ROHM LSI Design Philippines, Inc. is one of the four ROHM subsidiaries operating in the Philippines. It was set up to provide ROHM Co., Ltd. and other ROHM subsidiaries with IC Design and IC Test Development services and was granted incentives by the Board of Investments as a pioneering venture in January 1993.

ROHM LSI Design Philippines, Inc. now boasts of having one of the largest electronics research and development facilities in the country with about 400 employees directly involved in one or more of the following activities:

• MICROELECTRONIC CIRCUIT DESIGN

ROHM LSI Design Philippines, Inc. provides integrated circuit design and design support services to ROHM Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries. It participates in the design of state-of-the-art integrated circuits for consumer electronic and industrial products. Designs are executed using highly sophisticated computer aided design and simulation tools on engineering work stations and personal computers and are implemented in either CMOS, Bipolar or Bi-CMOS technology. Fabricated designs are evaluated using highly sophisticated test and measurement equipment.

• INTEGRATED CIRCUIT MASK DESIGN

An integrated circuit is fabricated by the selective deposition of conducting, insulating, and semiconducting layers on a silicon wafer. A set of masks is needed for the deposition process. At ROHM LSI Design Philippines, Inc., these masks are designed and laid out by highly trained personnel using mask layout and verification tools on engineering workstations and personal computers. Integrated Circuit Mask Design requires not only knowledge of electronic circuit theory but also background in semiconductor processes and techniques.

• INTEGRATED CIRCUIT TEST DEVELOPMENT

Various tests are conducted to ensure the functionality and quality of ROHM’s integrated circuits. These tests are conducted on the wafer after fabrication and on the integrated circuit itself after packaging. At ROHM LSI Design Philippines, Inc., the circuits and systems for conducting these tests are developed. This requires the construction of prototype test boxes containing printed circuit boards that act as interface between the device under test and a universal test machine. The activity also requires the design and coding of software to perform the actual tests. Test development is carried out both for analog and digital devices.

Rohm Co., Ltd., founded in Kyoto Japan, designs and manufactures integrated circuits (ICs) and other electronic components. The Company’s product include monolithic and hybrid ICs, transistors, diodes, light emitting diodes (LEDS), sensors laser diodes, liquid crystal displays (LCDs), printheads, resistors and capacitors. Its manufacturing operations are supported by highly automated production systems developed in-house.