Naperville, IL – 6 December 2004

Tezzaron Semiconductor has demonstrated a new microprocessor chip that runs 2 to 10 times faster than similar designs. The secret is in its two-story architecture: memory upstairs, processor downstairs. The core of the chip is a standard 8051 microprocessor, the type used in many embedded systems, but most 8051-based systems put their memory “next door” on a separate chip. Pushing the data from one chip to another takes time – and power. Tezzaron’s new FaStack™ microprocessor can access its memory up to 20 times faster than a two-chip setup, using far less power and occupying less space.

The performance of most 8051 processors is limited by the time it takes to retrieve instructions and data from memory; the logic circuits spend much of their time idly waiting. In Tezzaron’s FaStack™ version, the speedy memory allows the processor to run at full tilt, limited only by the velocity of its own arithmetic/logic circuitry. To take advantage of this extra capability, Tezzaron added a floating-point unit and 32-bit arithmetic to the chip. The resulting “Super-8051” is a good fit for embedded systems that need high speed, advanced functionality, and reduced power consumption. The first evaluation units have already been delivered to a select group of potential customers.

Tezzaron’s patented FaStack™ process builds multi-level devices by stacking and bonding whole semiconductor wafers and dicing the wafer stacks into chips. Within each chip, tens of thousands of interconnects allow the layers to communicate vertically as well as horizontally. In the current design, hundreds of those interconnects ferry data between the processor and the 128 KBytes of SRAM on the “second floor.” Future versions of the processor will add more memory levels for up to 512 KBytes of SRAM on each chip.

The same process could be used to accelerate larger, more advanced processors. Today’s most powerful processors are hamstrung by slow memory access, often spending more time waiting than working. By building layers of fast “cache” memory on top of each processor (with thousands of interconnects), a FaStack™ design would eliminate the wait cycles and enable huge gains in performance.

Tezzaron’s revolutionary FaStack™ process was developed and performed by their elite Process Development team in Singapore. The processor and memory circuits were built onto wafers by MagnaChip in Korea. The processor’s innovative 3D design, layout, and testing were done by Tezzaron’s Design Engineering team in Illinois.

About Tezzaron™

Tezzaron Semiconductor is a privately held corporation with offices in Illinois and Singapore.  For more information, visit www.tezzaron.com.