Monday, June 8, 2009

Sound Design intros novel technologies for microelectronics

BURLINGTON, USA: Sound Design Technologies (SDT), a leading designer and manufacturer of ultra-miniature packaging solutions and low power DSP products has introduced novel manufacturing technologies to the global microelectronics market.

Previously developed for, and directed exclusively to the Hearing Instrument industry these technologies now offer all electronic product developers new and innovative means for extreme miniaturization.

These technologies are being unveiled to one of the primary user groups at SENSORS EXPO & Conference this week in Rosemont, Illinois.

3D chip stacking: It is is an emerging technology, which has rapidly gained the attention of the large semiconductor players, however the stacking is largely completed at the wafer level, and to date is generally limited to stacking identical die (homogeneous system).

The process is accomplished by bonding full wafers together, requiring huge capital-intensive facilities, a barrier to entry to all but the largest companies. SDT's ability to stack and interconnect a variety of dissimilar die (heterogeneous system) offers access to next-generation 3D packaging technology to small and medium-sized players in the microelectronics industry without requiring such huge investments.

BST technology: It is an emerging "integrated passives" technique, which integrates high performance capacitors into a single, thin silicon die which can be placed on top of active silicon or embedded inside a PCB.

Not only does this provide a significant reduction in the space consumed by the electronics but it allows designers to place capacitors and other components more closely to where they are required in-circuit, reducing interconnect distances, reducing power consumption and enabling higher speed performance.

Low power DSP: Designed to work from a single watch cell SDT's family of DSP products boast the lowest power consumption DSP in the world. The WOLVERINE (SA340x) is a full SoC programmable multi-processor DSP platform maximizing MIPS/µW with a unique reconfigurable architecture, integrated high-resolution dual ADCs, DAC, 20-bit data path with high programmable flexibility and an ultra miniature foot print.

Wolverine is an ideal platform for data processing applications in sensors, wireless motes, portable audio devices, noise cancellation, medical monitoring, biometrics etc.

Ian Roane, CEO of SDT said: "With a solid advanced technology base developed from many years' success in the Hearing Instrument we are excited to be moving into much broader and larger markets. We expect a lot of interest from companies wishing to exploit novel means to miniaturize their products, without having to pay the high cost of entry normally associated with such advanced technologies. The sensor industry is a prime target which will benefit from all the capabilities we have to offer."

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