CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
8 July 2009
Implementation Investments
STARC Integrates Litho-Aware 45nm Design Flow using Cadence Encounter Digital Implementation System
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. announced the Japanese semiconductor research consortium STARC (Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center), has integrated the Cadence® Encounter® Digital Implementation System, with its integrated DFM technologies, as its DFM flow targeting 45 nanometer designs and below. The comprehensive DFM suite integrates Cadence Litho Physical Analyzer (LPA), Cadence Litho Electrical Analyzer (LEA), and Cadence CMP Predictor into the designer’s cockpit. Using the Cadence enabled STARCAD-CEL V3.0 Ref Flow, designers gain ready access to process-accurate manufacturing information early in the physical design flow, where engineers can leverage the seamless integration in digital implementation to identify, analyze and correct yield-limiting hotspots for their advanced-node designs. In addition, with Litho Electrical Analyzer, designers can analyze the litho impact on transistor performance and make necessary design trade-offs to meet their design criteria.
“The new STARCAD-CEL V3.0 Reference Flow addresses critical design-for-manufacturing concerns for 65nm, 45 nanometers and advanced process technologies,” said Nobuyuki Nishiguchi, Vice President and General Manager, Development Department 1 at STARC. “Cadence Encounter Digital Implementation System with Litho Physical Analyzer provided very accurate litho hotspot detection and correction and one hundred percent correction of the catastrophic or yield limiting defects in our test design, while also providing a faster turnaround time.”
The Cadence Litho Physical Analyzer harnesses the strength of multi-CPU parallel processing capabilities, along with proprietary, foundational algorithms delivering linear performance scalability and faster turnaround time as reported by STARC. Along with multiple advances in technology process modeling and integration with the Cadence Virtuoso® Custom IC and Encounter Digital Implementation Platforms, Cadence provides a complete “correct-by-design” digital implementation solution for cell/block to full-chip.
“The semiconductor industry and ecosystem recognizes Cadence DFM technologies as essential to advanced design methodologies today,” said Dr. Chi-Ping Hsu, senior vice president of digital implementation research and development at Cadence. “It’s the difference between identifying potential DFM issues during the design phase and fixing them right there in the system, versus discovering yield limiting defects during the manufacturing process, when it is too late. We are proud to be working closely with STARC to prove the advantages of our DFM technology and digital implementation solution for their 45 nanometer reference design flow.”
Semiconductor companies worldwide are now requiring DFM analysis during the design phase, and the majority of the top 20 semiconductor companies have now adopted Cadence’s DFM solutions to meet their accuracy, performance and yield goals.
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