Magma And Common Platform Technology Alliance Deliver DFM Solution For 65 nm IC Design Success

San Jose, CA - Magma Design Automation Inc., a provider of chip design software, recently announced the availability of a qualified design for manufacturability (DFM) flow for ICs targeted at 65-nanometer (nm) processes of Common Platform technology - an alliance between IBM, Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Samsung. The flow is based on Magma's DFM-aware design environment that accounts for process variability and lithographic effects in the context of timing, power, noise and yield. With this flow, Magma and the Common Platform technology alliance enable mutual customers to meet their performance, yield and time-to-market goals.

The two organizations completed joint qualification of Magma's full RTL-to-GDSII implementation flow, including the lithography fixing capability of Quartz DFM, adding support for DFM to Magma's existing Advanced Low-Power Reference Flow for Common Platform technology.

Quartz DFM has been integrated into implementation flows for both Blast and Talus platforms, allowing customers to address random particle defects using critical area analysis (CAA), planarity effects using advanced dummy metal fill, and lithography hot spots using a pattern recognition followed by fixing approach.

"We continually work to provide customers with design and manufacturing solutions that help ensure silicon success," said Walter Ng, vice president, design enablement alliances, Design Services Division of Chartered on behalf of the Common Platform technology alliance. "Our collaborative work with Magma on its Quartz DFM solution has demonstrated how it could accurately fix litho-related hot spots caused by the router, thereby reducing potential design spins and accelerating overall time to market."

"Magma is leading the industry with a comprehensive characterization-to-silicon DFM-aware solution," said John Lee, general manager of Magma's Physical Verification Business Unit. "This revolutionary design platform offers improved analysis accuracy and variability management -- along with built-in DFM techniques for optimizing catastrophic and parametric yield -- resulting in designs with better performance, smaller area and lower power that are inherently less sensitive to process variations, thereby ensuring the highest possible yields."

SOURCE: Magma Design Automation Inc.