Triad Semiconductor Says:

Triad Semiconductor, Inc., the industry’s leading supplier of via-configurable mixed-signal ASICs, today announced another first: the first ARM Cortex-M0 processor combined with high-resolution, high-precision analog resources:  16-bit ADC and 12-bit DAC and uncommitted op-amps. Triad’s TSX1001, implemented on the Mocha-1 platform, provides the performance and low-power 32-bit processing of the ARM Cortex-M0 processor combined with high-precision analog features. Mocha-1 is based on Triad’s silicon-proven via-configurable array (VCA) technology, which allows embedded system designers to customize processor, analog, and digital features with lower power consumption and greater system cost savings than last-generation ASIC solutions

The TSX1001 is a single-chip, mixed-signal processor that an embedded product developer can use to measure sensors and control actuators in products such as accelerometers, automatic meter readers, temperature sensors, capacitive touch inputs, touch screens, medical sensors and other devices requiring analog and processor resources integrated into small spaces using small, low-power batteries.

“We are seeing a general trend toward portable, low-power embedded processing, which requires 32-bit processing performance as well as a great deal of precision analog integration,” said Reid Wender, vice president of marketing at Triad Semiconductor. “The TSX1001 is ideal for many applications and, since the TSX1001 is built on Triad’s Mocha-1 configurable array, designers are able to quickly and inexpensively build working prototypes to verify functionality before committing to a new mixed-signal Cortex-M0 SoC solution optimized for a specific application.”

TechBites Says:

When I first saw Triad’s announcement, my immediate reaction was to wonder why a startup would be crazy enough to go up against the extremely credible offerings from TI, STMicro, Microchip and other chip makers which produce integrate their microcontrollers with a block of analog circuitry. A closer look at the unique capabilities of Triad’s high-performance configurable analog technology revealed that they may not be so crazy after all. Their embedded system development platform which combines an ARM Cortex processor with a rich collection of A/D, D/A and signal conditioning elements is an excellent tool for creating extremely cost-effective quick-turn ASICs for use in a variety of green power applications, including solar/wind inverters, motor controllers, and Smart Grid-enabled devices. Equally important, the building analog building blocks allow a competent engineer to develop their own high-precision analog signal chains without the need for deep transistor-level expertise.

Just to clarify, although they do sell demonstrator chips like the TSX1001, Triad is not a merchant silicon maker, but more of a semi-custom mixed-signal ASIC house. Triad likes to call itself a “mixed-signal gate array company” because their key technology is an array of analog elements that are connected using a metal routing fabric that is programmed by inserting vias between pre-designed metal interconnect layers during the metallization process. Besides simplifying the design process, using vias instead of metal traces causes minimal disturbance to critical circuit values so there’s much less (usually none) tweaking required optimize the circuit’s performance. By plopping down one or more of these analog element arrays down next to a microcontroller and other digital elements, Triad is able to provide a platform for a mixed-signal SOC/ASIC that can cut months off a development cycle. Triad says that their 4-week fab cycle allows a typical customer to go from “back-of-napkin to samples” in six months or less. For high production volumes, Triad can translate your design into a lower-cost full-custom optimized ASIC.

Since most smart engineers tend to be skeptical of any so-called breakthrough technology, Triad built a demo chip based on their stock Mocha-1 device. The result is the TSX1001, a demo platform that uses the analog array’s elements and built a 16-bit A/D, a collection of DIY low-noise and differential op-amps, a  fast (200 MHz+) 12-bit current-steering DAC. When combined with the Moca-1’s ARM Cortex processor, you get a powerful microcontroller with much more integrated analog functionality than any merchant device I’ve seen.

In many ways, the TSX1001 is quite similar to some of TI’s and Freescale’s mixed-signal controllers - except that, instead of having a fixed inventory of A/Ds, D/As, comparators, etc…to play with, the non-digital portions of the chip are fully-configurable. This can be a real plus for many green power applications like solar micro-inverters, smart power meters, and smart building control nodes, allowing designers to put together complete analog signal chains that handle multiple functions which would otherwise have to be done using external chips and components. For example, it’s easy to build what Triad calls an “analog co-processor” to do instantaneous RMS power calculations – a function that would otherwise consume a good fraction of a digital processor’s cycles.

With many functions offloaded to the analog block, the Cortex processors CPU cycles can be used to support tasks beyond simple housekeeping. For example, Triad says that the processor and analog array can be programmed to support nearly any simple (FSK/QPSK) powerline communication standard. In this application,. the digital processor handles modulation and MAC functions while the analog array handles the bulk of the PHY and line filtering functions. makes it a good choice for a smart building control node, a smart lighting controller, and Smart Grid applications.

Triad’s ability to integrate lots of custom analog functions could make them an important player in the solar inverter market where the rapidly declining cost of solar panels is putting price pressure on all the other elements of a compete solar system. Besides driving down BOM costs, the reduced component count should improve the inverter’s reliability something that may be more important than the cost savings in large utility-scale arrays. In addition, the platform’s embedded processor makes it a natural for so-called smart inverters that can both optimize panel output and support communication protocols that allow the panel to be monitored and managed remotely.

The TSX1001 will be supported by industry standard embedded software tool flows such as the ARM RealView development suite. Triad has released the TSX1001 design to fabrication; engineering samples will be available in May 2010. Depending on the size and complexity, Triad’s metal-programmable mixed-signal ASICs are priced from $3-$12 in 10K unit quantities. Triad also offers high-volume optimized ASICs with pricing beginning at around $2. Enable integratin of much more analog than a Piccolo or dsPIC solution. Progeammable digital elements can absorb FPGAs and PLDs. For details on the TSX1001 evaluation platform, click here. For more information on other Triad products, click here.