onsemi Treo: Cutting-Edge Analog & Mixed-Signal Platform

11-11-2024 | By Jack Pollard

The Treo Platform by onsemi introduces a transformative approach to analog and mixed-signal technology. Developed on advanced Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process technology at a 65nm node, this platform is engineered to meet the growing demands of diverse, high-performance applications, spanning from power management to sensing and communications. Designed with scalability and adaptability in mind, it serves as a foundational solution for critical industries, including automotive, industrial, healthcare, and AI-driven data centers.

The Treo Platform’s modular architecture allows engineers to simplify complex development processes, reducing both design time and overall system costs. By offering a broad range of voltage support (1-90V) and high operating temperature tolerance (up to 175°C), the platform enhances flexibility and functionality across applications. This adaptability accelerates time-to-market for manufacturers who are increasingly required to deliver solutions that balance performance, energy efficiency, and regulatory compliance in their products.

In addition to versatility, the Treo Platform's intelligent design enables the development of highly integrated solutions for power management, sensor interfaces, and communication subsystems. As a result, engineers can meet evolving demands for devices that require both advanced capabilities and optimised efficiency. Whether for intelligent power stages in data centers, ultra-precise sensors in healthcare, or reliable power solutions in automotive systems, the Treo Platform empowers designers to innovate while meeting stringent industry requirements.

Key Things to Know:

  • Industry-Leading Specifications: Built on a 65nm BCD process, the Treo Platform supports a wide voltage range (1-90V) and high operating temperatures (up to 175°C), making it suitable for diverse applications with demanding requirements.
  • Modular, Scalable Architecture: The platform’s modular design accelerates development by allowing customisable configurations for specific industry needs, from automotive safety systems to high-efficiency power stages in data centers.
  • Accelerated Time-to-Market: By simplifying the design process and supporting a unified development approach, the Treo Platform enables faster product rollouts while reducing system costs.
  • Diverse Product Compatibility: Multiple product families are already sampling, including voltage translators, ultra-low-power AFEs, LDOs, ultrasonic sensors, and multi-phase controllers, demonstrating the platform’s adaptability across sectors.
  • Advanced Manufacturing: All Treo Platform products are produced at onsemi's 300mm fab in East Fishkill, NY, ensuring high-quality production standards and capacity for scale.

Key Features and Specifications

The Treo Platform by onsemi is engineered with industry-leading features and advanced technology to meet the demanding needs of modern power management and sensing applications. Its unique combination of high-performance process technology, wide voltage and temperature capabilities, and optimised design ensures it can deliver reliable, efficient, and accurate solutions across various critical industries.

Advanced Process Technology

The Treo Platform is built on the advanced 65nm Bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD) process node, a state-of-the-art technology that enables high-performance analog and mixed-signal functionalities. This process technology is specifically designed to integrate high-voltage and low-power components on a single chip, enhancing performance, reducing power consumption, and allowing for more compact, scalable designs. By leveraging BCD technology, the Treo Platform provides a robust foundation for applications that require both power efficiency and precise control, supporting a wide range of industries, including automotive, healthcare, and industrial sectors.

Voltage and Temperature Capabilities

One of the standout features of the Treo Platform is its industry-leading support for a broad voltage range, from 1V up to 90V, making it versatile enough to handle applications from low-power medical devices to high-power industrial systems. Additionally, the platform is engineered to perform reliably under extreme conditions, with an operational temperature range reaching up to 175°C. These capabilities allow the Treo Platform to operate effectively in harsh environments, making it an ideal choice for applications where resilience is essential, such as automotive systems that are subject to high temperatures and industrial machinery exposed to fluctuating environmental conditions. The platform’s robust voltage and temperature tolerance help ensure device longevity and enhance safety across applications.

Performance Optimisation

The Treo Platform is meticulously engineered to deliver improvements in accuracy, efficiency, and operational safety across various applications. With a sophisticated architecture that enhances analog IP performance and supports flexible digital processing, the platform ensures precise measurement and control in power management, sensing, and communication systems. This performance optimisation allows applications to achieve higher functionality and reliability, especially in critical sectors like automotive, where precise sensor performance is essential for features like park assist. Moreover, the platform’s efficiency contributes to lower power consumption, extending device life and supporting both sustainability and cost-effectiveness in applications such as data centers and healthcare devices.

