Toronto AES Bulletin March 2003 Volume 11, Number 7

An Overview and Tour of Chip Maker Gennum Corporation's Design and Manufacturing Facilities

Gennum began it's life as an integrated circuit (IC) manufacturer specializing in meeting the needs of the Hearing Aid industry. Today the organization also plays a key role in fulfilling the demanding requirements of the professional video market, and has leveraged its understanding of high speed design issues to enter the 10+ gigabit serial data communication arena. Using a blend of both internal wafer fabrication and "offshore" megafab capabilities, Gennum is fairly unique in the semiconductor industry - particularly within the Canadian high tech sector. While both the Video and Datacomm segments use a variety of traditional IC packaging technologies, the Audio group has found a niche for its small multichip packaging in applications where space is extremely critical.

The audio group, or Hearing Instrument Products (HIP) group as it is formally known, focuses on the design, manufacture, and software support of arguably the smallest, low power, high performance audio amplification systems in use today. The combination of "best in class" Analog to Digital Converters, audio specific DSP, Non Volatile Memory and Digital Power amplifiers is what keeps us coming to work each day! Making the system fit into a small box measuring a mere 5 X 3 X 1.5 mm and being able to run for about 2000 hours on a AA battery is what makes it really interesting. While the most common application is still Hearing Aids, it is only a question of time until this technology expands into broader fields.

The overview presentation will provide a better understanding of the performance achieved and the challenges faced by the designers. The tour of the clean room facilities and assembly areas will provide an appreciation of the sophistication involved in microchip manufacturing and testing.

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Date	Tues 25 March 2003
Time	7:30 pm
Location	Gennum Corporation, Burlington
Address	970 Fraser Drive, Burlington, Ontario
Directions to Meeting	Exit from Queen Elizabeth Way on Walker's Line South to Harvester Rd. (1st lights.) Turn left on Harvester. Fraser is the first street on the left.
Pre-Meeting 'Dutch Treat' Dinner	5:30 pm at the Turtle Jacks 4155 Fairview St., Burlington - 905-633-9464
Directions to Dinner	Exit from Queen Elizabeth Way on Walker's Line South to Fairview St. (2nd lights.) Turn left on Fairview.
Pre-registration NOT required	Pre-registration is not a requirement as was previously announced. Please note that the pdf file has not been updated.
Complete Bulletin	Download March Bulletin in Adobe Acrobat Format

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