Mentor Graphics and ARM Validate Physical IP for Robustness to Lithographic Variation Using Calibre LFD

WILSONVILLE, Ore., July 26, 2006 - Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) today announced that the Calibre® LFD™ (litho-friendly design) tool has been used to analyze the layout robustness of ARM® Metro™ products, part of its Artisan® physical IP (intellectual property) family at the 65 nanometer (nm) node. The physical IP was analyzed for context dependency and layout robustness to lithographic variation across the manufacturing process window using foundry-supplied silicon simulation models.

The Mentor team had access to the latest ARM Metro standard cells for a 65nm Low Power “LP” process variant, and worked closely with ARM to verify the results of the evaluation. The analysis shows that ARM physical IP exhibits excellent placement context independence in cell printability and performance. Placement context independence allows cells to be placed next to any other cell without degradation in yield or electrical performance, which should lead to predictable performance and robust manufacturability across designs and process windows at 65nm.

“The implications of this study are very important as they demonstrate that our design methodology for 65nm creates highly manufacturable physical IP,” said Neal Carney, vice president of Marketing, Physical IP, ARM. “The fact that ARM physical IP proved to be robust, via independent validation of our current flow, is a proof point in ARM providing high-quality IP solutions to meet our customers’ SoC design requirements.”

“ARM is the first to prove that their physical IP is robust across a 65nm process window using Calibre LFD,” said Joe Sawicki, vice president and general manager for the design-to-silicon division at Mentor Graphics. “The results of the research establish the importance of evaluating physical IP based on context dependency and layout robustness to lithographic variations across process window.”

About Mentor Graphics
Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq: MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of over $725 million and employs approximately 4,050 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

Mentor Graphics and Calibre are registered trademarks and LFD is a trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners. ARM is a registered trademark of ARM Limited. Metro is a trademark of ARM Limited. Artisan and Artisan Components are registered trademarks of ARM Physical IP, Inc. All other brands or product names are the property of their respective holders. “ARM” is used to represent ARM Holdings plc; its operating company ARM Limited; and the regional subsidiaries ARM INC.; ARM KK; ARM Korea Ltd.; ARM Taiwan; ARM France SAS; ARM Consulting (Shanghai) Co. Ltd.; ARM Belgium N.V.; AXYS Design Automation Inc.; AXYS GmbH; ARM Embedded Technologies Pvt. Ltd.; and ARM Physical IP, Inc.

For more information, please contact:
Carole Thurman
Mentor Graphics
503.685.4716
carole_thurman@mentor.com

Sonia Harrison
Mentor Graphics
503.685.1165
sonia_harrison@mentor.com