TSMC Unveils First 65nm DFM Ecosystem

Staff Reporter -- Electronic News, 5/15/2006

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has unveiled a 65nm design-for-manufacturing (DFM) compliance design support ecosystem that's driven by a manufacturing-based unified data format to channel DFM capabilities through selected EDA tools directly to designers' workstations.

The foundry said it developed the unified format to align DFM tools -- lithography process check (LPC), chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) analysis and critical area analysis (CAA) -- to TSMC's manufacturing data format. The move allows designers to use the same DFM data file irrespective of the tool or vendor. It also allows simplified use, management and updates to DFM analyses using these tools.

Designers can download an encrypted TSMC DFM Data Kit (DDK), compiled in the DUF format, and run TSMC-qualified DFM tools directly on their workstations, with results that are consistent with the company's own internal DFM results, TSMC said, noting that the ecosystem results from a year-long collaboration between TSMC and its design partners to shorten the 65nm design cycle and accelerate time-to-volume and time-to-market for leading-edge products.

"This is a comprehensive collaboration to deliver 65nm DFM-compliant products and design services to the designer's desktop," said Edward Wan, senior director of design services marketing for TSMC, in a statement this morning. "Basically, we've defined what it means to be DFM compliant, and we've helped our ecosystem partners to achieve that compliance."

EDA companies involved in the qualification of TSMC 65nm Design Support Ecosystem include: Anchor Semiconductor, Cadence Design Systems, Clear Shape Technologies, Magma Design Automation, Mentor Graphics, Ponte Solutions, Predictions Software and Synopsys Inc.

In total, TSMC’s DFM-compliance initiative encompasses 18 companies from the IP, library, EDA and design center communities, including: Alchip, Anchor, Aprio, AnalogBits, ARM, Blaze DFM, Cadence, Clear Shape, Dolphin Technology, Fastrack, Global Unichip, Magma, Mentor, Ponte, Predictions, Qthink, Synopsys and Virage Logic.