Atmel Announces SiliconCity(TM) Flexible Architecture for Low-Cost Custom Defined SoC Development

San Jose, California (ots/PRNewswire) -

- SiliconCity Flexible Architecture offers the density of
cell-based ASICs, with fast and flexible derivative design flow

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today a new custom
architecture for 90nm SiliconCity ASIC development, providing up to
350K gates/mm2, offering customers gate densities in the range of a
standard cell ASIC. SiliconCity Flexible Architecture allows
designers to create their own unique base wafer architecture for
multiple product variations while generously reducing customer design
time, lowering the NRE and reducing risk through design reuse.

ASIC development based on the architecture allows for lower mask
fees and faster time to market. "Consider the fabless semiconductor
company that has multiple products defined, all with slightly
different features," said Jay Johnson, Marketing Director for Atmel's
NA ASIC Business. "Creating a new ASIC for each one is too costly and
time consuming. The old trick of multiple products on the same die
with different bond options has run out of gas. That's the real value
of SiliconCity Flexible Architecture."

The architecture relies on the breadth of Atmel's standard
microcontroller solutions, to create SoCs including the reusability
and proven IP that Atmel offers through its AVR(R) and AT91SAM
standard products.

Metal Programmable Cell Fabric at the heart of the technology.
MPCF is Atmel's patented ASIC technology that makes the CAP(TM)
(customizable microcontroller) family of products, and SiliconCity
Flexible Architecture, possible. In the case of CAP, Atmel defines
the platform with ARM cores and bus subsystems, peripherals and
memories. SiliconCity Flexible Architecture leaves the definition of
the platform up to the user. By predefining the common embedded core
and bus, memory and peripheral mix, the customer has the ability to
implement unique IP for multiple products. The architecture gives the
customer complete control, while MPCF gives it the flexibility.

MPCF offers a smaller core cell with better routing. The key to
the MPCF technology is a 6 transistor core cell that is less than 3.2
square microns. In the 90 nm process, a SiliconCity Flexible
Architecture ASIC yields between 300,000 and 350,000 gates per square
millimeter. A novel routing scheme provides two layers of metal for
interconnect, increasing gate utilization up to 90%. The combination
of the higher gate density and better routability of MPCF-based SoC
results in die sizes that are about half those of previous 130 nm
generations.

Routing & Transistor Geometry Alignment. With MPCF, the cell size
is matched perfectly to the integer multiple of the routing grid and
transistor pitch, which results in no wasted silicon. In addition,
contacts and vias are also the same size as metal trace, which
eliminates any potential overlap and provides the most effective
vertical use of silicon in the design. These aspects of MPCF make
targeting the exact gate size required for the design much easier and
more cost effective than the typical sea-of-gates architecture common
with gate arrays and some early structured ASIC products.

In addition, MPCF metal-programmable cells and standard cells can
be placed in separate regions on the die or freely mixed without any
die size penalty. Therefore the fixed platform part of the design can
be implemented in standard cell technology, while the flexible
portion of the die with MPCF for quick derivative spins.

Easy Migration from Existing Processor-plus-FPGA Designs. Many
existing designs based on an industry standard microcontroller and an
FPGA may be directly migrated to a SiliconCity Flexible ASIC in as
little as 20 weeks from final gate-level netlist with minimal
re-engineering and low initial NRE mask charges. Future iterations of
designs can be implemented in just 8-12 weeks with even lower single
metal mask NRE charges.

Availability

Products based on the 90nm SiliconCity Flexible Architecture are
available now. It is also available in 130nm.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory
and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's
broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is
able to provide the electronics industry with complete system
solutions focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications,
computing and automotive markets.

(c) 2009 Atmel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Atmel(R), Atmel
logo and combinations thereof, AVR(R) and others, are registered
trademarks, SiliconCity(TM), CAP(TM) and others are trademarks of
Atmel Corporation or its subsidiaries. Other terms and product names
may be trademarks of others.

Information:

Atmel's SiliconCity Flexible Architecture information may be
retrieved at:
http://www.atmel.com/products/asic/architecture.asp?family_id=615

Press Contacts:
Barbara Bailey, Marketing Communications Manager
Tel: +1-719-540-1895, Email: barbara.bailey@atmel.com
Clive Over, Director Public Relations
Tel: +1-408-436-4305, Email: clive.over@atmel.com

ots Originaltext: Atmel Corporation
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Barbara Bailey, Marketing Communications Manager, +1-719-540-1895,
barbara.bailey@atmel.com, or Clive Over, Director Public Relations,
+1-408-436-4305, clive.over@atmel.com, both of Atmel Corporation