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UMC and Integrand Advance Collaboration
to Enhance 90nm and 0.13um RFCMOS Design Offering
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, NJ and HSINCHU, Taiwan, December 8, 2006 --
Integrand Software, Inc., an EDA software company and UMC (NYSE:
UMC), a leading global semiconductor foundry, today announced that
their ongoing collaboration has resulted in new advances and enhanced
capabilities for RF/mixed mode IC designers designing into 90nm
and 0.13um nodes.
Integrand's EMX and EMX-Continuum tools have been used to create
scalable models for Metal-Oxide-Metal (MOM) capacitors and inductors.
These scalable models are linked to the Integrand's Optimum Capacitor
Finder (OCFTM) and Optimum Inductor Finder (OIFTM), and are now
being distributed as part of UMC's Foundry Design Kit (FDK).
"We have been very happy to expand on our relationship with
UMC to provide new design tools and accurate models for RFCMOS designers,"
said Dr. Sharad Kapur, president of Integrand Software, Inc. "The
scalable models of inductors and capacitors now cover both 0.13um
and 90nm technologies. The new scalable models for UMC's MOM capacitors
and the associated OCF represent a unique solution for the capacitor
synthesis problem."
Model accuracy has been verified to be within a few percent of
measurements for inductance and capacitance, as well as for more
sensitive parameters such as quality factor (Q). In addition, an
interface has been built within the UMC FDK for direct access to
the EMX simulation engine. This not only gives designers the ability
to simulate components from UMC's library in the true circuit context,
surrounded by other components and interconnects, but also allows
designers to perform their own custom designs using UMC certified
process technology files and Integrand's EMX. Furthermore, the new
DFM analysis capabilities within EMX allow designers to study various
effects of process variation and maximize parametric yield.
Integrand's OCF, a GUI-based synthesis tool, is now deployed within
the FDK to allow UMC customers to enter their desired capacitance
and make tradeoff decisions between Q and area. These models are
accurate and validated by measurements on silicon wafers. The models
also include the effects of dummy fill and substrate coupling. Similar
to OIF, the seamless integration of OCF within the FDK allows for
back annotation in order to drive UMC's Schematic Driven Layout.
Furthermore, the Spice model parameters are geometric and allow
EDA Layout Parasitic Extraction (LPE) tools to extract model parameters
from a GDS database for post-layout simulation.
"Experiments within our lab have repeatedly demonstrated the
accuracy of these tools across different design spaces," said
Dr. Long-Ching Yeh, vice president of Design Tool Support and DFM
for UMC's System and Architecture Support Division. "The integration
of the OIF and OCF into our Foundry Design Kits, along with the
silicon verified scalable component models, provides a unique industry
solution by allowing our customers to directly synthesize optimal
passive components like inductors or capacitors within seconds.
The efficiency with which our customers can now design and implement
their circuits should dramatically reduce time-to-market for their
products."
Project Highlights:
EMX-Continuum: UMC used the EMX-Continuum software to create
scalable capacitor and inductor models that have several important
features:
The scalable models are standard RLCK Spice which guarantees correct
noise modeling when doing Spice-level simulation.
The models are directly interfaced to the Optimum Capacitor Finder
and Optimum Inductor Finder GUIs deployed with the FDK for easy
use.
EMX: EMX is based on the Fast Multipole method combined
with a patent-pending approach to recognize geometric regularity
in IC layouts for efficient electromagnetic (EM) simulation. EMX
exhibits several important features:
UMC has found that the simulation of its capacitors takes only
a couple of minutes for a full broadband sweep.
EMX automatically handles metal bias, substrate, vias and dummy
fill; all features that have a dramatic impact on capacitor performance.
EMX works directly off the final mask layout and handles features
of UMC's layouts such as slotting rules and via arrays with no manual
editing.
EMX can now be accessed directly from the FDK for simulation of
custom designs.
EMX can do variational DFM analysis; this includes accounting
for process variations and metal layout variations to maximize parametric
yield.
About Integrand Software, Inc.
Integrand Software, Inc. provides electronic design automation (EDA)
software for high frequency, RF and Mixed Signal integrated circuits
(ICs). Integrand's customers include foundries, semiconductor design
houses, and individual designers. Integrand is creating unique tools
for the analysis and synthesis of IC and package designs. Integrand's
patent-pending technologies allow designers to accurately and efficiently
simulate the behavior of passive components and interconnect. These
capabilities shorten design cycles and let companies design substantially
better products with less risk. For more information about Integrand,
visit http://www.integrandsoftware.com.
About UMC
UMC (NYSE: UMC, TSE: 2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry
that manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning
every major sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge
foundry technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SoC)
designs, including volume production 90nm, industry-leading 65nm,
and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC's 10 wafer manufacturing facilities
include two advanced 300mm fabs; Fab 12A in Taiwan and Singapore-based
Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety of customer
products. The company employs approximately 12,000 people worldwide
and has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United
States. UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com.
Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward
looking within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws,
including statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies,
business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned
that actual events and results could differ materially from these
statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions
in the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and
demand for products from UMC; and technological and development
risks.
EMX is a registered trademark and EMX-Continuum,
Optimum Inductor Finder and Optimum Capacitor Finder are trademarks
of Integrand. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.
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