MODULE VS. SOC: WHAT MAKES SENSE FOR YOUR NEXT WI-FI PRODUCT - A DIALOG VIRTUALZERO WEBINAR
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Module vs. SoC: what makes sense for your
next Wi-Fi product
A Dialog VirtualZero™ Webinar
JUNE 2021
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 1
Welcome to the Dialog Webinar
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In the Handout you will find a copy of todays
presentation along with links to find out more.
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 2
What is Dialog ?
Global design centers coupled with local sales and expert field application support
Employees globally¹
US HQ Global HQ
USA: 31% Santa London,
Europe Clara UK
52% Asia HQ
APAC Taipei,
17% Taiwan
Dialog Organization
Sales Offices
1. Advanced Mixed Signal: AC/DC, power conversion, PMIC,
Major R&D Centers
Backlight drivers, SSL and Configurable Mixed-signal ICs (CMICs)
2. Custom Mixed Signal: Custom mixed signal ICs
3. Industrial Mixed Signal: Custom and standard products including specialty memory targeted at
Industry 4.0 and cloud connected server solutions
4. Connectivity & Audio: Bluetooth® low energy (BLE), IoT Wi-Fi, audio, haptics and low latency wireless solutions
5. Automotive: Leveraging technologies across Dialog
1~2300 Employees as of July 2020 © 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 3
Speaker Introduction
Omer Cheema
Dialog
Semiconductor Head of IoT Wi-Fi Business Unit
omer.cheema@diasemi.com
Custom Advanced Connectivity
Mixed Signal Mixed Signal and Audio
Ture Nielsen
Low Power Head of Wi-Fi Marketing EMEA
Bluetooth DECT
Wi-Fi
ture.nielsen@diasemi.com
Today’s Presentation
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 4
Good News: EEMBC Wi-Fi Benchmark Results
▪ EEMBC IoTMark-Wi-Fi is designed to provide a comprehensive assessment of the entire
platform in a real usage scenario
▪ Benchmark took 18 months to development
▪ Participants include Dialog, Silicon Labs (plus Redpine), Infineon (formerly Cypress), Texas
Instruments, Altran, and STMicroelectronics.
• Roughly 815 days of battery life for a product running
on 2 AA Alkaline batteries
• At least 50% better than the closest competitor
https://www.eembc.org/iotmark/wifi/ © 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 5
Dialog offers both SoC and Modules
No preference if customer chooses a module or an SoC for their design
DA16200 SoC Wi-Fi Modules
Lowest Power Wi-Fi SoC in Industry Wi-Fi and BLE Combo Modules
6mm
3.8mm
6mm
3.8mm
Module or chip-down: Same experience for the customers
• Support comes from Dialog, not from the third party
• One supplier to manage
• Same IDE: FreeRToS and IAR
• Source code for Mobile Apps: both Android and iOS
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 6
Build vs. Buy: Strategic Considerations
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 7
Strategic Consideration: Time to Market (TTM)
Time to Market means lost sales and less profitability When TTM is more Important
Illustrative • Seasonal Products
• Product sales window is
seasonal e.g. Christmas
Holidays, School year, Winter
• Goal is to be 1st in the market with
novel features
• Last Gen product revenues are
declining -> New product to re-
invigorate demand
▪ Total COD = Lost Month Cost + Peak Reduction Cost
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 8
Case Studies: Strategic Considerations
Home Appliances Tablets
Main board is used for both smart and “dumb” 50%+ use Wi-Fi modules
appliances
Benefits:
• Additional module to add connectivity\
• Time to market is important
• NO need to redesign and re-certify main PCB for
smart products • Supply Chain Complexity
• Easier to repair -> Customer support
strategy
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 9
Product Requirement: Custom form factor
Irregular shapes Small Sizes
• Circular • Application has space constraints e.g. wearables
• Triangle • Looking for SiP or other advanced packaging e.g.
ePoP (embedded package on package)
• Other polygons
• Non-geometric shapes
Why irregular shaped PCB are more expensive:
• Materials usage
• Substrate wastage
• Product cost: routing machine
DA16200 based Hongjia SiP module
• Easier storage and transportation
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 10“Build vs. Buy” Cost Analysis
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 11Build vs. Buy Analysis Framework
An excel model will be provided as part of webinar material for you to use for your project
Costs Involved in Module Design
Cost Analysis
RF & Test Other Design
Certification Component Inventory
Engineering Costs: Samples,
Costs Costs Overheads
Costs Equipment
Fixed Costs Variable Costs
(Independent of Volumes) (Dependent on Volumes)
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 12Choosing a chipset with Lowest Possible BoM
Circuit of a typical DA16200 application
▪ Designed for fewest external components
possible
Part Quantity Note
Wi-Fi SoC 1 DA16200 SoC
Flash 1 Not included because customer need for
Memory memory size vary
Xtal 1-2 40MHz (mandatory), 32KHz (Optional for
RTC)
Shield 1 Optional. Depending if the shield is on
end product or RF section
Antenna 1
Total RLC 19-25 Used internal tunable load capacitors.
