Pure-play foundry United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) is continuing its push into the automotive semiconductor market with the qualification of its 0.18um bipolar CMOS DMOS (BCD) manufacturing process for AEC Q100 grade-0 automotive ICs.

The process is ready for mass production, and the company says it has been qualified with FDK and IP available for automotive applications such as power management ICs. This automotive grade allows for the semiconductors to offer a high reliability in vehicles where high-temperature environments are an issue for other ICs.

SC Chien, senior VP and head of corporate marketing at UMC, says IC content in vehicles is rising rapidly as a result of a greater inclusion of ADAS, infotainment and navigation in cars. With energy efficiency and emission reduction becoming equally as important in vehicles, demand for automotive semiconductors is likely to accelerate, meaning the need for foundries compliant with strict automotive-grade standards is becoming a necessity, Chien says.

UMC says it was the first foundry to receive ISO 22301 certification and it offers grade-0 intellectual property, including standard library, SRAM and OTP/MTP/eFuse that can be added to automotive IC products. UMC currently has ICs that are used in carmakers in Japan, Europe, Asia and the US.

By: DocMemory
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