Philips introduces industry’s first highly integrated ESD protection chip with full HDMI 1.3 compliance

Advanced electrostatic discharge protection and ultra-low line capacitance now available in a single chip

Eindhoven, The Netherlands, August 1, 2006 - Royal Philips Electronics (NYSE: PHG, AEX: PHI) today announced the industry's first ESD protection chip to support the recently released HDMI™ 1.3 specification. The High-Definition Multimedia Interface™ is the standard digital interface for high-definition consumer electronics, adopted by more than 400 companies worldwide. Available immediately, Philips' fully integrated one-chip solution provides high-level ESD protection, back-drive protection and level shifting, and is designed to support the latest HDMI 1.3 specification, as well as previous standards such as HDMI 1.2. The Philips IP4776CZ38 offers ultra-low line capacitance to ensure high signal integrity for video formats such as 1080p.

HDMI 1.3 will enable the next generation of HDTVs, PCs, DVD players and game consoles to transmit and display content in billions of colors with unprecedented vividness and accuracy. The higher speed requirements of interfaces such as HDMI 1.3, combined with the trend towards smaller feature sizes, make additional board-level ESD protection essential for semiconductors developed at 90 nanometers and below.

"Ongoing pressure to miniaturize feature sizes has meant that ICs developed today are optimized for area, performance and leakage power consumption - not for ESD performance. The result is highly sensitive ICs which burn at low clamping voltages, making external board-level ESD protection an absolute must," said Dr. Dirk Wittorf, international product marketing manager, Integrated Discretes Product Line, Philips Semiconductors. "Philips' new ESD protection chip makes life easier for the designer and reduces total costs by delivering high performance, ultra-low line capacitance, and HDMI 1.3 compliance in a single fully integrated package."

The Philips IP4776CZ38 chip delivers up to 8 kV of ESD protection in contact mode for 4 HDMI transmission channels, I2C-bus, Consumer Electronics Control, and Hot Plug Detect (HPD) lines. The IP4776CZ38 is equipped with back-drive protection, as well as 4 bi-directional 3.3V to 5V level shifters for I2C, CEC and HPD signals. Total line capacitance is only 0.7 pF, with excellent capacitance matching of less than 0.05 pF for TMDS pairs.

The IP4776CZ38 integrates more than 20 discrete components, helping designers reduce PCB space and total system cost. Furthermore, the chip design and its ultra-low line capacitance enable an easy and relaxed board layout, enabling designers to improve time-to-market of their complete platforms. Tests at leading HDMI compliance centers indicate that the IP4776CZ38 supports even higher frequencies than those required for HDMI 1.3, so that it can support customers' future roadmaps.

Availability and pricing

The Philips IP4776CZ38 ESD protection chip is available immediately worldwide at $0.97 USD in quantities of 10,000. Developed and manufactured at Philips Semiconductors GmbH in Hamburg, Germany, the Philips ESD protection chip is produced to the highest product quality and protection standards. Comprehensive documentation and technical support is available to Philips customers, including support to perform HDMI compliance tests. Support is provided on a multi-site and multi-region level for OEMs that work with ODM/EMS partners, or have several manufacturing sites.

Further information on the ESD protection chip from Philips is available at: http://www.semiconductors.philips.com/pip/IP4776CZ38.html

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