关于减少LCD Driver IC芯片制造成本的方法分析和指南

LCD驱动器制造商对成本是非常敏感的，有客户找到公司希望降低芯片尺寸10%，以恢复成本竞争力和市场份额。ESD的鲁棒性不是一个问题，但芯片尺寸（包括ESD面积）是一个挑战。

Most of the manufacturer’s products achieved protection levels of 2kV HBM and 200V MM. A re-spin for ESD was required in only a limited number of cases. ESD protection was provided through a simple but effective dual diode plus power clamp approach, but even that consumed too much area.

大多数的制造商的产品达到保护静电水平2KV HBM和200V MM。目前，很多厂商采用的ESD保护方案就是提供一个简单但有效的双二极管加电源钳的方法。当然这个方案是解决了ESD问题，可是带来的问题是显而易见的，那就是消耗过多的芯片面积。

Sofics studied the process and the application. We optimized the diode size and layout, reduced the I/O bus scheme and area, designed a new Sofics power clamp, and worked out a calculation sheet to determine optimum power clamp placement. This resulted in a 25% I/O size reduction, and an overall die area reduction of more than 12%, significantly cutting the product’s manufacturing cost.

在研究客户的工艺及应用后，公司优化了二极管的规模和布局，减少了I/O总线方案和面积，同时设计了一种新的SOFICS电源钳位，通过电源钳位位置计算表获得最佳的布局。这个改动带来了25% I/O尺寸减少，整体芯片面积也减少了12%以上，大大降低了产品的制造成本。

Porting to the customer’s process and first product verification was completed within one silicon cycle, only 6 months from the start of the project. Immediately afterwards the first new LCD driver IC using the Sofics small area solution was released for mass production.

移植到客户的过程和第一产品验证也在一个硅周期内完成，从项目开始，总共只有6个月。紧接着第一个新的使用小面积LCD驱动IC的解决方案发布量产。

In addition to the die area reduction, our solution removed one mask and one step from the process, further reducing costs. It also established a design process for other ICs in the technology. Since the Sofics engagement the customer has been able to make consistently smaller I/O’s and power cells, and has reduced the power clamp repetition rate. These enhancements lead to smaller and hence cheaper product dies. The customer has been rewarded with significantly increased competitiveness and a bigger market share.

除了芯片面积减少，我们的解决方案从工艺过程中删除了一个MASK（光罩）从而进一步降低成本。通过新的流程，公司还帮客户建立了其他IC电路的ESD设计，使整个系列产品线受益。由于公司的参与，使得客户已经能够使用一致的I / O和POWER CELL，降低了电源钳位使用的重复率。这些改善，让客户的芯片以更小的面积，更高的性价比进入市场，从而获得了显著的竞争力提升和更大的市场份额。