CEA-Leti adds partners to FD-SOI low-power design centre
French advanced research institute CEA-Leti has signed up seven partners for its Silicon Impulse FD-SOI development program. An eighth partner is in talks to join the program.
The partners are Mentor Graphics, STMicroelectronics, Dolphin Integration, CMP, Cortus, Presto Engineering and CEA-List. Synopsys is in discussions to join the program, bringing its portfolio of FD-SOI ready DesignWare IP and EDA tools.
CEA-Leti says it will also use its R&D licence from ARM to demonstrate various energy-efficient processor implementations in FD-SOI for its IoT development platform.
Silicon Impulse is an IC technology platform that offers IC design, IP, emulator and test services along with industrial multi-project wafer (MPW) shuttles.
The design platform is focused on low-power design, for applications such as energy-efficient computing systems, ultra-low power IoT devices, and robust and reliable applications in harsh environments.
The aim of the program is to speed up the design of FD-SOI ICs, and ease their industrialization by offering access to process technology and manufacturing facilities.
STMicroelectronics will provide production capacity, with the first 28nm FD-SOI MPW run scheduled for February 2016 at its Crolles facility. The MPW runs will enable designers to try out their digital IP, mixed-signal, analog or RF technologies on the process, and give small companies an affordable way to build prototypes and small production runs.
“Silicon Impulse will leverage the existing ecosystem to bring the full value chain from research, design solutions and industrialization services to high value-added products,” said Marie-Noëlle Semeria, CEO of Leti. “This combination will concentrate through a single entry point all the necessary expertise and competencies to provide innovative companies from any sector with a one-stop- shop opportunity to build leading-edge, energy-efficient systems.”