According to Research in China, the Class-D Audio market is growing at a rate of above 50%. In 2008, its market size was estimated at nearly $600 million. Cesign chose Jazz’s BCD25 process to achieve the best cost and die size due to its industry first Scalable Rdson Technology.
Jazz Semiconductor’s BCD25 process technology offers the first scalable Rdson versus breakdown voltage design kit technology enabling optimized area for every transistor. BCD25 provides significant cost reductions by allowing designers of power devices to achieve a significant shrink in device area size. In addition, the BCD25 process offers advanced CMOS, a combination of bipolar NPN and PNP devices, as well as high voltage LDMOS FETs that take advantage of 0.25-micron rules to reduce on-resistance and size of power cells used in complex power management chips.
Cesign’s current Class-D amplifier chip (CPA series) offers a pulse width modulation (PWM) called Cross Coupled Modulation (XCM). An ultimate total THD+N (harmonic distortion plus noise) result (THD+N < 0.01%) is accomplished with XCM technology which delivers precise audio sound with high power compared to other Class-D amplifier manufacturers. Target applications for Cesign’s Class-D amplifier include cellular phones, smart phones, Bluetooth headsets, portable audio, FPTV, LCD monitor and docking station for music player.
“We chose Jazz as our foundry supplier for their fully scalable options, excellent support and design kits, and leading-edge power management technology,” said Kim JeongPyo, chief executive officer of Cesign. “We are especially impressed by their design kit and its unique scalable Rdson capability which creates the smallest die size possible. In addition, we chose Jazz for their excellent local Korean sales and technical support.”
“Our 0.25-micron BCD process is targeted for custom designs including driver ICs, battery and portable power management, power control for PC products, and Class-D audio amplifiers for both fixed and low-power mobile applications. Our innovative Scalable Rdson Technology embedded in our full design kit, along with our modeling support, enables customers like Cesign to optimize performance and cost for their products while greatly reducing design cycle times,” said Marco Racanelli, senior vice president and general manager, RF and High Performance Analog Business Group, Jazz Semiconductor.
Cesign is a South Korea-based fabless analog semiconductor company.
Tower Semiconductor is an Israel-based wafer foundry dedicated to manufacture semiconductors.