Market Significance and Application Benefits

The Treo Platform addresses critical market needs across a spectrum of industries, including automotive, industrial, healthcare, and AI-driven data centers. As these sectors evolve, they face rising demands for higher energy efficiency, enhanced adaptability, and alignment with sustainability goals. The Treo Platform is strategically designed to meet these needs, offering substantial benefits to both manufacturers and end-users.

In terms of market demand, energy efficiency has become a top priority. Automotive systems require components that perform reliably across varying power needs, industrial applications seek durable and versatile solutions, and data centers are focused on reducing energy costs and thermal output. Additionally, the medical field is experiencing increased demand for sophisticated, low-power devices like continuous glucose monitors and wearables, which rely on efficient, integrated power and sensing solutions. The Treo Platform meets these demands by providing energy-efficient options that enhance functionality, accuracy, and longevity across diverse applications.

A core strength of the Treo Platform is its versatility. Supporting a broad voltage range and high operating temperatures, the platform is adaptable to various environments and use cases, from high-performance data centers to sensitive medical devices. This flexibility enables designers to create solutions that are tailored to the specific needs of each industry, without requiring multiple, fragmented technologies. By integrating power management, sensing, and communication capabilities within a single platform, Treo streamlines development, enabling quicker, more efficient product iterations and reducing time-to-market.

The Treo Platform also significantly impacts environmental sustainability. Its energy-efficient design contributes to lower operational costs and a reduced environmental footprint for end products. For example, data centers using Treo-enabled smart power stages benefit from substantial energy savings and reduced cooling requirements, which helps mitigate overall environmental impact. In automotive and healthcare applications, energy-efficient designs lead to longer battery life and fewer replacements, directly supporting waste reduction. By aligning with modern sustainability initiatives, the Treo Platform offers a responsible choice for companies focused on environmental goals.

Application Case Studies

The versatility and advanced capabilities of the Treo Platform make it suitable for a wide range of applications across multiple industries. Here are some case studies that demonstrate how the platform is used to enhance performance, efficiency, and reliability in key sectors.

Automotive

In the automotive industry, precision and safety are paramount. The Treo Platform enables the development of high-performance ultrasonic sensors that are integral to park assist applications. These sensors provide drivers with improved accuracy in detecting obstacles, which is critical for collision avoidance and safe maneuvering in tight spaces. By enhancing the sensor's ability to detect objects at closer distances, the platform contributes to safer parking and improved driver confidence. The Treo Platform’s robust design and high-performance capabilities help automotive manufacturers deliver advanced safety features that meet the increasing demand for intelligent vehicle systems.

Healthcare

For healthcare applications, the Treo Platform supports ultra-low-power Analog Front Ends (AFEs) that are essential for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices. CGM devices rely on AFEs to detect tiny electrical currents generated by glucose sensors, which require high accuracy to ensure reliable glucose readings. The Treo Platform’s advanced analog processing enables precise measurements at very low current levels (down to the nanoampere range), enhancing measurement accuracy and ensuring consistent data for patient monitoring. Additionally, the platform’s integration capabilities allow for a reduced device footprint, extending battery life and creating more compact, wearable CGM devices that improve patient comfort and reduce replacement costs.

Data Centers

In data centers, efficiency and energy savings are critical for reducing operational costs and environmental impact. The Treo Platform facilitates these goals by enabling compact power stages for GPUs and CPUs, key components that drive data center workloads. With Treo-enabled smart power stages, data centers can achieve significant efficiency improvements, which in turn reduces the need for extensive cooling systems and lowers energy consumption. This efficient power delivery not only supports sustainable operations but also helps data centers manage the thermal loads of high-performance computing, contributing to reduced cooling requirements and overall energy savings. The Treo Platform’s energy-efficient design aligns with the industry’s push toward greener data center practices.

Platform Architecture and Technical Innovations

The Treo Platform is built on a modular and flexible architecture that combines advanced digital processing with a range of technical innovations. This unique design enables the platform to support complex, high-performance applications with precision, efficiency, and adaptability. Key architectural features and innovations include the following:

Modular SoC-like Architecture

The Treo Platform utilises a modular System-on-Chip (SoC)-like architecture, incorporating a comprehensive set of IP building blocks. These building blocks encompass compute, power management, sensing, and communication subsystems, each designed to integrate seamlessly within the platform. This modularity allows engineers to customise and optimise solutions for specific applications, ensuring that each subsystem performs efficiently within its designated role. By combining these components into a unified architecture, the Treo Platform supports faster product development, enhances design flexibility, and delivers a scalable solution that can evolve with the demands of various industries.

