California Micro Devices introduces new PicoGuard for interfaces

Milpitas, California, (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - California Micro Devices (Nasdaq: CAMD) today introduced PicoGuard XS, an innovative new ESD (electrostatic discharge) protection architecture in the XtremeESD(TM) family, the industry's first product to provide both outstanding signal integrity and robust ESD protection for high speed differential signals such as DisplayPort and HDMI.

By integrating inductors with the ESD protection diodes, the PicoGuard XS architecture eliminates the need for external compensation to match line impedance, reducing design complexity and cost.

Latest Trends in ESD Protection Two important trends are leading to fundamental changes in system level ESD protection requirements: increased susceptibility of system ICs to ESD strikes as they migrate to more advanced process technologies, and increasingly demanding signal integrity requirements as data rates continue to climb.

Traditional ESD protection devices are optimized for either ESD protection or signal integrity but not both. In fact, the traditional approach to improving signal integrity, reducing the capacitance of the ESD protection structures, also tends to reduce ESD performance.

The PicoGuard XS architecture eliminates this tradeoff by improving ESD protection while simultaneously providing excellent signal integrity and minimizing design complexity.

PicoGuard XS Impedance Matching

Traditionally, system designers must compensate for the capacitance of the ESD protection device by adding external inductance, eliminating capacitance under the signal traces near the ESD device, or both. These approaches add complexity and cost, and are PCB board dependent, limiting the ability to use multiple board vendors. By integrating the inductance into the ESD device, PicoGuard XS eliminates the need for these measures providing matched impedance with no external compensation or components required.

"System developers no longer need to make a tradeoff between signal integrity and ESD protection," stated Joe Salvador, director of marketing for digital consumer and computing products at California Micro Devices.

"This is particularly important for high speed interfaces such as HDMI 1.3 and the new DisplayPort interface which requires a minimum of 8kV contact protection on all lines."

CM1233 -- First PicoGuard XS Product

The first PicoGuard XS product is the CM1233-08DE, offering 8 channels of robust ESD protection. It provides protection for four pairs of differential channels, offering ESD protection to IEC61000-4-2 Level 4 + -8kV contact discharge. System designers can easily meet the 100 Ohm differential impedance requirements of HDMI and DisplayPort using these devices, with no external compensation required. The integration of inductors with the ESD diodes provides for improved ESD protection as well as outstanding signal integrity.

Compared with best in class ESD diode arrays, the CM1233-08DE offers:
-- 40 per cent reduction in peak clamping voltage
-- 15-40 per cent reduction in peak residual current
-- 100 Ohm differential impedance matching with no external compensation required
-- Straight through routing for improved layout
-- Compact 16 pin TDFN package for reduced board space

Updated www.XtremeESD.com Website

This new ESD Resource Center provides relevant information about ESD protection to designers of personal computer and digital consumer electronics applications. The site contains technical white papers, product specifications, articles, presentations and an open forum on various ESD protection topics. Go to: http://www.XtremeESD.com.

Pricing and Availability The CM1233-08DE is available in a 16 lead TDFN package. It is currently sampling and will be in full production this quarter. It is priced at $0.57 each at 1,000 units.

About California Micro Devices Corporation

California Micro Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of application specific analog and mixed signal semiconductor products for the mobile handset, digital consumer electronics and personal computer markets. Key products include protection devices for mobile handsets, digital consumer electronics products such as digital TVs, and personal computers as well as analog and mixed signal ICs for mobile handset displays. Detailed corporate and product information may be accessed at http://www.cmd.com.

XtremeESD, PicoGuard XP and PicoGuard XS are trademarks of California Micro Devices Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

SOURCE California Micro Devices
CONTACT: Richard Haas of California Micro Devices, +1-408-934-3108, richardh@cmd.com/ /
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Web site: http://www.cmd.com http://www.XtremeESD.com

COPYRIGHT © 2008 - ANTARANEWS

California Micro Devices unveils new Xtreme ESD protection

Innovative ESD Architecture and New Website Launched California Micro Devices (Nasdaq: CAMD)

Milpitas, California, (ANTARA News/PRNewswire-AsiaNet) - Facing the challenge of providing improved protection for small geometry, high speed semiconductor devices that are increasingly susceptible to electrostatic discharge (ESD) damage, California Micro Devices today unveiled XtremeESD, a new family of protection devices developed with a radically new architecture designed to meet today's most challenging ESD requirements.

The first XtremeESD product, the CM1231-02SO, uses CMD's revolutionary new Picoguard XP(TM) architecture. The Picoguard XP architecture is an innovative double clamping architecture that integrates multiple stages of ESD protection into a single device. This architecture provides robust protection for sensitive high speed ICs by significantly reducing the clamping voltage and the amount of residual current that passes through to the protected ASIC, achieving significantly better performance than the best ESD diode arrays on the market.

XtremeESD Protection As silicon manufacturing geometries shrink, integrated circuits are becoming increasingly susceptible to ESD damage. Traditional ESD protection architectures including single stage, dual rail clamp diode arrays are no longer adequate to protect the latest system ICs. The voltage and residual current levels that pass through them will cause gate oxide failures and junction burnout for system ICs designed in the latest silicon processes. CMD has developed the XtremeESD family of devices, including the new PicoGuard XP, to address these new requirements.

"The critical factor in improving ESD protection is reducing the residual current and clamping voltage seen by the system IC during an ESD strike," stated Joe Salvador, director of marketing for digital consumer and computing products at California Micro Devices.

"CMD's newly developed PicoGuard XP architecture significantly reduces both the residual current and the clamping voltage, while simultaneously preserving the signal integrity of high speed data. It is an ideal solution for protecting sensitive USB, HDMI(TM) and DisplayPort(TM) data interfaces."

CMD's PicoGuard XP Architecture

The PicoGuard XP architecture uses a unique dual stage design that places two ESD devices and a resistor in series within the same package. The first ESD circuit absorbs the largest portion of the strike, while the second provides additional clamping and a secondary shunt path to steer current away from the system IC being protected. The CM1231 provides dramatic improvements compared to the best protection devices currently available including:
-- 40 per cent reduction in peak clamping voltage
-- 40 per cent reduction in peak residual current
-- Greater than 65 per cent reduction in total power reaching the ASIC CMD Launches XtremeESD Website

This new website provides relevant information about ESD protection to designers of personal computer and digital consumer electronics applications who want to design more reliable systems by understanding the real issues involved in ESD protection, and learn about new ESD architectures such as PicoGuard XP. The site contains technical white papers, product specifications, articles and presentations on various ESD protection topics.
Go to: http://www.XtremeESD.com.

Pricing and Availability The CM1231-02SO is available in a SOT23-6 package to protect two data lines. It is currently in full production, and is priced at $0.38 each at 1,000 units.

About California Micro Devices Corporation

California Micro Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of application specific analog and mixed signal semiconductor products for the mobile handset, digital consumer electronics and personal computer markets. Key products include protection devices for mobile handsets, digital consumer electronics products such as digital TVs, and personal computers as well as analog and mixed signal ICs for mobile handset displays. Detailed corporate and product information may be accessed at http://www.cmd.com.

XtremeESD and PicoGuard XP are trademarks of California Micro Devices Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: California Micro Devices
CONTACT: Richard Haas of California Micro Devices
+1-408-934-3108 richardh@cmd.com
Web site: http://www.cmd.com

COPYRIGHT © 2008 - ANTARANEWS