Oki Electric's Industry-First Technique Reduces ESD Protection Circuit Design Time by One-Third

Tokyo, Japan, July 6, 2005 -- Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. (TSE: 6703) today announced the development of a new electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection circuit design technique that reduces ESD protection circuit design time by one-third. This is the world's first ESD protection design methodology using the Mixed-Mode simulation (*1) offering both device and circuit simulation functions.

ESD property has declined alongside rapid improvements in device performance and ever-shrinking design scales. Attempts to resolve this degradation of ESD property have made it necessary to design a new protection device and protection circuit. However, the conventional approach whereby trial fabrication was repeated until a target ESD property was satisfied is too costly, both monetarily and in terms of time.

"We are excited to develop the world's first ESD protection circuit design methodology using the Mixed- Mode simulation," said said Hironori Kitabayashi, Group Operating Officer of Semiconductor Business Group at Oki Electric. " Applying this methodology means we can dramatically reduce development times for our high voltage LCD drivers. This will allow us to develop similar products with partially different process rapidly using Mixed-Mode simulation."

Oki succeeded in developing this new ESD protection design methodology using Mixed-Mode simulation, which calibrates physical model parameters to reproduce ESD parameters (*2) extracted as operating characteristics of internal and protection devices during an ESD event. Oki can now predict the current flow on the circuit network, something previously impossible. Engineers who previously devoted considerable time to designing protection circuits by hand can now design circuits automatically.

Because this technique can predict the effect on protection circuits of process changes, technicians can simultaneously develop process/device design and circuit/layout design. Furthermore, by accurately forecasting the risks of circuit performance arising in association with the process, this method can provide feedback for process/device design, reducing by one-third the overall development time required for protection circuits.

By using Sarnoff Europe's (*3) Take Charge technology simultaneously, which Oki has been introducing as an ESD protection for high-voltage devices, Oki's methodology has won high marks for achieving the ESD protection target (HBM2000V and MM200V) in a short period of time for high-voltage drivers for ESD protection circuits. The paper describing this technique won Best Paper at the RCJ EOS/ESD/EMC Symposium and received the ESD award at the EOS/ESD Symposium (*4) in the U.S., a symposium considered to be one of the highest level in the industry. Oki was also the guest speaker at this symposium.

[Glossary]

*1 Mixed-Mode simulation: This is a mixed simulation with both functions of device simulation that reflects the device structure, and circuit simulation that reflects the circuit connection. Analyzing the electric field distribution in devices enables predictions of the failure devices.
*2 ESD parameter: This is a parameter extracted as the breakdown voltage and destroy-current of each device when conducting an experiment using a test pattern with systematic variables such as gate length and width for each device used in the ESD protection network.
*3 Sarnoff Europe bvba: Established as a subsidiary of Sarnoff Corporation in 2000. Headquartered in Bruges Baan 188A, B-8470, Gistel, Belgium, the Executive Director is Koen Verhaege.
*4 EOS/ESD Symposium: The EOS/ESD Symposium is an international academic society hosted by the ESD Association, the most prestigious research organization for ESD in the area of electronic equipment and components. Oki's paper was selected as Japan's Best Paper in the 26th EOS/ESD symposium. www.esda.org.

[Reference] Diagram of ESD protection design technique using Mixed-Mode simulation

About Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1881, Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. is Japan's first telecommunications manufacturer, with its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. With the corporate vision, "Oki, Network Solutions for a Global Society," Oki provides top-quality products, technologies and solutions to its customers through its info-telecom system business, semiconductor business and printer business. All three businesses functions as a collective force to create exciting new products and technologies that satisfy a spectrum of customer needs in various markets. Visit Oki's global web site at http://www.oki.com/.

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