Magma(r) Design Automation
Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA), announced today that QuickCap(r) NX has been certified
to support the parasitic extraction and modeling accuracy requirements of the
TSMC iRCX format for integrated circuits (ICs) targeting 65-nanometer (nm) and
40-nm processes. With the consistent data provided by the iRCX format, designers
can use Magma QuickCap NX to extract accurate parasitic-capacitance values based
on the truest 3D representation of the physical circuit. Accurate capacitance
values are critical for calculating many properties of chip performance, including
capacitive crosstalk, RC delay time and power consumption. With QuickCap NX
and the iRCX format, designers can more accurately predict IC performance prior
to manufacturing, allowing them to either make modifications or proceed with
confidence in achieving silicon success.
The TSMC iRCX is an interoperable interconnect modeling data format that ensures
the accuracy of resistance/capacitance (RC) extractors, electromigration (EM)
tools, power integrity analysis tools and electromagnetic simulators. iRCX is
the first of several interoperable EDA interface formats co-developed between
TSMC and its design tool partners as part of the TSMC Open Innovation Platform(tm)
(OIP).
"At the 40-nm and 65-nm nodes, the ability to generate accurate interconnect
models at a high frequency can create a bottleneck in the design flow,"
said Tom Quan, deputy director, Design Service Marketing at TSMC. "By working
together to qualify QuickCap NX for TSMC iRCX format, TSMC and Magma ensure
designers have the most accurate models, breaking design flow bottlenecks and
enabling first-pass design success."
"TSMC has been using QuickCap NX as the standard deviation comparison
target for RC extraction tools on special pattern structures and real design
samples," said Premal Buch, general manager of Magma's Design Implementation
Business Unit. "The TSMC qualification of QuickCap NX for the iRCX format
provides our mutual customers with further confidence that Magma's 3D field
solver is the industry gold standard for parasitic extraction."
QuickCap NX: The Gold Standard in Parasitic Extraction
QuickCap NX is used by major semiconductor companies as the reference standard
for parasitic extraction. It is a highly accurate 3D extractor that precisely
models advanced process effects such as optimal proximity correction (OPC),
chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) and trapezoidal wires. QuickCap NX is proven
to closely correlate to exact analytical solutions and silicon measurements,
delivering capacitance values that are within 1 percent of silicon measurements.
It provides dial-in accuracy and error-bounds reporting on each net, giving
the user complete control and trust in the accuracy of results. Leading foundries
have validated QuickCap NX's ability to more closely match silicon measurements.
By taking process effects into account, the average difference between QuickCap
NX capacitance values and actual silicon measurements has been reduced from
9.79 percent to just 0.11 percent.
QuickCap NX in the Magma Flow
QuickCap NX can be used for post-layout analysis in the Magma flow. QuickCap
technology is also incorporated into the Talus(r) physical design software system
to support highly accurate timing and noise analysis during chip implementation.
It is used to compute the highly accurate capacitance rules used within Talus
and the Quartz(tm) RC sign-off extraction tool.