Mentor Graphics Receives Patent for IC Simulation Inventions

WILSONVILLE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 7, 2002--Mentor Graphics Corporation (Nasdaq:MENT - News) today announced it has been awarded a U.S. patent (number 6,397,172) on its adaptive model evaluation technology, a key component of its Mach TA(TM) integrated circuit (IC) simulation design tool.

providing its customers best-in-class tools at this integral aspect of the design phase.

"Adaptive Integrated Circuit Design Simulation, Transistor Modeling and Evaluation," invented by Dave Gurney, development engineer, deep submicron division, Mentor Graphics, addresses how the speed of a simulator is dependent on model evaluation techniques. Previous circuit simulators used static techniques for model evaluation, resulting in larger partitions and relatively slow simulation times. By using dynamic techniques for model evaluation, the Mach TA tool can create smaller partitions which then accelerate simulation times.

The inventions stemming from this patent enable the Mach TA tool to dynamically select how device models are evaluated, thus producing the fastest simulation results with the highest accuracy. The end user experiences faster simulation speeds without sacrificing Spice-like accuracy.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation 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 about $600 million and employs approximately 3,700 people worldwide. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777; Silicon Valley headquarters are located at 1001 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, California 95131-2314. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com.

Mentor Graphics is a registered trademark and Mach TA is a trademark of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other brand and product names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

     Mentor Graphics
     Carole Thurman, 503/685-4716
     carole_thurman@mentor.com
               or
     Weber Shandwick
     Mark Mohammadpour, 503/552-3734
     mmohammadpour@webershandwick.com