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You’re creating chips with high functionality, multiple operating modes, low power consumption and extreme reliability—pushing the manufacturing process to the limit.

But your advanced ICs are increasingly sensitive to the smallest manufacturing variations, and that affects both performance and yield. Simply increasing guard bands does not effectively deal with variability…and it diminishes your competitive advantage. How do you deal effectively with variability and maintain your competitive edge in a nanometer world?

Manufacturing Variability Challenges

Mentor Graphics has answers to your most challenging questions:

Initial Design

  • How can I create a high-yield design without sacrificing performance?
  • How can I avoid manufacturing variability problems from the start?
  • How can I reach design closure faster, and with higher confidence?

Design Fabrication

  • How can I get my mask flow ready for the next node?
  • How can I speed up my mask flow?
  • How can I manage the cost of computing associated with mask prep?

Design Enhancement

  • How can I avoid manufacturing surprises that delay my volume ramp?
  • How can I incorporate specific foundry information into my design?
  • How can I quickly find and fix the most sensitive design features?
  • How can I get the best possible performance from my design?

Yield Ramp

  • How can I accelerate my yield learning curve?
  • How can I pinpoint the root cause of yield problems?
  • How can I lower my defect escape rate and still keep test costs down?

Understanding how manufacturing variability affects both functional and parametric yield will help ensure your success. To get you there, we provide:

Compatible, Complementary Tool Suites

  • Our tools extend across the entire physical implementation lifecycle, starting with cell library development, and continuing through place and route, physical verification, layout optimization, mask preparation, testing and failure analysis.

Solutions that Address the Full Range of Manufacturing Variability Issues

  • Random particle defects
  • Small-scale device and interconnect interactions
  • Lithographic distortions
  • Thickness variations due to chemical/mechanical polishing and unevenness in film deposition and etch rates

Accurate Models and Algorithms

  • Our solutions are calibrated to real production data to accurately predict process variability and identify problematic design features.
  • Incorporating accurate Mentor models into your design flow allows you to prioritize your design activities and decisions for maximum business advantage.

Mentor Graphics solutions can help you get the answers you need to make informed choices throughout your design process.

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Mentor Graphic Design-to-Silicon Solution Flow (Click to View Larger)

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Meeting the Critical Challenges of IC Implementation

Video: Joe Sawicki, V.P. and General Manager of Mentor’s Design-to-Silicon Division, describes how Mentor is driving toward the integration of its IC implementation platforms. View Video

GLOBALFOUNDRIES and Mentor Graphics Extend Collaboration to Third Generation of DFM

News Article: WILSONVILLE, Ore., August 26, 2011 -Mentor Graphics Corporation today announced new capabilities in its design to silicon solutions that support GLOBALFOUNDRIES’ third generation... View News Article

Manufacturing Variability Challenges

Design

Mentor’s variability-aware/timing-aware place and route system delivers “correct-by-construction” layouts concurrently optimized for both performance and yield across any number of modes and corners.

Enhance

Mentor’s Calibre® platform provides the fastest, most accurate, and most reliable integrated verification, extraction and design-for-manufacturing (DFM) platform for both library cells and full chips.

Fabricate

Mentor’s fast, accurate, and cost-effective mask resolution enhancement and data prep flows ensure quick mask turnaround and high manufacturability at 65 nm, 45 nm, 32 nm and beyond.

Ramp

Mentor’s production yield solution combines the power of diagnosis-driven yield analysis and high-quality manufacturing test to accelerate yield ramp.

Manufacturing Variability Resources

Advanced Memory Cell Characterization with Calibre xACT 3D

White Paper: Memory designers need to increase bit density to meet exacting specifications for fast data transfer and low power consumption. Higher density increases the interactions between interconnect and devices,... View White Paper

U8500 Smartphone Platform at the Head of the Class with Calibre SmartFill Technology

White Paper: When ST-Ericsson began development of the next-generation U8500 chip, they knew they would face design and implementation challenges. Not only did the U8500 have an aggressive schedule but it also had aggressive... View White Paper