The TSX1001 is a single-chip, mixed-signal processor that an embedded product developer can use to measure sensors and control actuators in products such as accelerometers, automatic meter readers, temperature sensors, capacitive touch inputs, touch screens, medical sensors and other devices requiring analog and processor resources integrated into small spaces using small, low-power batteries.

“We are seeing a general trend toward portable, low-power embedded processing, which requires 32-bit processing performance as well as a great deal of precision analog integration,” said Reid Wender, vice president of marketing at Triad Semiconductor. “The TSX1001 is ideal for many applications and, since the TSX1001 is built on Triad’s Mocha-1 configurable array, designers are able to quickly and inexpensively build working prototypes to verify functionality before committing to a new mixed-signal Cortex-M0 SoC solution optimized for a specific application.”

The TSX1001 will be supported by industry standard embedded software tool flows such as the ARM® RealView® development suite. Triad has released the TSX1001 design to fabrication; engineering samples will be available in May 2010.

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 www.triadsemi.com or call (336) 774-2150.

Mocha is a trademark of Triad Semiconductor, Inc. All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

# # #

Editorial Contact:
Linda Marchant, Cayenne Communication LLC, 919-451-0776 or linda.marchant@cayennecom.com

What:
Exhibiting:  The Mocha-1 array, which integrates an ARM® Cortex™-M0 ultra low power 32-bit processor running at 25MHz with 32Kbytes of EEPROM memory, 24Kbytes of SRAM, 75,000 gates of user configurable logic, and a wide selection of analog resources including op-amps, DACs, ADCs, resistors, capacitors, transistors and switches. Combining the Cortex-M0 with these configurable analog and digital resources allows Mocha-1 to realize a wide range of single-chip, mixed-signal SoC solutions for industrial, medical, sensor, Bluetooth low energy, and military/ aerospace applications. In Booth 827, Triad will be demonstrating a Bluetooth 4.0 (Bluetooth low energy) solution running on Triad’s Mocha FPGA emulation system allowing for rapid prototyping and development of complete Cortex-M0 solutions.

Presenting: “Via-configurable Analog ASIC: Technology and Applications,” a new alternative to full-custom analog/mixed signal ASICs that applies many of the concepts of deep-submicron digital structured arrays to larger geometry analog processes. Consequently a place-and-route tool (normally only for the digital domain) can be used to configure an analog ASIC while maintaining performance comparable to classical full-custom analog design. Specifically, this concept uses a single via layer to configure an entire device. These new devices are called via-configurable arrays (VCAs.) For additional information, please see http://www.designcon.com/2010/attendees/2_ta1/index.asp

Who:
Presenter: Jim Kemerling, Chief Technology Officer, Triad Semiconductor

When:
The presentation will take place on Tuesday, February 2, 2010 from 8:30an to 9:10am.

Exhibition hours are February 2^nd and 3^rd, 2010, from 12:30 to 6:30.

Where:
Santa Clara Convention Center, Santa Clara, CA.

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 www.triadsemi.com or call (336) 774-2150.

Mocha and Mocha-1 are trademarks of Triad Semiconductor, Inc.
All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

# # #

Editorial Contact:
Linda Marchant, Cayenne Communication LLC, 919-451-0776 or linda.marchant@cayennecom.com

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

Embedded processors are everywhere, from toothbrushes to automobiles. The processing requirements for these microprocessors continue to increase along with the need for enhanced, customized analog and digital features. The Mocha-1 platform enables integration of complete mixed-signal SoCs by combining the industry-standard Cortex-M0 processor, backed by the ARM development ecosystem, with Triad’s VCA technology. Developers are able to integrate entire existing discrete PC board-level designs into the Mocha-1 platform.

Triad’s VCA technology combines silicon-proven analog, digital, memory and microprocessor resources on a single ASIC die. These resources are overlaid with a global routing fabric. Unique to Triad’s approach, all of the resources on a VCA are configured by placing vias within the global routing fabric. Vias are placed on the VCA using Triad’s advanced, analog-aware, via-only automatic place-and-route software, which configures and interconnects the entire VCA without the need for full-custom manual layout. This approach shortens time to prototypes and time to market, reduces development and tooling costs, and accelerates the design process by enabling the reuse of proven mixed-signal IP blocks.

“The Mocha-1 platform is the first and only method to combine ARM processing with configurable analog and digital,” said Jim Kemerling, vice president and CTO of Triad Semiconductor. “It is ideal for any applications that require 32-bit performance in an 8-bit or 16-bit footprint with ultra-low power consumption. Our single-mask VCA technology provides safe, rapid prototyping and production at low cost.”

Triad’s Mocha-1 integrates a Cortex-M0 32-bit processor running at 25MHz with 32Kbytes of EEPROM memory, 24Kbytes of SRAM, 75,000 gates of user configurable logic, and a wide selection of analog resources including op-amps, DACs, ADCs, resistors, capacitors, transistors and switches. Combining the Cortex-M0 with these configurable analog and digital resources allows Mocha-1 to realize a wide range of single-chip, mixed-signal SoC solutions for industrial, medical, sensor, Bluetooth low energy, and military/ aerospace applications.

Pricing and Availability
Mocha-1 provides configurable ASIC solutions unique to each customer. Price is a function of package and production volume, ranging from US $7.00 to $15.00 per ASIC, with customer-optimized solutions available for under $2.00 in high volume applications. Triad is now accepting customer designs for the Mocha-1 array, with silicon being delivered in Q1.

