Cadence Design Systems,
Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS), the leader in global design innovation, announced today
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.