HONG KONG — Hua Hong Semiconductor Limited (“Hua Hong Semiconductor” or the “Company”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”; stock code: 1347.HK), a global leading pure-play 200mm foundry, and Shanghai SinoMCU Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (“SinoMCU”, stock code: 430276) jointly announced today the successful verification and volume production readiness of the first MCU (Microcontroller Unit) based on the 95nm OTP (One-Time Programming) process platform.
To address the increasingly demanding low-power requirements by the strong IoT (Internet of Things) momentum, Hua Hong Semiconductor introduced the low-power 95nm CE 5V OTP MCU process platform, one of the optimum foundry solutions developed especially for IoT MCU applications. As a major element of its IoT strategy, the platform has further expanded the Company’s embedded memory process portfolio, and underpins its future momentum in the fields of smart home and IoT.
Hua Hong Semiconductor’s 95nm CE 5V OTP MCU process platform has extremely low static power (Ioff, 0.5pA/um), and has significantly reduced the size of the OTP cells and IPs through process and IP optimization – the area of the 95nm IP has been shrunk by nearly 50% compared to that of the 0.18um OTP process. With higher logic gate density (60% higher than the 0.18um OTP process) and smaller SRAM bit cell (30% smaller than the 0.18um OTP process), the new process significantly reduced die size of the chips, and is highly competitive in cost.
A leading MCU design house in China, SinoMCU has been vigorously developing new products, while Hua Hong Semiconductor continues to upgrade its processes. It reports the first case of new product verification on Hua Hong Semiconductor’s new OTP process platform.
The embedded OTP memory is an optimized IP designed by Hua Hong Semiconductor on the basis of eMemory’s OTP cell and its own expertise in the embedded non-volatile memory (eNVM) platform. The new product announced today is the smallest 8-bit MCU in the market, its area is only two-thirds of similar products on the market with the same number of general logic layers. It delivers significantly improved performance, as evidenced by the greatly reduced OTP programming non-conformance and time. With higher interference immunity, the product delivers exceptional price-performance, and is applicable in household appliances and industrial controls.
“It is our pleasure to work with SinoMCU to introduce a quality MCU with high performance-price. The successful development of the first MCU based on the 95nm CE 5V OTP MCU process platform is very exciting for us, and once again proves Hua Hong Semiconductor’s expertise in the field of MCU,” said Dr. Kong Weiran, Executive Vice President of Hua Hong Semiconductor. “As an excellent provider of eNVM foundry solutions, our company keeps on introducing new innovations on the 95nm node, such as achieving volume production on the embedded EEPROM and Flash platforms, and accelerating R&D on the cost-effective MTP (Multiple-Time Programming) process. We will work closely with customers and partners to continuously sharpen our competitiveness, and to serve the MCU market more extensively.”
“SinoMCU, a Chinese MCU design house that sets foot in its local market and vigorously integrates itself into the local value chain, leverages manufacturing processes that better caters to product requirements to introduce MCU products with obvious performance-price benefits. This has allowed us to gain a higher share in the Chinese MCU market,” said Mr. Bao Xuhe, Vice President of Technology at SinoMCU. “Investing heavily in the R&D of process platforms suitable for a full range of MCU products, such as OTP, MTP, Flash and EEPROM, Hua Hong Semiconductor delivers leading manufacturing processes in the industry, and great competitiveness in terms of cost optimization, performance improvement and one-stop service. By establishing and maintaining strategic partnership with Hua Hong Semiconductor on new processes and products, and continuously investing in innovation to materialize the process benefits, we provide customers with MCU products that deliver stable performance, reliable quality and high price-performance, catering to customers’ needs.”