Sep 07, 2016
TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) and Renesas Electronics have announced their alliance on 28nm embedded flash process technology for MCUs targeted at autonomous vehicles.
Samples of the automotive MCUs adopting the 28nm process will ship next year, and mass production will start in 2020, the companies said in a press statement.
The companies first partnered in MCUs with on-chip flash memory at the 90nm node. Four years after developing 40nm MCUs, the partners are extending their work to develop 28nm MCUs that make electric-powered and robotic vehicles more efficient and reliable.
The market for autonomous cars is forecast to be worth as much as $42 billion by 2025, according to the Boston Consulting Group. Robotic cars, adopting technology available in existing luxury vehicles, will be able to navigate city streets by 2022 and may account for a quarter of global auto sales by 2035, according to BCG. The early adopters are likely to be Japan and Western Europe, the firm said.
“The auto industry is currently undergoing a major transformation, with next-generation green vehicles and autonomous-driving vehicles on the horizon,” said Ryuji Omura, executive vice president, Renesas Electronics Corporation. “Innovative semiconductor technology is essential to accelerate the development of next-generation automobiles. We are committed to building an MCU ecosystem and to continuing to act as a leader in propelling the MCU industry forward.”
MONOS eFlash
Renesas will combine its Metal-Oxide-Nitride-Oxide-Silicon (MONOS) eFlash technology with TSMC’s high-performance, low-power 28nm high-K metal gate process to make MCUs for applications such as autonomous vehicle sensor control, coordination of electronic control units (ECUs), fuel-efficient engine management and motor inverter control for electric vehicles.
Renesas and TSMC expect next-generation MCUs to fulfill the safety requirements of autonomous cars through high-precision sensing using 3D radar to monitor an environment surrounding a vehicle and integration of data from multiple sensors as well as real-time processing.
ECUs capable of autonomous-driving functions require control MCUs for fast processing of complex control tasks, overall system power efficiency and functional safety. To meet emission regulations, fuel-efficient engines for next-generation green vehicles will need powerful computing performance to implement new combustion systems as well as robust and large-capacity on-chip flash memory to accommodate larger firmware programs.
A growing need for longer cruising range in electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHVs) has boosted demand for MCUs with improved computing performance and functionality for more efficient and compact motor inverters. Demand is growing for large-capacity flash memory providing fine-grained support for environmental regulations and standards of various countries as well as over-the-air (OTA) wireless updating of control programs. Embedded flash memory will also need to meet performance and safety requirements in MCUs to implement next-generation control technology in industrial standards such as Industry 4.0.
The companies expect the 28nm eFlash process to help develop MCUs that more than quadruple program memory capacity and deliver greater than four-fold performance improvement compared to the current 40nm technology. Other enhancements on the new MCUs include the use of multiple CPU cores, more advanced security and support for multiple interface standards.
“By leveraging TSMC’s 28nm high-performance, energy-efficient technology, we believe we can showcase how best we optimize one of our advanced technologies to meet demand and innovation for the next generation of automotive devices and deliver a highly competitive performance/cost advantage,” said TSMC vice president of business development BJ Woo.
The 28nm node, which has been a cash cow for TSMC since the second half of 2012, accounted for 28 percent of the company’s overall sales revenue during the second quarter this year. TSMC has said it aims to keep its dominant share of the 28nm business by extending the process into new versions such as low power consumption.
Source: EETimes