Developing the most appropriate Silicon IP is a prerequisite for successful project outcomes. Sitting alongside our design service , GF Micro has developed a range of IP cores and standard/stand alone products, so that we now have an IP core available to meet most requirements. Our products deliver silicon proven solutions that can be used within customer designs across a number of applications.

To convey the full detail of technical achievement across the numerous collaborative projects we have been involved with would be difficult. Here are brief summaries of specific product developments.

Microdisplay backplane

Silicon proven and allowing the quick creation of development devices, the GF Micro silicon backplane is designed for low power QVGA colour digital microdisplay applications. The design is based on our patented P-OLED (Polymer Organic Light Emitting Diode) drive scheme technology.

The device delivers 18-bit video images free of motion smearing, rendering excellent high resolution images on the smallest of screens. The small size of the end display allows for innovative product designs while the low power consumption extends product battery life.

Typical applications include AR / VR head mounted displays, electronic viewfinders, personal viewers and video glasses. Along with I2C, it also supports the industry standard BT.656 NTSC/PAL, BT.601 YCbCr and serial RGB interfaces, making it suitable for all mainstream applications.

temperature sensor IP

Perfectly suited for industrial applications, the GF Micro digital temperature sensor is available as a Licensed IP block.

It uses a low power 1.8V supply and has an operating range of -40°C to 125°C with an accuracy of ±1°C. Calibration points are conveniently placed at 25°C and 125°C - temperatures typically used for production test and wafer probe. The sensor produces a digital value accessible from a register location. Industry-standard digital interfaces are supported for easy product integration.

The IP has been developed using the Global Foundries 28SLP process and has a 273μm x 292μm footprint. It can also be re-targeted to other process nodes, making it a very flexible piece of IP for any design where space is at a premium.

10 Base-T PHY chip

Allowing industry standard interface and operation, the GF Micro IC forms the Network Interface part of an IEEE802.3 10Base-T twisted pair transceiver. It consists of all analogue and digital circuits required to interface between the MAC and the Network ports. The Network ports are configured as Twisted Pair (10BASE-T).

12 Bit SAR ADC IP

The GF Micro ADC is a low power, 12-bit, successive approximation (SAR) Analogue-to-Digital Convertor (ADC) in the form of an IP block. The ADC mainly comprises a Capacitive Digital to Analog Converter (CDAC), a dynamic comparator, and an asynchronous SAR control logic.

Being compact and low power, it is designed specifically for battery powered systems. The sampling rate is 500 KSPS and both differential nonlinearity (DNL) and integral nonlinearity (INL) are < 2 LSB.

The IP block is designed in TSMC 40nm CMOS technology but can be retargeted to other processes and temperature ranges, allowing it to be used in design applications as diverse as biomedical imaging, industrial process control and high speed communication systems.