California Micro Devices Announces Industry's Smallest ESD Protection Device for Mobile Handsets

CM1242-33CP Provides Robust 30kV of Bi-Directional ESD Protection in a 0201 Single Channel Format

MILPITAS, California, December 21 - California Micro Devices (Nasdaq: CAMD) today announced the CM1242-33CP,
first in a family of extremely small outline ESD (electrostatic discharge)
protection devices. Establishing new industry benchmarks for ESD performance
and small solution form factor, the CM1242 is an ideal solution for space
constrained applications in multimedia smart phones, netbooks and MIDs
(mobile internet devices), e-book readers and personal media players. The
device provides a single channel of bi-directional +/- 30kV contact ESD
protection in a very compact outline (0.6mm x 0.3mm).

(Photo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091221/SF28966)

Robust ESD Protection

With multiple ESD ingress points, such as side function keys and
individual keys in a keypad array, designers of smart phones need to pay
particular attention to ESD design criteria. The robustness of the ESD
protection, physical size and price are all important design considerations.
Varistors, popular for their small size and low cost, also have high clamping
voltages, slower response times than semiconductor based diode solutions and
ESD performance which significantly degrades after each ESD event; as a
result, they are not very effective.

When compared to other semiconductor based solutions, the CM1242-33CP
offers performance and form factor advantages. With an extremely low dynamic
resistance specification of 0.4 Ohm, the CM1242 features a lower clamping
voltage and more robust ESD protection than competing solutions. An ESD
protection device is only effective if it can shunt the majority of an ESD
strike's energy to ground. This ability is a function of the protection
device's dynamic resistance, which should be as low as possible. If the ESD
protection device has a high dynamic resistance, energy that normally would
be channeled through the ESD protection device will instead be allowed to
reach the device under protection (DUP), resulting in a higher probability of
damage.

Key Features

    Features include:
    - Extremely small 0201 standard package (0.6mm x 0.3mm)
    - Bi-directional +/- 30kV contact discharge ESD protection per
      IEC61000-4-2 standard
    - Low clamping voltage of +/- 8.6V
    - Extremely low dynamic resistance, typically 0.4 Ohm

Packaging, Pricing and Availability

The CM1242-33CP will be available at US$0.035 each at 15,000 units.
Engineering samples are available now, and production is scheduled for
1Q2010.

About California Micro Devices Corporation

California Micro Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of protection
devices for the mobile handset, high brightness LED (HBLED), digital consumer
electronics and personal computer markets. Detailed corporate and product
information may be accessed at www.cmd.com.

The CMD logo is a registered trademark of California Micro Devices
Corporation. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Kyle Baker of California Micro Devices Corporation, +1-408-934-3117, kyleb at cmd.com