Estimated BoM 60-90 cents excluding DA16200 -> Depending on
the volumes
Note: Competing SoCs might require additional components
e.g. Internal MCU, Balun, LFXO, more passives
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 13Hidden Costs to consider when choosing an SoC
Additional SoC choice parameters Pricing Trends
• Module vendors have more pricing power
for SOC and passives because they
• 3Ps of Wi-Fi SoC: Price, Performance and aggregation volumes from many customers
Power
• Individual customers: less pricing power
Other Costs to consider
• Decide how important is each “P” for your
product • Supply situation, lead times
• Price: No differentiation • Security features
• Mostly used by “Me too” products
• Customer support:
• Long battery life: battery operated • Dialog has best customer support
applications infrastructure in industry
• RF performance: e.g. Throughput • Global FAE teams
• Ticketing support system
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 14RF Design and Test Engineering Costs
Cost of RF and Test Engineers Engineering Resource Requirements for
an RF module
• RF and Test Engineering are specialized Engineering Item MM
domains Schematic 0.50
EVT
• RF designs change based on Antenna supplier, Issue debug and validation 1.50
Antenna Type: PCB antenna vs external, Layout Schematic 0.50
optimization, Parasitic, Fab constraints, Impact DVT
of housing and batteries Issue debug & characterization 2.00
RF & Test
• Fully loaded cost (salary + overheads) of Engineer
Schematic 0.25
RF engineers vary across geographies Issus debug & production
support
1.00
• US (Bay Area): $150K-$200K PVT
• Western Europe: €60K-€100K Preparation for Qual/Env test 0.50
• Korea: ₩60M – ₩100M Preparation for certification 1.25
• China: 250K CN¥ -350KCN¥ EVT 0.50
PCB engineer DVT 0.50
PVT 0.25
• Cost is still the same if Engineer is already on
your staff ~8-9 Man Months of Effort Depending on required certifications
• Accounting rules might vary across companies
EVT: Engineering Validation Test, DVT: Design Validation Test, PVT: Production
Validation Test © 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 15Other Module Design Costs
Samples, Material and Test Costs
Lab Equipment Costs
• During Prototyping, EVT, DVT, PVT and mass
Rent labs: $400-$800 per day. ~2-3 weeks for testing
production
Or setup the lab: $60K-80K installation and
• Samples, Material 2K/month maintenance
Development
• Antenna Test -> Lab • Shield Room/Anechoic Chamber: $20,000K
($20K-$25K) equipment
• Air-conditioning and Ventilation: $5,000
• Wi-Fi Emulator/Sniffer; $20,000K
• EPOS: Hazardous materials
Qual & Env Test • ESD (Electrostatic discharge) • UPS: Installation and Maintenance costs: 10,000K
($3,500) • Reliability Test: Temp range, • Wireless Testing Software: $3,000K
Drop etc.
• Spectrum Analyzer: $2,000K
• Antenna: $5,000K
Mass Production • MP test setup
• Misc.: $5,000K
($3500) • Socket Board etc.
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 16Cost of Regulatory Approvals
Overview of Wi-Fi Regulatory Approvals ~$20,000 cost for certification in major markets
Rough Module certification accepted by the
Cost product
(USD)
Wi-Fi $600- Depends on membership and if product
Alliance $7500 is core or derivative
FCC (US) $3,300
Generally, Yes.
