Calterah Wins “China Chip” Award 2023 for Outstanding Product of Technological Innovation
At the 18th “China Chip” Award Ceremony on September 20, Calterah was granted the “China Chip” Award for Outstanding Product of Technological Innovation for its Alps family of CMOS mmWave radar SoCs. The Alps SoC family stood out from 398 chip products from 285 enterprises, with its competitive technological innovations, independent intellectual property rights, and contribution to improving China’s self-reliant auto chip supply chain.
The “China Chip” Award is one of the most influential and leading IC awards in China. Under the organization of China Center for Information Industry Development, Zhuhai Municipal Government, and the Administrative Committee of Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, this year’s ceremony was held to honor the innovative products, technologies and applications in China’s IC industry, where industry experts from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Semiconductor Industry Association and other industry-leading institutes and organizations, were invited to review all the chip products from enterprises nationwide that had applied.
Alps SoCs, “China Chip” for Auto mmWave Radar Sensors
The award-winning Alps family of Calterah’s auto-grade 77 GHz mmWave SoC, which embodies more than 10 technical patents, holds industry-leading positions in various aspects.
- World-leading CMOS mmWave radar SoC technology: As the pioneer of CMOS mmWave radar SoC technology, Calterah has mass-produced the world’s first CMOS auto-grade 77 GHz mmWave RF front-end transceiver. Based on this first-gen product, Calterah took the lead to roll out its second-gen auto-grade SoC chip, i.e. the award-winning Alps family of CMOS mmWave radar SoCs, sparking a revolution in the industry. Alps SoCs boast outstanding PPA (performance, power, area) and cost-effectiveness thanks to its integration of basically all components of a radar system, including RF front-end, analog baseband, baseband accelerator for radar signal processing, high-performance CPU, communication interfaces, and so on.
- China’s first auto-grade chip that fully complies with ISO 26262: Having been certified by TÜV Rheinland in 2021, the Alps SoC stands out as China’s first auto-grade chip product to have obtained the ISO 26262 full compliance certification of ASIL-B level from a third party. As a highly integrated SoC, Alps is mainly responsible for achieving functional safety of radar modules, highly capable of meeting the strict requirements for auto-grade chips.
- World’s first mass-produced auto-grade mmWave radar AiP SoC: The Alps family includes the innovative Antenna-in-Package (AiP) SoCs, a fingernail-size chip with an antenna array of multiple TRX channels integrated inside its package, which makes it possible to realize the complete radar system in just one single chip. Having overcome challenges in antenna design, radiation structure, packaging materials, and other aspects, Calterah harvested multiple patents related to AiP and rolled out the world’s first 77 GHz AiP SoC in 2020. Calterah’s Alps AiP SoCs save customers from the troubles of antenna design for mmWave sensors, thereby shortening the development and manufacturing cycles and reducing costs. In addition, Alps AiP SoCs help achieve extremely compact radar modules, which are perfectly fit for emerging automotive applications such as door radar and tail gate radar. Meanwhile, the unique and innovative AiP technology is also empowering international OEMs beyond China to achieve smarter and safer driving experiences.
Calterah’s SoCs to Improve China’s Self-Reliant Auto Chip Supply Chain
As a global leader in designing and developing CMOS mmWave radar chips, Calterah has empowered more than 150 passenger vehicle models and shipped over 6 million auto-grade mmWave radar ICs accumulatively. And most of the SoCs shipped are from the Alps family. With millions of IC units mass-produced and shipped, Calterah has contributed to improving the self-reliance of China’s auto chip supply chain by alleviating its dependence on foreign companies for high-end auto-grade chips. Calterah’s Alps SoCs cover a comprehensive set of solutions for medium- and long-range radar, short-range radar, and ultra-short-range radar and enable a variety of ADAS applications from traditional corner radar to the emerging applications of door radar, tail gate radar, and so on.
The mass production of high-frequency auto-grade chips also relies on automatic testing that is both reliable and cost-effective. Traditional automatic testing equipment for chip volume testing only supported low-frequency chip products. Therefore, Calterah has developed its own testing solution for the mass production of high-frequency mmWave SoCs, which includes designing customized and complete testing hardware for high-frequency mmWave SoCs, building highly-sophisticated over-the-air testing chamber for AiP chips, and setting up J Lab, the Calterah ATE clean lab, for further development of the testing programs. What Calterah has achieved from the aforementioned efforts also helps to strengthen the technical abilities in high-frequency chip testing for China’s auto chip supply chain.
The “China Chip” award will serve as a long-lasting inspiration for Calterah to further its technological innovations to develop leading-edge “China Chips” for auto radar sensors and empower intelligent driving with more advanced, higher-performance, easier-to-use, and more power-efficient mmWave radar technologies, living its mission to “Make Millimeter-Wave Serve Everyone”.
