28nm IP leadership extended with latest UMC 28HPC POPs

The comprehensive platform includes standard cell libraries and memory compilers and POP technology for the ARM Cortex-A53 processor, one of the industry’s most widely-adopted 64-bit cores, and ARM Cortex-A7, the highly energy-efficient core which has powered more than a billion smartphones.

“The 28nm process node technology continues to be viewed as the right solution for an increasing number of power-constrained applications,” said Will Abbey, general manager, physical design group, ARM. “Together, UMC and ARM are delivering a comprehensive 28nm platform including POP IP for two of the most successful ARM processor cores. This will enable optimised SoC implementations to keep pace with innovations in mobile, IoT and embedded markets.”

The wide adoption of ARM foundation 28nm IP delivers consistent logic architecture across all leading foundries and enables greater flexibility for multi-sourcing. The benefits enable current and new SoC designs on 28nm to quickly meet the needs of billions of connected devices. By utilising POP IP at UMC 28HPC^U, UMC customers will be able to respond faster as market demands change and new opportunities emerge.

UMC is capitalising on the long-node characteristics of 28nm as an increasing number of applications take advantage of its favorable cost and performance benefits. UMC 28HPC^U is the foundry’s second-generation High-K/Metal Gate (HKMG) 28nm process, which exhibits power and performance improvements relative to UMC’s volume production 28HPM technology. Using tighter process control and SPICE models, UMC 28HPC^U reduces power consumption and area at any given performance threshold.

“As one of the world’s only foundries capable of 28nm gate-last HKMG production, UMC is well-positioned to capitalise on our 28nm experience to bring 28HPC^U into high volume manufacturing,” said S.C. Chien, Vice President, corporate marketing, UMC. “Multiple customers from a variety of applications have engaged with UMC to design their products on 28HPC^U. Our collaboration with long-time partner ARM enables UMC to offer a comprehensive design platform with POP IP for two of the most efficient ARM processor cores.”