IC (Canada) $2,200
• Need to follow FCC Module
CE (Europe) $2,600
Integration Guide v01: Shield
requirements, Voltage Regulation
SRRC (China) $2,500
• Antenna: follow reference antenna
KCC(Korea) $2,500 • No Material, schematics, additional
components added
• No Multiple RF modules are used
FCC (US), CE (Europe), ISEDC(Canada), SRRC (China), KCC Additional Certifications e.g.• ULSystem
for safety
doesn’t exceed the spurious
(Korea) and Telec (Japan) for covering major markets Telec (Japan) $3,800
emissions or output power limit
Costs include personnel costs at the test lab
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 17Supply Chain Overheads
Hardware is hard. Supply chain is the hardest part of hardware
Module Chip Down Design
• One supplier to manage: Module • Multiple suppliers to manage
vendor • SoC, RLC, PCB, Crystal, Memories
• Different MoQs
• Different lead times
• One point of failure when module
vendor is also the SoC vendor • Different longevity of products
• Easy to identify and fix failures/bugs
• More resources to manage supply
chain
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 18Supply Chain Overheads for Chip Down Design
Small Established
Large Company Company Startup
• Dedicated Supply Chain • Part time supply chain • No supply chain
Department resources resources
• Established
relationships and
• Personnel costs are system • No established
higher: need to be spread relationships with
• Some QA processes
over all projects handled component vendors
by the supply chain team
• Medium Personnel cost
• Up to 10% of supply
• 1-2% inventory Overhead chain overhead
• 3-5% of overhead
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 19Using the Framework: Wi-Fi Module Example
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 20Step 1: Estimating the Component Costs
Tab: Component Costs
Fill in the 25K unit costs of each component based on your knowledge: Fields in GREEN
• Embedded cost curve based on “Rule of Thumb” will model the price for higher volumes.
Wi-Fi Component BoM Cost with 95%
•
# of Units SoC Flash Memory Crystals Antenna PCB RLC Shield Others Cost Yield
25000 2.25 0.27 0.29 0.05 0.06 0.11 0.07 0.1 3.20 3.37
50000 2.03 0.24 0.26 0.04 0.05 0.10 0.06 0.09 2.88 3.03
100000 1.94 0.23 0.25 0.04 0.05 0.09 0.06 0.09 2.76 2.90
250000 1.78 0.21 0.23 0.04 0.05 0.09 0.05 0.08 2.52 2.65
500000 1.74 0.21 0.22 0.04 0.05 0.08 0.05 0.08 2.46 2.59
1000000 1.71 0.20 0.22 0.04 0.05 0.08 0.05 0.08 2.43 2.55
25000000 1.68 0.20 0.22 0.04 0.04 0.08 0.05 0.07 2.39 2.51
50000000 1.65 0.20 0.21 0.04 0.04 0.08 0.05 0.07 2.35 2.47
• Assuming 95% yield at production, final BoM will adjust the number accordingly.
• Feel free to adjust the volume pricing curve if your personal situation is different
Other includes connectors, power inductors etc. © 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 21Step 2: Estimate Test & RF Engineering Costs
Tab: RF& Test Engineering
• Fill in fully loaded cost per year per engineer: Fields in GREEN
• Fully loaded cost includes salary, bonus, pension, healthcare, vacations, office equipment etc.
• Ask your HR/Accounting to better understand fully loaded cost of your resources
• Optional: Adjust Man Months Estimate depending on your project complexity
Engineering Item Man Months
Schematic 0.50
EVT
Issue debug and validation 1.50
Schematic 0.50
DVT
RF & Test Issue debug & characterization 2.00
Engineer Schematic 0.25
Issus debug & production support 1.00
PVT
Preparation for Qual/Env test (3rd party) 0.50
Preparation for certification (x5) 1.25
EVT 0.50
PCB engineer DVT 0.50
PVT 0.25
Total 8.75
RF & Test Engineering (Fully Loaded Costs) per year per Engineer $150,000.00
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 22Step 3: Input Other Design Costs
Tab: Other Design Costs
Samples, Materials and Test Lab Equipment Cost
• Estimate the Design, Qual and Mass • Choose if you are renting the lab or
Production Costs have it in-house. In case of Rental Equipment
• Fields in Green are pre-populated with
a typical Wi-Fi module. Change If Are you renting the lab? Equipment
Yes Cost
Rental/Day
Column1
$700
needed Number of Days 10
• Input Green fields for the relevant case $7,000
Total Equipment
Material and Test Costs at
Each Design Stage Cost (USD) In case of Rental Equipment In case of in-house lab and equipment
Design $13,000 Item Cost
Qual and Test $3,500 Equipment Cost Column1 Lab Setup Cost $60,000.00
Rental/Day $700 AC/Ventilation Cost/Month $1,000
Mass Production $3,500 Number of Days 10 Maintenance costs e.g. UPS batteries
$1,000
Total $20,000 Number of days used 10
Total Equipment $7,000 Total Costs $1,000
In case of in-house lab and equipment
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 23
Item CostStep 4: Input Certification Costs
Tab: Certification Costs
▪ Choose from the drop-down menu if the product is core or derivative for Wi-Fi alliance
certification
▪ Select the geographies that need to be certified for.
