CAMAS, Wash. -- Sharp Corp.'s U.S. semiconductor division today (April 9) announced it will use silicon foundry prototyping services at Taiwan's United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) to quickly produce new 0.18-micron microcontrollers and system-on-chip designs.
Sharp said it will employ UMC's multi-project wafer services, called Silicon Shuttle, to make prototypes of new 8-, 16- and 32-bit MCUs, as well as new applications-specific SoC designs. Sharp Microelectronics' new U.S. design center in Camas is taking on responsibilities for design of microcontrollers and system-on-chip designs.
The decision to operate a design center in North America is a departure for Sharp, which until now has designed all of its products in Japan.
As part of the design responsibility, the Camas operation has been given the authority to select its own manufacturing source. The center selected UMC's Silicon Shuttle program--which packs multiple IC designs on a single wafer to share costs--to speed prototyping and "do silicon 'respins' quickly and efficiently when required," explained Terry Thomas, director of marketing for microcontroller and system-on-chip at the Camas operation.
The new Sharp design operation said it was creating a new class of 16- and 32-bit microcontrollers and SoC integrated circuits that will be used in next-generation PDAs, Internet appliances, smart phones and home automation. These ICs will be based on UMC's 0.18-micron process, and the multi-wafer project Silicon Shuttle will enable the operation to speed products to the market, according to company officials.
