LONDON – Mobile phone and tablet computers are now so densely packed with chips that they can interfere with each other, in particular with touch-screen sensing ICs giving rise to false moves and taps, according to analog and mixed-signal chip and foundry vendor MagnaChip Semiconductor Corp. (Seoul, South Korea). The company has responded to the problem by offering a high-voltage option for its 0.18-micron embedded EEPROM technology.
The process module has been developed to work at 20-volts with high-voltage capacitors and 20-V transistors to improve the signal-to-noise ration and noise immunity.
In particular the trend in smartphones, tablet computers towards thinner designs has resulted in a closer proximity of components and power management circuits and this has caused an increased susceptibility to both internal and external electronic noise, MagnaChip said.
The use of 20-V transistors and capacitors has been introduced without compromising memory and logic performance characteristics, MagnaChip added. MagnaChip said it is also preparing a 30-V EEPROM process suitable for mobile applications with larger screens. The 30-V EEPROM is due to be available in 2013.
This is the third blog in the series about the ways that test instrumentation can be integrated onto an IC -- and the advantages that accrue from doing so.
We like to have comprehensive engineering solutions to design problems, but reality is that the line between improvisation and best practices is often fuzzy.
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