Mirror Semiconductor is being launched as a joint venture between Liberty University and TopLine Corporation. Mission is to be a fabless producer of "Mirrored Pinout" integrated circuits and to license Mirrored Pinout technology to ODM, EMS, OEM and packaging foundries.

"Mirrored Pinout" is a surprising simple technology that has potential to hugely improve the way circuit boards are designed in the future. By intermixing "Standard" ICs with "Mirrored Pinout" devices, circuit boards shrink in size, use with fewer inner layers, operate at faster speed and cost less. "Mirrored Pinout" can be assembled in all commonly available device packages and applies to any pin count from 3 to over 1000 leads.

 

 "Mirror Pinouts" are created by reverse wire bonding standard die, using cavity down die mounting, rewiring substrates and by other innovative ways.

 

Applications include parallel data bus circuits typically found in microcontrollers, memory controllers, graphic accelerators, and digital signal processing (DSP).  Management believes that customers will discover new, exciting uses for "Mirrored Pinout" devices.

 

Mirror Semiconductor is an entrepreneurial driven start-up with classic needs to acquire funding. After funding, management intends to start the process of educating a global customer base to the remarkable benefits of using "Mirrored Pinout" devices.

 

Liberty University has filed for patents (pending) on Mirrored Pinout technology. TopLine Corporation provides the know-how to bring this innovative technology to the market.

 

What the product is:

 

The innovation is surprisingly simple. The innovation consists of a "system" as well as a "product". The "system" comprises the intermixing of "Standard Pinout" integrated circuits with "Mirrored Pinout" devices on a PC board. The "product" is "Mirrored Pinout" integrated circuits.

 

"Mirrored Pinout" integrated circuits (the "product") can be made in a variety of creative ways, such as reverse wire bonding standard die in a cavity-down configuration, or by reverse forming of lead-frame pins, or by reverse wire bonding die in a cavity-up configuration, or by redesigning BGA substrates as an interposer, or by reverse imaging wafer level die, etc. The exact methodology for reverse wiring integrated circuits to create Mirrored Pinouts depends on the outline package and customer choice.

 

What problem it solves:

 

Currently, board designers are limited to using only "Standard Pinout" IC devices, available on today's market. During the board level design process, CAD software routes a superhighway of complex copper tracings to connect one IC to the next. Additional board inner layers are required to permit complex circuitry with hundreds, and perhaps thousands of standard vias, blind vias and buried vias. A host of unpleasant issues such as unwanted noise, stray capacitances, and unbalanced impedances are introduced as the number of board inner layers rises and the number of vias increases. Cost rises with each additional board inner layer. Circuit operating speeds become constrained as circuit tracings become longer in order to connect one IC to another.

 

By intermixing a system of "Standard Pinout" with "Mirrored Pinout" devices, routing distances between IC pins become significantly shortened. Circuit boards shrink in size, require fewer inner layers, operate at faster speeds and cost less. There are fewer issues to deal with involving EMI and unwanted noise. Circuit board designs become simplified and are easier to debug and assemble.

 

Supporting data to show it works:

 

For simplicity the diagrams on page 2 and 3 depict low pin counts. However, it should be noted that "Mirrored Pinout" technology is applicable to all outline packages on today's market with pin counts from 3 to over 1000 leads. 

 

 

Fig 1. Two "Standard Pinout" Integrated Circuits are mounted on the same side of the board. The circuit tracing measures 100mm (4-inches) by way of example. For simplicity, only Pin 1 to Pin 1 tracing is shown.

 

 

Fig 2.  A system comprises of a "Standard Pinout" with a "Mirrored Pinout"

mounted on the same side of the board.  The tracing distance significantly shortens to 20mm (for example).

 

 

Fig 3.  By mounting a "Standard Pinout" on the top side of the board with a "Mirrored Pinout" on the bottom side of the board, the tracing distance significantly shortens to only 2mm (about the thickness of the PC board). A via connects the Pin 1 to Pin 1 through the board.

 

 

 

Fig 4.   Simplified point-to-point circuit tracings can be achieved by placing a

 "Standard Pinout" along with a "Mirrored Pinout" mounted on the same side of the board.

Qualities that make the product unique and compared with other products/solutions.

 

Circuit board designers currently only use Standard Pinout devices. There are no "Mirrored Pinout" integrated circuits on today's market. Therefore, designers continue developing circuits without taking advantage of improvements that are possible by combining a system of "Standard Pinout" with "Mirrored Pinout" devices.

 

The benefits of combining Standard and Mirrored Pinouts are especially pronounced with applications involving parallel data bus circuits typically found in microcontrollers, memory controllers, graphic accelerators, and digital signal processing (DSP).

 

Management generally believes that customers will discover new and exciting uses for "Mirrored Pinout" devices as this technology gains traction in the marketplace.

 

Contact: Martin Hart

Tel:  (949) 250-4001

info@MirrorSemi.com