TAIPEI, Sept. 19, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- eMemory Technology Inc. (hereinafter referred to as "eMemory") is a leading developer of silicon intellectual property (IP) for Logic-Based Non-Volatile Memory (Logic NVM). The company's NeoBit and NeoEE products were recently certified for accordance with the ISO 26262:2018 (ASIL D) and IEC 61508:2010 (SIL3) standards by TUV Rheinland, making it one of the few semiconductor companies to possess a complete IP solution for the functional safety of road vehicles. eMemory is also the only company in the Greater China region to have obtained both certificates for its IP.
The IC was developed to comply with the IEC 61508 or ISO 26262 standards. Most of the semiconductor functional safety certifications obtained by vendors to date have been for functional safety management systems. eMemory IP, on the other hand, took functional safety requirements into account during the design of its NeoBit and NeoEE products. It was therefore able to pass the TUV Rheinland evaluation process and obtain its product functional safety certificate.
The ISO 26262 standard defines four Automotive Safety Integrity Levels (ASIL): A, B, C, and D, with D being the most rigorous. IEC 61508 defines the Safety Integrity Level (SIL) of automotive software, hardware, and systems, with SIL 3 being the highest level that an individual product can achieve. The ASIL D (ISO 26262) and SIL 3 (IEC 61508) automotive functional safety levels achieved by eMemory are both the highest degree of safety possible for life-threatening hazards. Safety applications include automotive and industrial control systems such as safety air bags, electronic braking systems, and electronic brakeforce distribution systems. "We are pleased that both the NeoBit and NeoEE IP solutions have obtained ISO 26262 ASIL D and IEC 61508 SIL3 certification," says Rick Shen, President of eMemory. "Their certification gives IC makers the confidence to use eMemory's NVM IP solution to comply with the overall functional safety requirements for their automotive & industrial applications."
Any new technology such as Internet-of-Vehicles, self-driving vehicles, and intelligent road transport systems will give rise to new risks. Suppliers for car electronic systems, parts and assemblies, IC, as well as software and hardware components are increasingly realizing the importance of functional safety. European and Japanese car makers in particular are pushing the requirements for automotive functional safety. Suppliers that don't conform with their requirements lose even the right to bid on contracts. For vendors wishing to upgrade their product technology, quality, and safety to automotive class, the safety and quality assurance provided by functional safety certification means that their product is superior to other products in the same class.
"Designers should think about whether or not a product failure (such as a software or hardware malfunction) will result in danger," says Bin Zhao, General Manager of TUV Rheinland. "If it will, they should give thought to functional safety. Designers must not only comply with the standard on the management level to reduce systemic failures. The design of the product should also incorporate measures that control systemic and random failures. This problem is new to many vendors, so they face a great deal of difficulty in everything from design, R&D, and documentation to corporate evaluation." The prevention of failure is not just a circuit control problem. The real difficulty is in the designer taking the initiative to dissect the probability for each type of risk and adopting safe designs. Only then can true compliance with functional safety be achieved.
A total approach to functional safety design should incorporate process management, concept design, system development, software/hardware development, testing, and production right from the start of the R&D process. Vendors looking to enter functional safety should conduct a self-assessment before progressively introducing personnel certification, process and product certifications into the product life cycle. Assurance of safety functionality means greater customer trust due to increased reliability and better mitigation of safety hazards. TUV Rheinland is the only certifying body to have participated in the development of the functional safety standards, due to its extensive experience as well as its ability to provide professional evaluation and advice. In addition to the automotive industry, TUV Rheinland can assist vendors in other industries (such as nuclear energy, aerospace, industrial control, and home appliances) that have strict safety requirements in specific environments and applications, as well as establishing a functional safety management system tailored to their risk control needs.
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