Cypress licenses 55nm embedded NVM IP to UMC

Cypress Semiconductor Corp., a provider of embedded nonvolatile memory solutions, and United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), a global semiconductor foundry, have revealed that UMC licensed Cypress's silicon oxide nitride oxide silicon (SONOS) embedded Flash memory IP for the 55nm process technology node. Cypress SONOS claim to deliver an easy-to-integrate nonvolatile memory cell with unmatched scalability for future development.

Cypress's 55nm SONOS embedded nonvolatile memory (NVM) process provides significant advantages over other embedded NVM offerings. SONOS requires fewer additional mask layers to insert it into a standard CMOS process, specifically, three to four additional masks compared with the eleven to twelve additional masks generally needed for other embedded Flash technologies. SONOS does not alter standard device characteristics or models when added to baseline CMOS process, preserving existing design IP. SONOS delivers intrinsically high yields and reliability, 10 years of data retention, 100,000 program/erase endurance cycles, and robust resistance to soft errors. UMC qualified Cypress's S65 65nm SONOS process technology back in 2013. Cypress and UMC have demonstrated the ability to scale SONOS to smaller nodes, expediting future IP development.

"With support from our semiconductor IP ecosystem partners, UMC plans to establish more value-added technology platforms to serve future low power, highly integrated IC designs, such as IoT and wearables," said S.C. Chien, VP of Specialty Technology Development at UMC. "We are pleased to collaborate with Cypress to bring our customers the benefits of 55nm SONOS, which include robust performance at favourable cost and proven high yields. Based on UMC's previous success for specialty processes such as RF, BCD, HV, CIS and eFlash technologies, we plan to leverage Cypress's easily integrated nonvolatile memory IP at 55nm to fulfill different application requirements for nonvolatile memory IP specifications."

"Cypress is committed to working with industry leaders such as UMC to enable the adoption of our SONOS IP as the embedded nonvolatile memory of choice," said Sam Geha, VP of the technology and intellectual property business unit at Cypress. "The 55nm SONOS process is ready at the right time to meet strong market demand from UMC's broad range of customers. Many new products that address rapidly growing markets, including smart cards, bank cards, wearables and the Internet of Things, can benefit from the low cost, high performance and reliability of SONOS."