Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM), which trades as TowerJazz, today announced that it and Italian fabless company RedCat Devices, which specializes in the development of radiation hard (rad-hard) components for civilian and special applications, had achieved a breakthrough in the design and fabrication of radiation hard integrated circuits.
According to TowerJazz, the new technology opens multibillion dollar markets which require specific components able to withstand high dose radiation. Rad-hard devices are used in electronics communication, observation and navigation systems, as well as in new applications, such as production of medical devices sterilized with high doses of gamma radiation and further tracking of these devices.
"We are impressed by the design demonstrated by RedCat, which in combination with TowerJazz's CMOS technology allowed us to achieve outstanding SRAM performance. By making rad-hard technology available in TowerJazz's commercial foundry, it allows us to not only target the traditional aerospace applications, but also the growing multi-billion dollar markets of food processing, medical device sterilization, and environmental cleanup technologies," said Tower VP and general manager of specialty business unit Dr. Avi Strum,.
As part of the radiation hard components development program, Tower and Redcat announced for first time the results of tests of RedCat's 512 kbit SRAM, which was designed by RedCat with the support of TowerJazz's Design Center in Netanya and fabricated in TowerJazz's Fab 2 in Migdal Ha'Emek, utilizing its commercial 0.18-micron CMOS technology.
Tower and RedCat carried out experiments on the new processors at the X-ray facility in Legnaro (Padova), Italy. No errors were observed for absorbed doses of above 15 Mrad (Si). All of the functional tests after irradiation passed without any failure. Radiation immunity of the demonstrated level was previously reported only for digital ICs fabricated in dedicated foundries specialized in rad-hard technologies. Therefore, TowerJazz claims that this new design allows for radiation immunity on analog ICs fabricated using its CMOS process.
Last week, Tower announced that its 0.18-micron integrated circuit process had obtained Automotive Electronics Council AEC-Q100 standard enabling the company and its Korean partner in this project to target the semiconductor market, which is projected to grow $46.9 billion in 2015. Tower also announced that it was manufacturing a new X-ray high-resolution wafer-scale digital image sensor developed by the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council’s (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory for medical imaging applications, using advanced analog tools provided by Tanner EDA. Market sources estimate that Tower could earn millions of dollars a year from the new sensors, beginning in a few years.
Tower's share price rose 3.8% by midday today to NIS 2.94, after rising 1.4% on Nasdaq on Friday to $0.73, giving a market cap of $232 million.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 25, 2012
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