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 www.triadsemi.com or call (336) 774-2150.

Mocha is a trademark of Triad Semiconductor, Inc.ARM is the registered trademark of ARM Limited in the EU and other countries. Cortex and ARM Powered are trademarks of ARM Limited in the EU and other countries.

All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

# # #

Editorial Contact:
Linda Marchant, Cayenne Communication LLC, 919-451-0776 or linda.marchant@cayennecom.com

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.

What:
Exhibiting: The Triad Mocha™ family of ARM Powered® VCAs, which combine the ARM® Cortex™-M0 processor with Triad’s silicon-proven analog, digital and memory building blocks on an array that can be configured by changing a single via layer. The Mocha family reduces system costs and time to market by as much as 75% while also significantly reducing risk and support for any production volume for applications that require 32-bit performance in an 8/16-bit footprint with ultra-low power consumption.

Presenting: “Via-configurable, Mixed-signal Embedded ASICs Using the ARM Cortex-M0 Microcontroller,” which will introduce ARM-powered mixed-signal VCA ASIC technology as a means for resolving many issues confronting analog/ mixed-signal designers, including hardware and software development time and tooling costs. Triad’s VCA mixed-signal ASICs are programmed with a single layer. A new VCA architecture with an embedded Cortex-M0 will be discussed in detail along with a mixed-signal design example.

Who:
Jim Kemerling, Chief Technology Officer, Triad Semiconductor

When:
The presentation will take place on Wednesday, November 4^th, beginning at 3:20pm Pacific. Exhibition hours are 3:00pm – 8:00pm on November 4^th.

Where:
The Radisson Hotel, Newport Beach, California

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 www.triadsemi.com or call (336) 774-2150.

Mocha and Mocha-1 are trademarks of Triad Semiconductor, Inc.
All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

# # #

Editorial Contact:
Linda Marchant, Cayenne Communication LLC, 919-451-0776 or linda.marchant@cayennecom.com

The system consists of the Z-Focus BLE-Z™ single-mode BLE stack running on Triad’s ARM® Cortex™-M0 based Mocha™ development system with the BLE wireless connection enabled by EM Microelectronics’ EM9301 BLE radio. Triad’s Mocha™ family of via-configurable arrays (VCAs) combines ultra-low power Cortex™-M0 32-bit processor performance with Triad’s silicon-proven VCA technology for rapid mixed-signal system-on-chip (SoC) design.  The flexible FPGA-based Mocha development system allows customers and partners, as demonstrated by Z-Focus, to quickly port software and develop mixed-signal prototypes of Mocha SoC solutions.

“Markets have shown a need for wireless devices that use minuscule amounts of power, such as that available from a coin-cell battery, while still being able to communicate with prevalent Bluetooth devices,” commented Mikhail Galeev, president of Z-Focus, “We believe Bluetooth Low Energy is the only solution. The Z-Focus BLE-Z stack, complemented by the extreme low power of the new Mocha-family of SoCs containing ARM’s Cortex-M0 core, will enable Bluetooth connectivity in even the most power-constrained systems. Working together, Triad, Z-Focus and EM Microelectronics were able to get real-time BLE data transfer working on Triad’s Mocha architecture in record time.”

BLE is an emerging wireless standard that will be used in ultra low power medical, fitness and consumer devices. Although the BLE v0.9 used here is a prototyping specification, BLE will be present in a billion cell phones within a few years, enabling hundreds of millions of wireless devices such as blood pressure monitors, glucose monitors, heart monitors, and fitness loggers to wirelessly provide vital data to health care workers, patients, athletes and fitness devotees.

“This is exactly the sort of mixed-signal ultra low-power application that our Mocha technology was designed to enable,” said Jim Kemerling, CTO of Triad Semiconductor. “Combining Mocha with EM’s EM9031RF chip and Z-Focus’ BLE-Z single-mode BLE stack and the silicon-proven via-configurable analog and digital technology of the Mocha family provides the fastest, safest and most cost-effective way to design, prototype and produce advanced, power-efficient mixed-signal ASICs.”

Triad and Z-Focus will be demonstrating in Booth 815 At ARM TechCon3. Reid Wender, Triad’s vice president of marketing and technical sales, will also present on using Mocha mixed-signal configurability as a methodology to quickly develop products in rapidly changing markets such as BLE. The presentation – uW/Mhz is the Tip of the Iceberg in Energy Efficient SoC Design — will take place on Wednesday, October 21, at 10:00am in the Santa Clara Convention Center.

About Z-Focus
Z-Focus Technology Group, Inc. is a wireless software company that enables full end-to-end Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) solutions. Z-Focus products include a portable single-mode BLE software stack (BLE-Z™), BLE application profiles and mobile phone applications. The BLE-Z™ software stack is built on a flexible abstraction layer allowing it to be easily ported to multiple microprocessor cores architectures. For more information please contact sales@z-focus.com or visit our website at www.z-focus.com.

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 rapid access to high volume production minimal cost. For more information, please visit www.triadsemi.com or call (336) 774-2150.

Mocha is a trademark of Triad Semiconductor, Inc.
All other product or service names are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

# # #

Editorial Contact:
Linda Marchant, Cayenne Communication LLC, 919-451-0776 or linda.marchant@cayennecom.com