onsemi unveils the Treo Platform at electronica 2024

To learn more about this new platform, Electronic Specifier’s Harry Fowle spoke with Koel Appeltans, Director of Process and Platform Architecture at onsemi, about all the highlights.

Meet the Treo Platform

At its core, the Treo Platform is built on a Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process technology that operates on a 65nm node. This supports a wide voltage range of 1-90V as well as operating temperatures of up to 175°C. Thanks to this impressive temperature tolerance, “things can become even smaller whilst maintaining the same performance,” describes Appeltans, which massively improves integration.

The Treo Platform features a modular architecture, similar to those seen on SoCs, as well as constantly evolving IP building blocks that contribute to compute, power management, sensing, and communication subsystems. This development is something that Appeltans describes as: “a change in design methodology for onsemi.”

Owing to the 65nm process node it is built upon, Treo is able to deliver local intelligence and compute for what onsemi describe as ‘flexible configuration,’ as well as improved performance and accuracy. As Appeltans puts it: “A 65nm node, which competes strongly with the 110-130nm you typically find elsewhere, allows us to serve many different applications across various industries from one solution.

“Not just this, but with improved digital performance comes longevity.” This is thanks to the components becoming much more adaptable as time goes on.

Why Treo matters

The goal of this new platform is to allow customers to massively simplify their design processes whilst simultaneously reducing system cost and allowing for a faster to-to-market for their solutions.

Primarily, the applications of these solutions will target the automotive, medical, industrial, and AI data centre markets specifically. By utilising the single, scalable solution the Treo Platform provides, customers will be able to accelerate existing product development opportunities and hit emerging markets effectively and efficiently.

Within automotive, onsemi sees its technology being utilised to create high-performance ultrasonic sensors that improve on previous generations by a factor of two. This results in vehicles that are able to detect objects at closer distances in low-risk park-assist scenarios as well as higher-risk collision avoidance.

Within medical, areas such as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), which requires ultra-low-power analog front ends (AFEs), can accurately measure very small electrical currents down to the nanoampere (nA). “The Treo Platform approach allows us to make lower power devices whilst not sacrificing accuracy within medical applications,” says Appeltans. “Additionally, it opens up far more versatility in design, meaning specific needs can be met. We have been able to observe a PPA (power, performance, accuracy) improvement equivalent to a factor of five.”

Within AI data centres, the biggest impact is being seen within power converters. As Appeltans describes, “Here, we are able to put much more intelligence per controller.” This is benefit for a multitude of reasons, but in particular, a lowered footprint is big news. This lowered form factor, in conjunction with the aforementioned higher temperature tolerance means that less cooling is required, energy savings can be made, operational costs can come down, and a more sustainable approach is utilised.

Treo is already making an impact

The Treo Platform is already making its first product debuts within the market with initial product families built on the Treo Platform sampling today. This range of initial products include voltage translators, ultra-low-power AFEs, LDOs, ultrasonic sensors, multi-phase controllers, and single-pair Ethernet controllers.

onsemi is excited as 2025 looms on the horizon and expects a broad array of new product families within high-performance sensors, DC-DC convertors, automotive LED drivers, electrical safety ICs, connectivity, and more.