SK keyfoundry Advances Automotive Semiconductor Portfolio with On-Chip EMC Protection Technology

SK KeyFoundry, an 8-inch pure-play foundry in Korea, announced that it has recently developed a 'Bi-SCR (Bi-directional Silicon Controlled Rectifier)-based On-Chip EMC protection technology' capable of dramatically enhancing the EMC (ElectroMagnetic Compatibility) of automotive semiconductors. The company stated it has successfully applied this technology to its 0.13-micron BCD (Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS) process products and has entered mass production.

As the integration of electronic components in vehicles rapidly increases, ensuring the reliability of semiconductors to operate without malfunction, even under extreme electrical stress, has become a core challenge. While conventional ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge) protection devices were primarily limited to controlling momentary discharges during the chip manufacturing or assembly processes, this newly developed technology is a design solution that enables complete on-chip control of harsh system-level EMC environments, including those required by automotive standards such as ISO 10605, where electrical stress can occur continuously during vehicle operation.

The 'Bi-SCR' structure implemented by SK keyfoundry offers flexible trigger-voltage adjustment and excellent high-current handling capability. In particular, it possesses high area efficiency, delivering outstanding performance in optimizing the protection capabilities of automotive power ICs, which face severe space constraints and require high integration. Most notably, it is highly significant as an 'On-Chip' solution that can effectively control EMC stress internally without the need for external protection components like TVS (Transient Voltage Suppressor) diodes, which were previously essential in system designs. Through this, customers can maximise circuit design and space efficiency while elevating system protection performance to the highest level.

This achievement is regarded as the fruit of combining SK KeyFoundry's unique automotive BCD process technology accumulated over the years with its advanced EMC and ESD protection design capabilities. Leveraging this successful mass production as a stepping-stone, the company plans to continuously expand its portfolio of protection devices based on high-voltage LDMOS, BJT, SCR, and diodes. Furthermore, it aims to strengthen its market competitiveness across various automotive applications that require high reliability, such as automotive PMICs (Power Management ICs), motor drivers, and power control ICs.

"In the recent automotive semiconductor market, beyond simple component-level ESD performance, 'EMC robustness' under actual harsh automotive electronic system environments is emerging as a core competitive edge," said Derek D. Lee, CEO of SK keyfoundry. "The successful mass production and application of this Bi-SCR-based On-Chip EMC protection technology is a significant technological milestone that has elevated the reliability and system stability of automotive semiconductor products to the next level." He added, "We will continue to strengthen the high-reliability, high-voltage, and high-efficiency process platforms demanded by our automotive customers and solidify our differentiated foundry competitiveness."