Microsoft In Production with Mixel’s D-PHY IP

“We needed a high quality MIPI IP that worked the first time. Mixel’s differentiated solution, wide coverage of nodes and track record of success made our IP provider selection quite easy,” said Microsoft’s Sr. Director of Engineering, Sheethal Nayak. “Mixel’s IP quality and support throughout the development phase were outstanding. We look forward to future collaboration with Mixel.”

The Challenge

Microsoft was developing a new sensor-based PC peripheral based on the Kinect line of sensors. The Microsoft Azure Kinect DK is a developer’s kit with advanced AI sensors for sophisticated computer vision and speech models. Despite sharing the name with the Xbox Kinect product line, this would be a separate, standalone device. Designed for versatility, it needed to combine an advanced depth sensor and spatial microphone array with a video camera and orientation sensor—all while having multiple modes, options, and SDKs.

Microsoft needed a MIPI IP for the time-of-flight depth sensor chip using the world’s smallest ToF pixel at 3.5μm by 3.5μm. While this sensor chip was intended for the PC peripheral, the Azure Kinect Developer Kit, it was also planned to be featured in Microsoft HoloLens 2. As an augmented reality (AR) wearable, the sensor chip needed to be small in form factor and more importantly, use limited power. MIPI IP was the perfect combination of performance, power, and area.

It was critical that the IP vendor have a proven track record in MIPI PHY IP. First time silicon success was essential in order to meet the timeline. Having a partner who had a proven track record of silicon-success in multiple nodes and foundries with multiple configurations of MIPI PHY was important. Having silicon-proven IP in 9 different nodes and 8 different foundries, including the process selected for this engagement, Mixel was a good match for Microsoft.

The Solution

Mixel provided Microsoft with a complete MIPI solution, which included two IP products fully integrated and validated: the Mixel MIPI D-PHY and CSI-2 Host Controller Core. The D-PHY link can operate with 1 to 4 lanes and supports an aggregated data rate of 6 Gbps. It uses a clock-forwarded synchronous link that provides high noise immunity and high jitter tolerance. As this sensor would become a key part of the HoloLens 2, having low power consumption was critical. The Mixel IP incorporates proprietary differentiating features to reduce stand-by current, wakeup time, and power down state.

The Results

Microsoft was able to take the chip from design to production in record time, benefiting from the close design-to-production support provided by Mixel. This level of support is one which few in the IP industry are capable of providing and that is often overlooked when choosing third party IP to be part of the design. Due to the solid documentation and the close collaboration between the two teams ahead of tape-out, Microsoft was able to bring up the chip integrating the Mixel D-PHY with minimal post tape-out support from Mixel.

Microsoft achieved first time silicon success with Mixel’s MIPI IP solution and is now in volume production with both products.

For more information on the Microsoft Azure Kinect DK, visit:

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/services/kinect-dk/

For more information on the Microsoft Hololens 2, visit:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/hololens/hardware

For more information on Mixel’s IP portfolio visit:

https://www.mixel.com

CONTACT US

Mixel, Inc.

97 E Brokaw Rd, #250
San Jose, CA 95112
Phone:(408) 436-8500
info@mixel.com
mixel.com