Triad Semiconductor » FPGA

Triad Semiconductor Announces 1-Million Gate Plus Analog Configurable Array

Webmaster — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 07:00:53 +0000

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – July 25, 2011 – Triad Semiconductor Inc., the industry’s leading supplier of configurable mixed-signal ASICs, today announced the availability of its largest configurable array to date – VCA-6. The VCA-6 combines precision, high performance analog resources (more than 100 op-amps) with over a million ASIC gates on a single configurable device allowing designers to sweep up an entire board of components into a single ASIC. The VCA-6 is fabricated on IBM’s 0.18-micron 7RF process optimized for mixed signal performance and digital integration. With onshore fabrication and a complete ITAR design and supply chain, Triad and the VCA-6 are an excellent choice for defense applications seeking a cost effective way to secure design IP and manage long-term supply requirements. Applications benefiting from integration onto a VCA-6 include: software defined radio, sonar, smart sensor fusion, FPGA plus analog replacement, UAV controllers and designs needing obsolescence or end of life (EOL) replacement solutions.

“Size, weight and Power, or SWaP, are mission critical concerns for designers in the military, aerospace, industrial and portable medical markets.” said Reid Wender, vice president of marketing at Triad Semiconductor. “The VCA-6 enables designers to replace power-hungry FPGAs and an entire board full of discrete analog parts with a lower power, single chip solution.” The VCA-6 is based on Triad’s silicon-proven via-configurable array (VCA) technology, which allows designers to quickly and inexpensively customize analog, and digital features with lower power consumption and greater system cost savings than previous ASIC solutions.

Technical Highlights
The VCA-6 contains 320 configurable logic tiles. Each tile contains 3,150 NAND2 equivalent ASIC gates providing the array with a total of 1,008,000 ASIC gates. Unlike FPGAs, VCA-6 logic gates are not “equivalent system gates” but actual standard-cell gate primitives providing the size, performance, and power profile typical of a standard-cell digital ASIC implementation. Each logic tile also contains a 4,608-bit 2-port static RAM organized as 128 words by 36-bits. The array also contains a total of 160 Kbytes of via configurable non-volatile read-only memory (ROM) arranged as 160 1K x 8 ROMs. The distributed RAM and ROM resources can be configured into larger composite memories using Triad’s ViaWare™ memory generator. The VCA-6 has over 100 op-amps with each op-amp surrounded by configurable collections of resistors, capacitors, transistors, and switches. The analog resources are arranged into single-ended analog tiles, fully differential analog tiles, resistive DAC tiles, bias tiles, and current steering DAC 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.

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.

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

Triad Semiconductor Announces First Mixed-signal ARM® Cortex™-M0 Processor with 16-bit ADC and 12-bit DAC

Webmaster — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 20:21:26 +0000

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – February 16, 2010 – Triad Semiconductor, Inc., the industry’s leading supplier of via-configurable mixed-signal ASICs, today announced another first: the first ARM® Cortex™-M0 processor combined with high-resolution, high-precision analog resources: 16-bit ADC and 12-bit DAC and uncommitted op-amps. Triad’s TSX1001, implemented on the Mocha-1™ via-configurable array, provides the performance and low-power 32-bit processing of the ARM Cortex-M0 processor combined with high-precision analog features. Mocha-1 is based on Triad’s silicon-proven via-configurable array (VCA) technology, which allows embedded system designers to customize processor, analog, and digital features with lower power consumption and greater system cost savings than last-generation ASIC solutions.

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.

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

Triad Semiconductor Announces Availability of World’s First Configurable ARM Cortex-M0 Mixed-signal ASIC Solution

Webmaster — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 10:30:03 +0000

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – January 12, 2010 – Triad Semiconductor Inc., the industry’s leading supplier of via-configurable mixed-signal ASICs, today announced the first system-on-chip (SoC) to integrate the world-class ARM® Cortex™-M0 with the via-configurable analog and digital functions needed to rapidly and inexpensively deliver embedded mixed-signal solutions. Triad’s Mocha-1™ array provides access to world-class ARM 32-bit processing performance combined with Triad’s silicon-proven via-configurable array (VCA) technology, allowing electronic system designers to customize analog and digital features with lower power consumption and greater system cost savings than last-generation ASIC solutions.

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.

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.

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