Column1 Certification Required?
Wi-Fi Alliance Core Product
US Yes
Canada Yes
Europe Yes
China Yes
Korea Yes
Japan Yes
▪ Summary Tab: Input Supply Chain Overheads based on the feedback of supply chain teams
▪ If data is not available, enter 2% for large established companies, 5% for smaller companies and
10% for a startup
Supply Chain Overhead 3%
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 24Cost Analysis: A Wi-Fi Module with on-chip antenna
Breakeven point at 190K units
Cost/ Unit (USD) Cost per unit by volume ($ USD)
12.00 Breakeven
(~190K units)
10.00
8.00
6.00
4.00
2.00
0.00
25,000 50,000 100,000 250,000 500,000 1,000,000 25,000,000 50,000,000
Number of Units
Chip Down Design Cost Module Price
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 25DA16200 Module
▪ The DA16200MOD is a small size module solution for IoT applications
▪ The fully integrated module consists of:
▪ DA16200 SoC, 4MB flash memory, RF components including crystal oscillator, RF lumped filter, and either a chip
antenna or a connector for an external antenna
▪ Single power supply voltage (3.3V) operation
▪ VBAT, VDD_DIO1,2
▪ 37 pin out
▪ GPIO, J-tag, RTC control, UART, Power input and 32.768KHz
▪ DA16200 module SKUs
▪ DA16200MOD-AAC4WA32: with on board chip antenna
▪ DA16200MOD-AAE4WA32: with external antenna connector (u.FL)
▪ Both modules have the same dimensions
▪ 13.8mm x 22.1 mm x 3.3 mm
▪ Certifications
▪ FCC, IC, CE, Telec, Korea, SRRC, Wi-Fi
© Copyright 2020 Dialog Semiconductor. All Rights Reserved.
Highly Confidential - Internal to Dialog 26DA16600 Wi-Fi + BLE Combo Module
▪ The DA16600MOD is a module for lowest power Wi-Fi + BLE
▪ The fully integrated module consists of:
▪ Wi-Fi SoC : DA16200 (6x6 QFN)
▪ BLE SoC : DA14531 (2.2x3 FCGQFN)
▪ 4MB Flash memory (5x6 8-pin 150mil)
▪ 40MHz XTAL for Wi-Fi
▪ 32MHz XTAL for BLE
▪ 32.576 RTC XTAL for Wi-Fi DPM operation
▪ One Antenna : Chip antenna or uFL connector
▪ SPDT
▪ Single power supply voltage (3.3V) operation
▪ DA16600 module SKUs
▪ DA16600MOD-AAC4WA32: with on board chip antenna
▪ DA16600MOD-AAE4WA32: with external antenna connector (u.FL)
▪ Dimensions
▪ Both modules have the same dimensions
▪ 14mm x 24 mm x 3.3 mm
▪ Certifications
▪ FCC, IC, CE, Telec, Korea, Wi-Fi
© Copyright 2020 Dialog Semiconductor. All Rights Reserved.
Highly Confidential - Internal to Dialog 27Dedicated Direct Support
Customer’s Success is Dialog’s success
▪ Dedicated FAE support
▪ Global network of Regional FAEs
▪ Online Forum from Q2 2021
▪ Ticket support available
▪ Fully trackable support
▪ Easy access to dedicated design team
▪ Long product life time
▪ All Low Power Wi-Fi products on Dialog Longevity program
▪ Minimum 10 year product life guaranteed
▪ New FreeRTOS/GCC SDK
▪ AT Command Tool
Confidential – subject to Non-Disclosure Agreement restrictions. 28When to Choose a Module vs SoC: Summary
Choose chip-down design when: Choose a module when:
• Your product volumes are high • You need to get to market fast
• You have a large R&D budget • You need to minimize design risk
• You have equipment to measure
antenna performance • You don’t have RF experts on staff
• You have schedule for multiple rounds • You don’t want to invest in Test/Lab
of prototyping to get the antenna tuning Equipment
right
• You don’t want your engineering
• You have experts who understand resources tied up in RF design
compliance testing and filing
• You need smaller or custom form factor
for the module
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 29Question and Answers For more details, reach out to: Omer Cheema: omer.cheema@diasemi.com
Powering the Smart Connected Future
www.dialog-semiconductor.com
Personal • Portable • Connected
© 2021 Dialog Semiconductor 31You can also read
