Toshiba combines CMOS ASIC and eDRAM technologies to support rapid development of SIDSA mobile TV chipset

The Enter E1 SoC IC is a fundamental element of SIDSA’s mobile TV reference designs, which bring new levels of mobile performance to a wide range of mobile and consumer electronics products for different mobile TV standards in frequency bands as high as 3GHz. These reference designs combine the advanced SoC IC with RF tuner technology supplied by some of the leading tuner vendors.

SIDSA worked closely with Toshiba’s ELDEC (European LSI Design and Engineering Centre) to bring the IC to market in the shortest possible time. Important elements of the SoC design included a special dual low-power analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) to support the mobile TV application, an advanced embedded DRAM implementation, and techniques that helped to minimize package size and power consumption.

The eDRAM allows the SoC to support reception of an unlimited number of DVB-H and DVB-T services as well as enabling the ARM® application processor to run significant parts of the SIDSA DVB-H software stack. This frees up the host processor, reduces data transfer overheads and leads to a reduction in overall system power consumption.

Federico Ruiz, one of the founders and the engineering director of SIDSA comments: “By basing its design on Toshiba’s renowned CMOS ASIC process, embedded DRAM technology and dual low-power ADC IP, and by working closely with Toshiba’s local LSI specialists, we have been able to combine the highest mobile performance and unlimited multi-service support with low area and low-power operation. Furthermore, Toshiba’s high quality mass production capability ensures that we will be able to rapidly respond to volume requirements for the Enter E1 IC.”

Mr. Mitsumasa Tsutsui, senior manager from the Toshiba Semiconductor Company Custom SoC group in Japan, adds: “Toshiba is committed to growing its custom SoC business with fabless chip makers and this development illustrates how our open and advanced IDM model can lead to rapid success for customers seeking advanced, low power, high performance single-chip solutions.”

Armin Derpmanns, general manager of the SoC Business Unit at Toshiba Electronics Europe states: “The development of this mobile TV chipset illustrates the benefits of bringing together proven in-house CMOS ASIC process technologies with an experienced LSI engineering team that was able to work closely with SIDSA at every stage of the design, testing, prototyping and production process to ensure the shortest possible turnaround time.”