QUALIT Y
ASSUR ANCE

Socionext Inc.

Nomura Shin-Yokohama Bldg., 2-10-23 Shin-Yokohama,
Kohoku-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 222-0033, Japan
Tel. +81-45-568-1015

https://socionext.com/en/All Rights Reserved.
Socionext Inc., its subsidiaries and affiliates (collectively, "Socionext") reserves the right to make changes to the information contained in this document without notice. Please contact
your Socionext sales representatives before order of Socionext device.
Information contained in this document, such as descriptions of function and application circuit examples is presented solely for reference to examples of operations and uses ofSocionext device. Socionext disclaims any and all warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, related to such information, including, without limitation, quality, accuracy,performance, proper operation of the device or non-infringement. If you develop equipment or product incorporating the Socionext device based on such information, you must assume
any responsibility or liability arising out of or in connection with such information or any use thereof. Socionext assumes no responsibility or liability for any damages whatsoever arisingout of or in connection with such information or any use thereof.
Nothing contained in this document shall be construed as granting or conferring any right under any patents, copyrights, or any other intellectual property rights of Socionext or any third
party by license or otherwise, express or implied. Socionext assumes no responsibility or liability for any infringement of any intellectual property rights or other rights of third parties
resulting from or in connection with the information contained herein or use thereof.
The products described in this document are designed, developed and manufactured as contemplated for general use including without limitation, ordinary industrial use, general officeuse, personal use, and household use, but are not designed, developed and manufactured as contemplated (1) for use accompanying fatal risks or dangers that, unless extremely highlevels of safety is secured, could lead directly to death, personal injury, severe physical damage or other loss (including, without limitation, use in nuclear facility, aircraft flight control
system, air traffic control system, mass transport control system, medical life support system and military application), or (2) for use requiring extremely high level of reliability (including,without limitation, submersible repeater and artificial satellite). Socionext shall not be liable for you and/or any third party for any claims or damages arising out of or in connection withabove-mentioned uses of the products.
Any semiconductor devices fail or malfunction with some probability. You are responsible for providing adequate designs and safeguards against injury, damage or loss from such
failures or malfunctions, by incorporating safety design measures into your facility, equipments and products such as redundancy, fire protection, and prevention of overcurrent levels
and other abnormal operating conditions.
The products and technical information described in this document are subject to the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law of Japan, and may be subject to export or importlaws or regulations in U.S. or other countries. You are responsible for ensuring compliance with such laws and regulations relating to export or re-export of the products and technicalinformation described herein.
All company names, brand names and trademarks herein are property of their respective owners.

Copyright 2015-2023 Socionext Inc.
AD00-00003-19E October 2023
Edited：Quality Assurance Division

1. Quality policy

Leading Quality for
Customer Success
Providing Optimum Quality toCustomers through Comprehensive

The products of Socionext are utilized in various ﬁelds and are playing very importantroles in our customersʼ products. We build quality products that meet the varying
QCD (Quality, Cost, and Delivery) needs of our customers. Additionally, through comprehensive management systems for the planning and design stages, we as a fablesscompany choose perfect partner companies (contract manufacturers) in Japan andoverseas according to the characteristics, functionality, and quality of products to bemanufactured. Moreover, by leveraging our high-quality and reliable technology thathas been developed in the global market and through strong cooperation with ourpartner companies (contract manufacturers), we provide optimum quality to our customers in a timely manner.
Designmanagement

Management Systems.
Price

Qualityauthentication

Contents
1. Quality policy

QualityandReliability

Audit
compliance3

２. Organization of QA
3. Quality Assurance System4

4. Honing from the source(DR)6

5. Supplier management

7

6. Change management

8

7. Traceability

9

8. Failure Analysis

10

9. Customer quality support

12

10. Software Quality Assurance

13

11. Environmental activities

14

12. ISO certiﬁcation

15

Productqualiﬁcation

DeliveryComplaint
handling

Screening

Continuous
improvements

Subcontractor
management

２. Organization of QA
Socionext has organized itself to maintain and manage quality systems, promote
design quality, develop reliability technology, support customer quality, oﬀer feedback
from Failure analysis, collaborate with subcontractors, and promote management.
Quality Assurance Division■ Reliability & Quality Management Department(Product Design Review, Supplier Management, Quality/Environment Management System)■ Reliability & Quality Assurance Department(Customer Complaints, Customer Quality Support)■ Reliability Engineering Department(Physical Failure Analysis, Qualiﬁcation Test, Reliability Engineering)■ Design Quality Department(Design Quality, Software Quality)23

3. Quality Assurance System

Function
Business unit

Customer

Socionext
Sales

Customer tech.
supportDesignTechnology/Test/Assembly tech.

