Limerick firm seals Motorola nanotech deal


26 Nov 2003

A Limerick-based semiconductor design services company has sealed a deal to design complex analogue chip technology that will be used in the next generation of Motorola’s mobile technology.

IC Mask Design Ltd completed a physical design on a 90 nanometer technology using advanced electronic design automation toolsets. The project was completed recently against a very aggressive schedule. Headquartered in Limerick, IC Mask Design also has a design centre in Dublin from where much of the work for Motorola was completed.

The deal with Motorola is a significant milestone for the Limerick-based company which saw a substantial growth in its business this year. The company’s business base includes medium-sized IC companies as well as leading global Fortune 500 companies. Motorola is the fourth Fortune 500 company to be signed up by IC Mask Design.

Motorola Ireland’s design manager David Redmond commented: “We had a difficult challenge, designing precision analogue circuits in 90nm technology to reside on a baseband processor, in a compressed timescale.

“IC Mask Design were able to meet our timescale. They were flexible, and delivered on time within the design constraints imposed. They operated like an extension of our own design team,” Redmond said.

“Since the company began operations, we have successfully secured a customer base of leading semiconductor companies,” said IC Mask Design’s CEO Fergal Brosnan. “Motorola is another success that has seen IC Mask Design achieve substantial growth, even in these difficult economic conditions. This type of business engagement proves our ability to complete complex physical designs from locations remote to customer engineering teams.”

By John Kennedy