, visit Triad’s information page.

At ARM Techcon3 in Santa Clara, CA last month, Triad Semiconductor and Z-Focus Technology Group demonstrated the world’s first software-based, real-time Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) data transfer. This demonstration was based on the BLE v0.9 prototyping specification. The firms wirelessly streamed real-time digitized signals from Triad’s Mocha development system to a PC display.

See the full article…

For more details, please see the corresponding events calendar post.