Atmel's 0.18 Micron Radiation Hardened ASIC Integrates up to 5.5 Million Usable Gates

Extends Integration Boundaries for Space Rad-hard Devices

Nantes, France – July 12, 2005 . . . Atmel® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a global leader in the development and fabrication of advanced semiconductor solutions, announced today the release to production of a set of 0.18 micron CMOS cell-based ASIC libraries providing up to 5.5 million usable ASIC gates, the highest level of integration currently available in the space market.

With a total dose capability of up to 300 Krads and a latch-up threshold higher than 70-MeV/cm2/mg, the ATC18RHA lets designers integrate smaller, lighter and higher performing chips into aerospace electronics, space vehicles or navigation systems applications.

The ATC18RHA is a standard cell library encompassing all the specific functions and buffers necessary for space designs. These include 655 Mbps LVDS transmitters and receivers, PCI buffers, SEU hardened DFFs and cold sparing buffers. The ATC18RHA core operates with a 1.8-Volt power supply and two different sets of I/O buffer cells allow for interfacing with a 3.3- or 1.8-Volt logic, enabling designers to easily implement this new ASIC into any space design.

Special attention was paid to validating the ATC18RHA front and back-end design tools. They let designers, at an early stage of physical synthesis, take into account the parasitic effects such as switching noise, cross-talk, antenna effects and RC delay simulation, which are inherent to highly-integrated technologies.

Available in a selection of ceramic hermetic QFP (up to 352 pins) and MCGA (up to 625 pins) packages, the ATC18RHA is offered with pre-defined die sizes and pad rings. This standardization avoids expensive package development costs and reduces design lead-times.

Flight models are delivered tested to either QML Q & V or ESCC quality flows. The ATC18RHA supporting an SMD specification will be available in 3Q 2005.

A design kit is available without charge. It includes all the libraries for simulation, synthesis and other front-end activities, using Atmel or CAD vendor design tools, such as Cadence®, Synopsys® or Mentor®. Customer support is provided by Atmel's dedicated design centers in Europe (London, Milan, Munich and Nantes) and in the US (San Jose, CA).

This new 0.18 micron ASIC offering strengthens Atmel leadership in system integration solutions for the space industry. Atmel is the only supplier offering such a broad range of radiation-hardened products, including microcontrollers, SPARC-based microprocessors, memories, DSPs, re-programmable FPGAs and ASICs.

This ATC18RHA series has been developed with the support of the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is able to provide the electronics industry with complete system solutions. Focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications, computing and automotive markets, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere You Are®.

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Information

Atmel's ATC18RHA product information may be retrieved at http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?PN=ATC18RHA