Quality Assurance

Outsourcing Gr.

Logistics(Engineering/Purchasing/Production mgmt.)

Subcontractor

Requirements
Planning stage○

Product planning validity review (PR)○●○○○Product development plan review (DR0)
○
●

○

○

Design veriﬁcation

Technical startup
Technical evaluation

Product design validity review (DR1)○●

Design andprototyping stage○○○
Instructions

Development prototype production□■

Prototyping■

ES delivery
Mass production
transition stage

Customer evaluation○

Product/shipping stage○

CS delivery

Product warehouse

Purchase order

Sales order

MP delivery

Product warehouse

Mass production

Approval

Change application

Claim

Reception

Reply

Reply

Market○●○○Mass production transition validity review (DR2)○○○

Speciﬁcation check/purchase speciﬁcation preparation■■■

Certiﬁcation testing■■

Mass production start review (DR3)○●○

Initial ﬂow management□■□Pre-shipment audit (PA)○●○Factory audit

Initial mass production■

Production instructions

Mass production■□□

Regular data monitoring□□□

Joint quality improvement meetings, regular audits, supplier performance review□■□□□Fault processing□■□Fault notiﬁcation■○○

Process change review○●○

Change application■□□

Claim reception/review□■□Cause investigation/correction
■

□□

■

□Claim reply□■□Quality information■Improvement activities■

PR : Planning Review DR : Design Review PA : Product Assurance

ES : Engineering Sample CS : Commercial Sample MP : Mass Production● : Responsible department 〇 : Related department ■ : Implementation department □ : Support department

4: Route5４. Honing from the source (DR)

５．Supplier management

Each step at the development process, such as market, research, product plan-To assure optimal quality for fabless company, we build close relationships ofsix steps: product planning validity review (PR), product development planequivalent to in-house fabs.

ning and development planning is completed with design review before starting
mass production. In our quality assurance program, design review consists ofreview (DR0), product design validity review (DR1), mass production transition

cooperation with domestic and overseas foundries and partner companies thathave the optimal technology. Through this, we achieve quality management

validity review (DR2), mass production start review (DR3), and pre-shipment
audit (PA). We place particular emphasis on the product planning validity review<Control ITEMS>

Customer

Quality Performance result
Inspection results● Reliability data
● Production Performance result●●(PR) and product development plan review (DR0). By identifying problems at an

earlier stage, we are able to resolve issues to hone quality from the source.
Also, we optimize our review contents to ensure that nothing is left out.

Planning

PR

Design/Prototyping

DR0

DR1

Mass production transition/shipping

DR2
DR3

PA

Name

Role

Description

PR

Product planningvalidity review

We consider the target quality and target reliability to be used for the new productand conﬁrm product development with the agreement of all related oﬃces.

DR0Product developmentplan review

DR1

Product design
validity review

Completing the planned design work, we check that the basic design matches thecustomer's requirements.

DR2

Mass production transition
validity review

We conﬁrm the necessary speciﬁcations for mass production prototyping, based on
results obtained from prototype evaluation.

DR3

Mass production
start review

We use the mass production prototype to evaluate the characteristics of the productand conﬁrm the necessary speciﬁcations and facilities for mass production.

Pre-shipment review

We conduct feedback based on initial ﬂow management results and in-process faultinformation.

PA<Quality Control and Improvement ITEMS>

Supplier Audit
Quality Meeting● Supplier Performance Review● Continual Improvement● Corrective and Preventive Action● Yield Improvement●●Communication /data monitoring

Business units:
QualityEngineering
Production control
Purchasing

Supplier(WP, Test)

Communication /data monitoring

Information shared data monitoring, speedy
response (Investigation, Failure analysis), fromdata acquisition to prompt feedback in thecommunication. Supplier's production faults
and process changes managed throughchange management.

Supplier(Assy, Test, etc.)

Business units:
QualityEngineering
Production control
Sales

Business units:
QualityEngineering
Production control
Sales

We clarify the resources and work required to develop the new product andestablish a plan that accounts for everything.

