True Circuits Introduces Delay-Locked Loop Hard Macros

LOS ALTOS, California, October 8, 2003 - True Circuits, Inc. (TCI), a leading provider of analog and mixed-signal intellectual property (IP) for the semiconductor and systems industries, today announced the immediate availability of a line of Delay-Locked Loop (DLL) analog hard macros for high-speed DDR style interface applications.

The True Circuits DDR DLL is a very flexible silicon proven, low-jitter hard macro that generates precise strobe signal delays that can be programmed from 0 to 360 degrees of the reference period. It is designed to delay multiple periodic or aperiodic signals independent of voltage and temperature and deliver optimal jitter performance over a wide frequency range.

"Our high-performance DDR DLL is another example of a hard macro we have specifically developed for circuit designers in need of an accurate and flexible timing solution, in this case, for DDR style memory interface applications", noted Dr. John Maneatis, True Circuits' President. "This DDR DLL has been successfully implemented in combination with our Clock Generator PLL, providing our customers with a powerful timing solution whereby they can programmably target different speed memories with optimal interface timing."

What's New
True Circuits' DDR DLL uses a reference clock to establish a time base in order to delay arbitrary strobe signals by precise fractions of the clock cycle. It uses an analog delay line that is phase-locked to be insensitive to temperature or supply voltage and setup with very high supply noise rejection. The block can be configured by TCI to have just about any number of slaves (which delay the arbitrary signals) with a single master section to minimize area and power. The slave delays can be set to particular values or dynamically adjusted after determining the boundaries of a data eye. The DDR DLL is flexible, low-jitter and has very good linearity and resolution.

Pricing and Availability
True Circuits DLLs are available for immediate customer delivery in TSMC, UMC and Chartered processes from 0.25 to 0.09 micron. The hard macros are available for a per use license fee with no royalty fees. The license fee includes integration support from TCI to ensure a successful customer tape out. The deliverables include GDSII and LVS Spice netlists, Verilog and synthesis models, Library Exchange Format (LEF) files and extensive user documentation.

About True Circuits PLLs and DLLs
True Circuits offers a complete family of standardized clock generator, deskew, low-bandwidth and spread-spectrum PLLs and DDR DLLs that spans nearly all performance points and features typically requested by ASIC designers. These high-quality, low-jitter, silicon proven hard macros are available for immediate delivery in a range of frequencies, multiplication factors and functions in TSMC, UMC and Chartered processes from 0.25 to 0.09 micron. For more information about True Circuits products, visit www.truecircuits.com/tci_technology.html.

About True Circuits
Founded in 1998, True Circuits develops and markets a broad range of PLLs, DLLs and other mixed-signal hard macros for ICs for the semiconductor, systems and electronics industries. TCI's robust state-of-the-art circuits, methodical and proven design strategy, and its close association with the world's leading silicon fabrication vendors, allow the company to quickly and reliably produce new and innovative designs in a variety of advanced process technologies.

True Circuits is headquartered at 4962 El Camino Real, Suite 206, Los Altos, California 94022 and can be found on the web at www.truecircuits.com. Product inquiries can be made by calling the company directly at (650) 691-2500