Synopsys finalizes acquisition of Sigma-C; pays $20.5 million

Synopsys Inc. announced it has closed its acquisition of Sigma-C, paying $20.5 million in cash for the Munich-based lithography simulator company.

Last month at DAC, EDN broke the news that the acquisition was in the works, but at the time the acquisition was still under its mandatory 30-day review period by the Federal Cartel Office in Germany (Germany's equivalent to our SEC).

Now that the deal has been finalized, Synopsys gains in the acquisition around 50 employees based in Munich and two tools for its DFM and TCAD line ups: SOLID + and SOLID E lithography simulators.

Wolfgang Fitchner, general manager for TCAD and vice president of Engineering in Synopsys' Silicon Engineering Group, said the SOLID tools are tried and true lithography simulators that employ Maxwell equations in two and three dimensions to help mask data prep engineers, mask makers and fab engineers find problems in designs, masks and silicon.

"With designs getting more complicated you have to put more physics into everything you are doing," said Fitchner. "When it comes down to it, all these rule and model based techniques in the end find their foundation in physical theory. Sigma C has been a pioneer in this."

Both tools perform detailed lithography simulation but Fitchner noted that the original SOLID E tool, formerly known as SOLIC C, is limited to analyzing micron size structures on both masks and silicon. The SOLID + tool can cover a larger, cell like area of 20X20 microns.

Initially, the tools will be used in the company's TCAD lineup but the technology will also find its way into the Synopsys DFM flow to do detailed analysis of hot spots identified by Synopsys SiVL tool.