JMicron Technology Corp Develops Serial ATA II (3.0 Gpbs) PHY Core on UMC's 90nm G and 90nm SP Processes

HSINCHU, Taiwan -- February 22, 2006 – JMicron Technology Corp today announced that its Serial ATA (SATA) II PHY IPs have been developed and proven on UMC 90nm G (Graphic) and 90nm SP (Standard Performance) processes. These two IPs’ formal release depicts another evidence of tight and successful technology cooperation between UMC and JMicron Technology Corp after 130 nm SATA II PHY IP announcement by both companies in February of year 2005.

"As process technologies continue to advance into 90nm and below, new opportunities are presented to designers that allow them to combine multi-functions of entire systems onto a single piece of silicon chip (SoC). IP consequently has become a critical resource for timely SoC integration with customers’ own core logic." said Ken Liou, director of the IP Development & Design Support Division at UMC. "UMC is very happy to see high speed serial link related IPs into its portfolios.

JMicron Technology Corp 90nm SATA II PHY IP cores are fully compliant with 3.0 Gbps SATA II standard, with full backward compatibility to the 1st generation 1.5 Gbps data rate. External SATA (eSATA) features make the customers’ designs expand this innovative interface outside the PC instead of relying on USB or IEEE1394 interfaces. Spread spectrum clocking (SSC) support will improve the EMI performance. Moreover, long term jitter is less than 50 psec, far much less than 183.33 psec defined in SATA II specification.

“By using UMC 90nm cell libraries in relevant control logic and IOs of SATA II PHY IPs, JMicron Technology Corp is able to complete these IPs efficiently. Since JMicron Technology Corp has its own SATA bridge chip business, these IPs are actually verified in standard IC testing environment instead of just being verified by measuring electrical characteristics defined in SATA II specification. It will therefore assure system compatibility of these IPs.” said Tim Liu, president of JMicron Technology Corp. "JMicron Technology Corp stays with its commitments to serial link technology. By continuing providing effective SATA II PHY IPs in different silicon processes, we help customers’ designs not only in PC and enterprise storage systems, but also in consumer applications such as set-top box and digital video recorder. "

For more detailed information, please visit  www.jmicron.com