SK keyfoundry develops Bi-SCR-based On-Chip EMC protection tech

SK keyfoundry, an 8-inch pure-play foundry in South Korea, has announced that it has recently developed a ‘Bi-SCR (Bi-directional Silicon Controlled Rectifier)-based On-Chip EMC protection technology’ capable of dramatically enhancing the EMC (ElectroMagnetic Compatibility) of automotive semiconductors. 

The company said it has successfully applied this technology to its 0.13-micron BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) process products and has entered mass production.

While conventional ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge) protection devices were primarily limited to controlling momentary discharges during the chip manufacturing or assembly processes, this newly developed technology is a design solution that enables complete on-chip control of harsh system-level EMC environments, including those required by automotive standards such as ISO 10605, where electrical stress can occur continuously during vehicle operation.

The ‘Bi-SCR’ structure implemented by SK keyfoundry offers flexible trigger-voltage adjustment and superior high-current handling capability. In particular, it possesses high area efficiency, delivering high-level performance in optimizing the protection capabilities of automotive power ICs, which face severe space constraints and require high integration, the company said.

“In the recent automotive semiconductor market, beyond simple component-level ESD performance, ‘EMC robustness’ under actual harsh automotive electronic system environments is emerging as a core competitive edge,” said Derek D. Lee, CEO of SK keyfoundry. “The successful mass production and application of this Bi-SCR-based On-Chip EMC protection technology is a significant technological milestone that has elevated the reliability and system stability of automotive semiconductor products to the next level.”