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The pace of technology development increased rapidly over the past half century. Luxury items 50 years ago, such as television, is now a standard home appliance with quality much better than earlier models. Playing a significant role in this impressive improvement is advances in integrated circuits（ICs). Much of our daily activities involve interactions with items containing ICs such as computers, TV sets, radios, iPods, mobile phones, microwave ovens, public transportation, elevators, watches, hearing aids, pace-makers, etc. Without these wonderful devices, the lifestyle as we know it would be greatly affected.

ASTRI’s IC Design（ICD）Group is tasked with developing state-of-the-art ICs and their applications. Our key missions are:

• Develop ICs and application solutions to serve customers in Hong Kong and other regions
• Serve as a bridge connecting customers with IC technology knowledge base such as universities, national laboratories, foundries and EDA/packaging/testing vendors.

Over the past several years, ICD attracted new talents, defined clear goals, enhanced IC design infrastructures, engaged new customers and created IPs. We put talents in our Portable Analog and Mixed Signal Design（PAD）team and our Applied SoC Design（ASD）team to good use in several exciting projects. In addition, we formed a new Optical Communication Circuit Design（OCD）team to develop products targeting at applications in optical communication.

On the analog front, we hold fast to our strategy of developing technologies with real world impact. We strongly believe that many of the good and enjoyable things in life are analog. Currently, we are working on low cost LCoS（liquid crystal on silicon）imagers and LED drivers for Pico-projectors, ultra low-power analog-to-digital converters for sensing, advanced AC to DC power conversion circuits for LED lighting, and motor drivers for digital cameras, as well as micro-inverters for renewable solar electric systems. We are also developing cells and circuits for electrostatic discharge（ESD）protection.

 

On the SoC side, we are targeting at applications in the display and storage segments. Dynamic LED backlight control in flat-panel TVs and a hardware/software solution to eliminate image blurring in fast moving scenes are two of the high profile projects in our display efforts. On the storage front, we are developing a NAND Flash memory controller addressing the rapidly growing solid state disk market and a USB3.0 controller to focus on the fast growing video/data segments. Also, we are developing IP qualification criteria with validation flow and exploring SoCs for health and medical applications.

ICD is working closely with leading industrial partners in Hong Kong, the Mainland, and overseas. Since formation in 2005, we have filed more than 50 patents and completed more than 30 technology transfers to industry. Our 90 staff members are highly educated, bright, enthusiastic and eager to put their talent to practice. The Group will continue offering commercially competitive IPs and total turn-key IC solutions to its customers, thereby enhancing their competitiveness in global markets.