soiconsortium.org, Jan. 13, 2020 –
The IoT World Enabled Through SOI – Jon Cheek, NXP Sr. Director, Front-End Innovation
For NXP, FD-SOI introduced the ability to easily add different functionalities to the technology node like ULP, eNVM, support for high-voltage and embedding RF. For them, said Cheek, it's about the range, and with adaptive back bias, you can "get crazy", so you can really achieve amazing things. In fact, they think they now have the lowest leakage SRAM in the industry, thanks to body biasing. The i.MX 7ULP is finding significant success in wearables. Their "crossover" chips are the latest beneficiaries of FD-SOI with body biasing. The "new normal", they offer huge improvements for real-time operating systems – which is of course key for edge computing. (As you can imagine, the audience was intently taking notes throughout – this was a really excellent talk!) It also is great for machine learning, as it is designed to unlock the potential of voice-assisted end nodes. The IP they needed is now available from multiple vendors, noted Cheek, such as Tensilica and VeriSilicon. Another key play will be in visuals for industrial computing. He concluded by observing that the automobile is the ultimate IoT machine, with 10x the amount of code now found in leading edge airplanes. That's where the i.MX8 and 8X come in.
High-Voltage SOI – Enabling Automotive- NXP
Jon Cheek gave this presentation on the second day of the Japan event. Long-time followers of SOI will know that NXP has been excelling in high-voltage (HV) SOI for well over two decades now (including the pioneering work done by Philips, now part of NXP...