Digital Processing Capabilities

At the core of the Treo Platform’s architecture is its advanced digital processing capability, enabled by the 65nm process node. This processing power provides local intelligence that allows the platform to make real-time adjustments based on application needs. With configurable performance options, the Treo Platform is adaptable to a wide range of applications, from automotive systems requiring precise sensor data analysis to data centers in need of optimised power delivery. The combination of analog and digital processing capabilities allows the platform to support high-precision functions while maintaining efficiency and reliability.

IP Flexibility

The Treo Platform is designed with IP flexibility in mind, supporting customisable configurations across applications to enhance both precision and performance. This flexibility allows designers to fine-tune the platform’s capabilities to meet specific operational requirements, optimising the use of each IP block according to the demands of the end application. Whether in low-power healthcare devices or high-performance industrial systems, this adaptable IP framework enables the platform to respond effectively to diverse requirements, making it suitable for applications with varying levels of complexity and functionality.

Voltage and Temperature Tolerance

One of the defining features of the Treo Platform is its expanded voltage range and high-temperature tolerance, which make it resilient in a wide variety of operational environments. With support for voltages ranging from 1V to 90V and an operating temperature tolerance up to 175°C, the platform is well-equipped to handle the demanding conditions of automotive, industrial, and other high-stress environments. This level of tolerance ensures that the platform can maintain reliable performance and extend device longevity, even in applications subject to extreme heat or variable power requirements. By supporting these diverse conditions, the Treo Platform provides a dependable solution for industries that require robust, long-lasting components.

Initial Product Families on the Treo Platform

The Treo Platform is already driving innovation across multiple product families, each designed to address specific needs in power management, sensing, and communication applications. With products currently available for sampling and a roadmap for expansion, the Treo Platform is set to become a cornerstone for high-performance solutions across several industries.

Products Currently Sampling

Several product families built on the Treo Platform are now available for sampling, showcasing the platform’s versatility and application range. These initial products include voltage translators, ultra-low-power Analog Front Ends (AFEs), Low Dropout Regulators (LDOs), ultrasonic sensors, multi-phase controllers, and Ethernet controllers. Each of these products leverages the Treo Platform’s robust architecture to deliver reliable, efficient performance in demanding applications. For instance, the ultra-low-power AFEs provide precise signal measurement critical for medical and wearable devices, while the multi-phase controllers enable high-efficiency power management in data centers and industrial systems. These diverse offerings highlight the platform’s adaptability and its capacity to deliver value across multiple applications.

Expansion Plans

onsemi has committed to expanding the Treo Platform product family through 2025, introducing additional components to support an even broader array of applications. Future product releases will include high-performance sensors, DC-DC converters, automotive LED drivers, electrical safety ICs, and enhanced connectivity solutions. This continued development reflects onsemi’s commitment to building a comprehensive ecosystem on the Treo Platform, enabling manufacturers to address evolving market needs with integrated, application-specific solutions. As these new products are introduced, they will further strengthen the Treo Platform’s role as a go-to solution for sectors requiring scalable, efficient, and high-performance technologies.

Investor Information and Webinar

To provide the investor community with a comprehensive understanding of the Treo Platform and its strategic significance, onsemi will be hosting an in-depth webinar dedicated to the platform’s features, capabilities, and market potential. This event will offer valuable insights into how the Treo Platform aligns with onsemi’s long-term vision and growth strategy within the analog and mixed-signal market.

Investor Engagement

The webinar will serve as an opportunity for investors to gain detailed information about the Treo Platform’s technical innovations, application benefits, and upcoming product families. During the presentation, onsemi’s leadership team will provide an overview of the platform’s role in advancing the company's position across automotive, industrial, healthcare, and data center sectors. Investors will have the chance to learn how the Treo Platform is expected to drive revenue growth and support onsemi’s commitment to innovation and sustainability.

Webinar Details

The investor webinar is scheduled for November 18 at 1:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET). A live webcast will be available through the Investor Relations page on the onsemi website, with a replay accessible approximately one hour following the broadcast. The replay will remain available for 30 days, allowing investors to revisit the session at their convenience.

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By Jack Pollard

Jack has spent over a decade in media within the electronics industry and is extremely passionate about working with companies to create interesting and educational content, from podcasts and video to written articles for engineers and buyers.