Alliances
Douglas Pattullo, Design Support manager for austriamicrosystems North America, says: "The FSA PDK Checklist allows a quick comparison between different releases of our HIT-Kit. It also provides an easy mechanism for customers to benchmark and realise the superiority of our HIT-Kit against PDKs from other foundries."
The checklist, developed by the FSA's Mixed-Signal/RF Foundry Committee, is delivered with each release version of a mixed-signal/RF PDK developed or co-developed by foundries, EDA tool vendors or design service companies. It showcases best practices in the semiconductor industry and serves as the ingredients list and "nutrition facts panel" for a design kit describing simulation models, technology files, design rule files and parameterised cell generators used to design complex mixed-signal and RF ICs. The FSA Mixed-Signal/RF PDK Checklist and instructions can be downloaded free of charge from the FSA web site.
http://www.fsa.org/committees/foundry
Renesas Technology has joined the Automotive Open System Architecture (AUTOSAR) industry partnership. AUTOSAR plans to establish standards for software interfaces and software modules for automobile electronic control systems. Renesas is the first Asian semiconductor manufacturer to join AUTOSAR as a premium member.
Electronic systems are used for engine, body and safety control, along with information systems. Software standardisation is seen as a means to improve the efficiency of the development process, and thereby to enable even more extensive use of electronic systems in future. Such standardisation would allow previously developed software to be used in new products using microcomputers and microprocessors from different manufacturers. Infineon recently joined AUTOSAR also as a premier member (Bulletin 541, July 9, 2004).
Air Products will exclusively offer Akzo Nobel Polymer Chemicals' high-purity trimethylaluminum (TMAl) to semiconductor customers in North America, Europe and Asia. TMAl is used as a precursor for aluminium oxide deposition - a high-k dielectric film used in advanced memory and logic devices. Akzo Nobel will continue to manufacture the TMAl from its Houston, Texas facility. With the exception of Japan, TMAl will be globally offered as part of Air Products' Schumacher brand product lines.
