1999-04-06 , ESC-9871
Business News From Philips Semiconductors

A revolutionary new process technology from Philips Semiconductors enhances today's energy-efficient products and enables the next generation of super-smart power control functions

Philips Semiconductors, the largest European semiconductor manufacturer, has developed a revolutionary new silicon-on-insulator (SOI) process technology that allows high-voltage (HV) components to be integrated much more easily alongside low-voltage analog and digital circuitry on commercial silicon chips.

The EZ-HV™ process, a new trade mark for Philips Electronics, can handle voltages as high as 650 V and achieve much higher levels of integration than previously possible, reducing the size and cost of existing products such as energy-efficient light bulbs and power-plugs. It will also make it possible to produce a new generation of intelligent single-chip power control solutions that use the world's valuable energy resources much more efficiently.

"Philips Semiconductors is a pioneer in SOI technology," commented Theo Claasen, the company's Chief Technology Officer. "Last year we introduced our unique 60-volt A-BCD1 SOI process, and now with EZ-HV we have the world's first process that can handle rectified AC line supply voltages and achieve very high levels of functional integration at moderate cost. These are two important steps in our campaign to create 'green' chips that will help cut energy wastage and so help the environment", he added.

"Because of its ability to accommodate virtually any type of silicon transistor structure, as well as passive components, the integration possibilities of EZ-HV are virtually unlimited," said Claasen. "We now have the potential to develop entire power management systems-on-silicon that include AC line power handling capabilities."

The EZ-HV process achieves its unique combination of high-voltage capability and high integration density by adopting a radically new approach to silicon-on-insulator IC construction. Conventional silicon-on-insulator ICs with high-voltage transistors require the use of a relatively thick layer of silicon making production expensive and precluding high integration densities because the transistors must be spaced widely apart to ensure adequate isolation between them. With the EZ-HV process Philips Semiconductors has developed a way of fabricating high voltage transistors in an extremely thin layer of silicon and surrounding each one with silicon dioxide - a perfect insulator. The thin silicon layer is cheaper to produce, while the silicon dioxide isolation means that high and low voltage components can be placed much closer together on the chip.

The EZ-HV process is so unique that Philips Semiconductors has been granted several patents on it.

Some of the first applications to benefit from this new technology will be existing energy-efficient products such as fluorescent light bulbs and power plugs. For example, EZ-HV has the potential to miniaturize the drive electronics in a fluorescent light bulb by replacing the existing 3-chip solution with a single chip that will fit inside the base of a normal-sized bulb, while at the same time halving the cost of the overall unit. This will remove the two main impediments to the widespread domestic use of energy-efficient bulbs - their initial cost and aesthetic appearance. Similarly it could enable power-plugs for equipment such as mobile phones to be made no bigger than a normal AC line plug.

In addition, EZ-HV promises exciting new possibilities for the future. Its ability to integrate complex high-voltage circuitry alongside intelligent control logic will allow sophisticated techniques such as active power factor correction and resonant switching to be applied in even the cheapest consumer products. Both these techniques not only improve EMC performance, making it much easier to meet stringent EMC regulations such as EN61000-3-2, they can also result in additional efficiency improvements of as much as 25%.

While EZ-HV is perfectly matched for electronic lighting applications, it can also be used to add smart power control features to a wide range of consumer products such as TV sets, VCRs, fax machines, printers, set-top boxes, DVD players, lap-tops and PCs. Its high voltage capabilities also suit it to the production of highly integrated driver ICs for plasma display panels (PDPs) and CRTs.

"Using EZ-HV we will be able to create a new generation of high-efficiency, high-performance power conversion ICs to further extend our highly acclaimed GreenChip™ product family," said Leo Warmerdam, Marketing Manager for Philips Semiconductors' power management products.

Philips Semiconductors, a division of Royal Philips Electronics, headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, is the eighth largest semiconductor supplier in the world (according to Dataquest's preliminary 1998 ranking by sales). Philips Semiconductors' innovations in digital audio, video, and mobile technology position the company as a leader in the consumer, multimedia and wireless communications markets. Sales offices are located in all major markets around the world and are supported by systems labs.

EZ-HV is a trademark of Philips Electronics N.V.

For more information, see also backgrounder BG9901: Counter intuitive thinking by Philips Semiconductors results in major breakthrough in high-voltage silicon-on-insulator IC technology.