CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
22 May 2007
Implementation Investments
Mentor Graphics and Fujitsu Collaborate to Provide Calibre LFD Solution for Fujitsu's Internal and Fabless Customers
Mentor Graphics Corporation announced that Fujitsu Limited will be using Mentor's Calibre® LFDT to enhance their Design for Manufacturing (DFM) capabilities in the manufacturing of semiconductors both for internal product development and for external fabless customers.
According to Mentor Graphics Calibre LFD is the first production-proven EDA tool to address the urgent issue of how to manage lithographic process variability in the early stages of design creation. Identification of lithographic hot spots and analysis of how designs are affected by process variations are becoming critical issues for designers at 65nm and below. The Calibre LFD tool allows designers to identify hot spots and other layout topologies that are sensitive to process variations and are primary contributors to systematic failure.
By accurately simulating the effects of the lithographic process on "as-built" layout geometry, the Calibre LFD tool enables designers to make trade-off decisions early, resulting in a design that is more robust and less sensitive to the lithographic process window. This level of analysis is important at the 90nm technology node and crucial at the 65nm node where even small process variations can greatly influence silicon results.
To enable Calibre LFD's precise lithographic modeling, Fujitsu provides designers with an LFD kit for their 65nm process in the same manner as a design rule checking (DRC) kit. The designer can then run simulations to see an accurate description of how a layout will perform under Fujitsu's specific lithographic process.
The goal is to drive the design to an "LFD clean" as well as a "DRC clean" sign-off. With the Calibre LFD kit in place, it is now possible for internal designers at Fujitsu to verify and improve their designs way ahead of production. It is also possible for Fujitsu fabless customers to create designs and check them with Fujitsu-specific Calibre LFD verification to ensure they are hot-spot free before submitting them to the Fujitsu fabrication process.
"Fujitsu has worked closely with Mentor to create a Calibre LFD kit for our 65nm process to allow our internal design teams, as well as our foundry customers, to explore lithographic sensitivities early in the design process," said Shoji Ichino, General Manager, Technology Development Division, Electronic Devices Business Group of Fujitsu Limited. "We believe having a highly accurate model that allows us to make critical trade-off decisions before the design is sent to fabrication is a valuable capability for all our customers to ensure high yield and rapid time-to-market."
"Today, we've reached another major milestone in the adoption of Calibre LFD," said Joe Sawicki, vice president and general manager for the design-to-silicon division at Mentor Graphics. "We are very pleased to work with Fujitsu on enabling its DFM offering for internal designers as well as its fabless customers."
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