At the 18th “China Chip” Award Ceremony on September 20, Calterah was granted the “China Chip” Award for Outstanding Product of Technological Innovation for its Alps family of CMOS mmWave radar SoCs. The Alps SoC family stood out from 398 chip products from 285 enterprises, with its competitive technological innovations, independent intellectual property rights, and contribution to improving China’s self-reliant auto chip supply chain.
The “China Chip” Award is one of the most influential and leading IC awards in China. Under the organization of China Center for Information Industry Development, Zhuhai Municipal Government, and the Administrative Committee of Guangdong-Macao In-depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, this year’s ceremony was held to honor the innovative products, technologies and applications in China’s IC industry, where industry experts from Tsinghua University, Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Semiconductor Industry Association and other industry-leading institutes and organizations, were invited to review all the chip products from enterprises nationwide that had applied.
Alps SoCs, “China Chip” for Auto mmWave Radar Sensors
The award-winning Alps family of Calterah’s auto-grade 77 GHz mmWave SoC, which embodies more than 10 technical patents, holds industry-leading positions in various aspects.
- World-leading CMOS mmWave radar SoC technology: As the pioneer of CMOS mmWave radar SoC technology, Calterah has mass-produced the world’s first CMOS auto-grade 77 GHz mmWave RF front-end transceiver. Based on this first-gen product, Calterah took the lead to roll out its second-gen auto-grade SoC chip, i.e. the award-winning Alps family of CMOS mmWave radar SoCs, sparking a revolution in the industry. Alps SoCs boast outstanding PPA (performance, power, area) and cost-effectiveness thanks to its integration of basically all components of a radar system, including RF front-end, analog baseband, baseband accelerator for radar signal processing, high-performance CPU, communication interfaces, and so on.
- China’s first auto-grade chip that fully complies with ISO 26262: Having been certified by TÜV Rheinland in 2021, the Alps SoC stands out as China’s first auto-grade chip product to have obtained the ISO 26262 full compliance certification of ASIL-B level from a third party. As a highly integrated SoC, Alps is mainly responsible for achieving functional safety of radar modules, highly capable of meeting the strict requirements for auto-grade chips.
- World’s first mass-produced auto-grade mmWave radar AiP SoC: The Alps family includes the innovative Antenna-in-Package (AiP) SoCs, a fingernail-size chip with an antenna array of multiple TRX channels integrated inside its package, which makes it possible to realize the complete radar system in just one single chip. Having overcome challenges in antenna design, radiation structure, packaging materials, and other aspects, Calterah harvested multiple patents related to AiP and rolled out the world’s first 77 GHz AiP SoC in 2020. Calterah’s Alps AiP SoCs save customers from the troubles of antenna design for mmWave sensors, thereby shortening the development and manufacturing cycles and reducing costs. In addition, Alps AiP SoCs help achieve extremely compact radar modules, which are perfectly fit for emerging automotive applications such as door radar and tail gate radar. Meanwhile, the unique and innovative AiP technology is also empowering international OEMs beyond China to achieve smarter and safer driving experiences.
Calterah’s SoCs to Improve China’s Self-Reliant Auto Chip Supply Chain
As a global leader in designing and developing CMOS mmWave radar chips, Calterah has empowered more than 150 passenger vehicle models and shipped over 6 million auto-grade mmWave radar ICs accumulatively. And most of the SoCs shipped are from the Alps family. With millions of IC units mass-produced and shipped, Calterah has contributed to improving the self-reliance of China’s auto chip supply chain by alleviating its dependence on foreign companies for high-end auto-grade chips. Calterah’s Alps SoCs cover a comprehensive set of solutions for medium- and long-range radar, short-range radar, and ultra-short-range radar and enable a variety of ADAS applications from traditional corner radar to the emerging applications of door radar, tail gate radar, and so on.
The mass production of high-frequency auto-grade chips also relies on automatic testing that is both reliable and cost-effective. Traditional automatic testing equipment for chip volume testing only supported low-frequency chip products. Therefore, Calterah has developed its own testing solution for the mass production of high-frequency mmWave SoCs, which includes designing customized and complete testing hardware for high-frequency mmWave SoCs, building highly-sophisticated over-the-air testing chamber for AiP chips, and setting up J Lab, the Calterah ATE clean lab, for further development of the testing programs. What Calterah has achieved from the aforementioned efforts also helps to strengthen the technical abilities in high-frequency chip testing for China’s auto chip supply chain.
The “China Chip” award will serve as a long-lasting inspiration for Calterah to further its technological innovations to develop leading-edge “China Chips” for auto radar sensors and empower intelligent driving with more advanced, higher-performance, easier-to-use, and more power-efficient mmWave radar technologies, living its mission to “Make Millimeter-Wave Serve Everyone”.