PR : Planning Review DR : Design Review PA : Product Assurance

Potential supplierselection

Business Unit/
Engineering/
Purchasing

Prototype technicalevaluation

Business Unit/
Engineering/

Supplier proﬁleevaluation

Purchasing

Quality & Reliability
evaluation

QA
Business Unit/
Engineering/
QA/
Purchasing

Supplier technology
evaluation

Business Unit/
Engineering/
Purchasing

Purchase speciﬁcation
contract

Potential supplierdecisionBusiness Unit/
Engineering/
Purchasing

Qualiﬁcation
review

QA

Supplier
qualiﬁcation

QA

QA agreement concluded

Mass production
management

QA

Regular report, Quality meeting, audit etc.

67

６. Change management

7．Traceability

When changing design and processes, the QA and related business units, which
draft the changes, review the details. They perform reliability evaluation of criti-cal characteristics, and compare it to the current product and strictly checkthat there is no discrepancy in quality or reliability. The system is such thatmajor changes have to be ﬁnally approved by the QA business units. The customer is notiﬁed of changes in quality, reliability, electrical characteristics, andappearance before changes are made.

Proposal

Proposal process change

Review change details(consider eﬀects of change)

We employ fabrication management system so that manufacturing history canbe traced if a quality problem arises in the market or a process. Products aremarked upon shipping to make visible what they are and what their manufacturing history is.

■Marking example

SOCIONEXTSC X X X X XPart number

１９ ３８ Ｅ００
Customer Notiﬁcation

Customer Notiﬁcation

Notify customer(of changes in quality, reliability,electrical characteristics, appearance)

Reference number(management code)
NG

Evaluate/Review

Evaluate and review change details

Code for week of manufacture

Review of Change/Evaluation

Abort Change

Implementation of Change

8NG

Year of manufacture: last two digits. 2019: "19"

Review

Implementation

Review results<Main traceable details>

Manufacturing history
PCM measurement results● Primary test results● Wafer appearance inspection results● Inspection results● Final test results● Shipping inspection results
Etc.
●●If appropriate,manage initial production control

98. Failure Analysis
We thoroughly analyze products with defects found by customers. We identify■ Fault analysis equipment (excerpt)

the cause, address the problem, and prevent recurrence of the defect. We also
conduct fault analysis and improvement for products with defects found inPurpose

ELITE (Enhanced Lock-In Thermal Emission)
EMS (Emission Microscope)evaluation during development or in process faults at subcontractors.

Development

Mass production● Operating defect● Defect in evaluation

Failure point
identiﬁcation

OBIC (Optical Beam Induced Current)
TDR (Time Domain Reﬂectometry)
Manual probercause, prevent recurrence, andPlasma dry etcher

improve quality

Grinding/etching

Grinding machine
Draft (acid, HF, organic)
Precision grinding system (CMP)SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) + element analysis machine■ Analysis photos

FIB (Focused Ion Beam machine)
Observation

Customer

OBIRCH (Optical Beam Induced Resistance Change)

EBAC (Electron Beam Absorbed Current)

Use Failure Analysis to identify● Defect in initial stages● Fault at subcontractor

Equipment

X-ray observation equipment (3D-CT)
SAT (Scanning Acoustic Tomography)● Defect in process

Optical microscope (Stereoscopic, Gold sensible, IR)● Defect in market

LSI Tester + Thermo StreamOthers

Semiconductor parameter analyzer
Laser opener
Plastic mold opener■ FIB(Focused Ion Beam machine)

10

■ SEM

(Scanning Electron Microscope)■ EBAC(Electron Beam Absorbed Current)■ SAT(Scanning Acoustic Tomography)

119. Customer Quality Support (Customer support, Customer complaints)

10. Software Quality Assurance

Socionext provides detailed support in order to supply our customers stably

Socionext meets the expectations of customers by co-creating software thatcounter-measures to prevent recurrence of the defect, and report on thewe agreed upon with customers and the software we release. Softwarewith products in which they can feel satisﬁed. Speciﬁcally, we thoroughly analyze products with defects found by the customer, identify the cause, takestatus and counter-measures. We always put great eﬀort into our analysis datafor products with defects found by the customer, as it directly guides our quality improvement.

accommodates their various QCD (quality/cost/delivery) needs. We conduct
Software Assessments to guarantee consistency between the requirements

Assessment is a system that provides software that customers can haveconﬁdence in by having a third party certify the quality of the software.
■ Software Development

Customer

Planning

Development Process

Planning Review

Software Assessment

Shipping

Shipping Review

Sales
HotlineDesign

Review Name

Purpose of the Review

Planning Review

Deﬁnes the software tobe developed.

