CONGLETON, England — (BUSINESS WIRE) — May 14, 2012 — eoSemi and Mentor Graphics (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced that the Pyxis™ Custom Design environment, Eldo® simulator and Calibre® tools have been used in the design and verification of eoSemi’s recently-announced ATOC™ (Accurate Timing Oscillator Circuit) silicon oscillator products.
ATOC (Accurate Timing Oscillator Circuit) oscillators are all-CMOS silicon replacements for quartz crystals. By saving space, increasing reliability and reducing costs, they allow designers to build consumer electronic products that are more compact, offer more features and deliver superior battery life. In addition, because they are manufactured with standard semiconductor processing technologies, they can in the future be integrated quickly and easily within a larger device or a printed circuit substrate.
“Mentor has supported us from the outset via its Terms for Start-Ups program and its involvement with the European Microelectronics Academy,” said Adrian Bratt, eoSemi’s vice president of engineering. “Access to world-class design tools is vital for a business taking its first steps, particularly in a specialist area such as analog and mixed-signal design. Our relationship with Mentor has been instrumental in bringing the first wave of ATOC products from engineering to productization.”
eoSemi used the Pyxis Custom Design environment, the Eldo SPICE accurate circuit simulator and the Calibre LVS/DRC (layout versus schematic and design rule checking) tools in the design of its first ATOC products, which are currently sampling to qualified customers. The company delivered ATOC significantly ahead of plan, and industry analysts have commented on the speed with which the eoSemi team has developed its products.
“Engineering an all-silicon oscillator is one of the big challenges for mixed-signal designers in standard CMOS,” said Robert Hum, vice president and general manager of the Deep Submicron Design at Mentor Graphics. “In fact, semiconductor and system houses have wrestled with the problem for years, without success. We’re proud that eoSemi has been able to use the flexibility of the Pyxis Custom Design environment, the speed and accuracy of the Eldo simulator—coupled with fast, hierarchical verification via Calibre—to finally solve such a tough problem.”
ATOC includes proprietary techniques to sense and compensate for the effects of temperature and physical stress within the device. The oscillator’s output frequency can be tuned both instantaneously in real-time, and over the lifetime of the device. The first ATOC product is aimed at the $800M market for 32kHz timing references in consumer products. It draws just 8µA of supply current in active mode, and delivers accuracy down to ±30ppm with an operating temperature range of -40 to +85°C.
About eoSemi
eoSemi is a world leader in the design and development of all-silicon replacements for quartz crystals. eoSemi’s technology is a unique, defendable innovation that uses standard CMOS processes to reduce the physical size and overall system cost of electronic devices. The company is now poised to revolutionise this market by becoming the leading provider of miniature, silicon-only references and derivative products in a wide variety of applications. eoSemi was founded in 2005 by four experienced semiconductor professionals and is supported by leading equity investment partners. More information can be found at http://www.eosemi.com.
About EMAnetworks
EMAnetworks is helping large enterprises into uncontested, breakthrough markets where the barriers are underpinned by microelectronics. Its leadership team has previously created $20 billion of new shareholder value by incorporating and leading new companies that are now listed on NASDAQ, NYSE and the LSE. www.emanetworks.com
About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronic, semiconductor and systems companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues in the last fiscal year of about $1,015 million. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.
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