EnSilica completes PPAP on safety-critical automotive ASIC design

EnSilica, a leading provider of custom ASIC design and supply services, has announced a custom safety-critical ASIC has completed the stringent automotive production part approval process (PPAP) and is ready to enter into mass production with a tier-1 automotive supplier.

The ASIC’s novel functionality was developed in close collaboration with the automotive supplier to meet the needs of the OEM’s range of high-performance vehicles which demand sophisticated chassis management and control. The technology is equally suited to hybrids, EVs and hydrogen fuel cell powered vehicles.

The complex mixed-signal ASIC uses a BCD process with high voltage transistors, and combines extensive monitoring and fault detection circuits (for example open and short pins, over and under voltage detection and frequency monitoring) with duplicate redundancy on key functions.

Patrick McNamee, Director of Operations at EnSilica: “We worked in close partnership with the OEM and Tier 1 to realise this novel design concept. First silicon was delivered in 11 months and PPAP was completed in less than 2 and a half years. We’re looking forward to ramping into production in a range of new models. And with multiple chips per vehicle, the volumes are high for automotive.”

The part is qualified to AEC-Q100 grade 0, EnSilica’s in-house functional safety team developed the ASIC to meet the requirement defined in ISO26262 to the most demanding Automotive Safety Integrity Level (ASIL-D).