①Conﬁrm the requirements we have agreed on②Conﬁrm that the software speciﬁcations meetthe software requirements③Conﬁrm that the development plan meetsthe software requirements

Shipping Review

Certify the quality of the ﬁnal
software products to be delivered④Conﬁrm that the ﬁnal software products to bedelivered meet the requirements

Quality Assurance
Customer support,
Customer complaints

Technology,
Package engineering,
Test engineering

Subcontractor management
SCM

Subcontractors

Details of the Review

The quality of the software products can be achieved by deﬁning and developing appropriate quality characteristics, while taking your intended use into
consideration. We follow the international standard ISO/IEC 9126 as a guideline for specifying the quality characteristics, to develop software productswith quality characteristics that meet your expectations.
■ Software Quality Characteristics (ISO/IEC 9126)
Quality Characteristics

Options to optimize quality

Options to enhance quality●

Enhanced inspection●

Optimized inspection●

Enhanced testing●

Relaxed testing●In-car support●

Reduced processes

Etc.

12

We hone quality to matchyour needs.

Etc.

Functionality

Quality Sub-characteristics
Suitability, Accuracy, Interoperability, Security, Functionality ComplianceReliability

Maturity, Fault Tolerance, Recoverability, Reliability Compliance

Usability

Understandability, Learnability, Operability, Attractiveness, Usability ComplianceEﬃciency

Time Behavior, Resource Behavior, Eﬃciency Compliance

Maintainability

Analyzability, Changeability, Stability, Testability, Maintainability CompliancePortability

Adaptability, Installability, Co-existence, Replaceability, Portability Compliance1311. Environmental activities

12. ISO certiﬁcation

The Socionext aims to represent a business that contributes to a rich and sus-

We acquired ISO9001 certiﬁcation and use the production lines of partner

as we work with customers and communities to resolve environmental issues. InISO14001 certiﬁcation, an international standard for environmental manage-

tainable low-carbon society in harmony with local communities. Our environmental eﬀorts start from the environmental awareness of each one of our staﬀ
developing and supplying environmentally friendly devices and solutions thatsave energy and space, we contribute to reducing the environmental load of
our customers' products.

businesses with IATF16949 certiﬁcation, an automotive industry sector standard, while readying our system for global expansion. In addition, we acquired
ment systems (EMS), and continuously implement initiatives for reducing environmental burdens.

■ Environment Policy
Socionext contributes to the protection of a rich global environment with customer through the design,development, and sale of SoC with superior environmental performance through advanced technology
and the solutions business or services centered on these SoC. Socionext makes eﬀorts to reduce theenvironmental impact and environmental pollution based on the following action policy through theentire life cycle from development to procurement, production, sale, use, and disposal.

（1）Active contribution to reducing the environmental impact, such as reducing CO 2 emissions andwaste matter, by actively promoting the development of products that consider the environment,

electric power conservation, light-weight products, and the suitable management of items containing chemical substances.

（2）Compliance with each countryʼs and each regionʼs environment laws and regulations, and agreements with customers.

（3）Aiming for improved awareness of the environment for all Socionext personnel, and promotion ofenvironmental contributions to regional communities.

（4）Continuous improvement of environmental management system to eﬀectively implement theseenvironmental activities.

■ Environmentally friendly products
Socionext is pursuing the design and development of products that are environmentally friendly while

strictly complying with legal regulations. By developing low-power consumption products and providing
products that correspond to the legal and regulatory environment of various countries, we are delivering peace of mind to our customers.

The products of Socionext and the packing and packaging materials comply with the EU REACH regulations *1), EU RoHS directive *2), China RoHS directive *3) and other laws and regulations (excluding
exceptions for applying usage prohibition measures).

*1 : The regulations in the EU with the purpose of registering, evaluating, authorizing and restricting chemicals (Registration, Evaluation, Authorization andRestriction of Chemicals)*2 : The directive that prohibits the use of speciﬁc hazardous substances in electronic and electrical equipment sold in the EU (Restriction of HazardousSubstances)*3 : The directive that prohibits the use of speciﬁc hazardous substances in electronic and electrical equipment sold in the Peopleʼs Republic of China(Regulatory ordinance preventing pollution from the production of electronic and information products)

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