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Chartered and Cadence Qualify Fire & Ice QX for Leading-Edge Process Technologies
Integration within Digital IC Reference Flow Speeds Time to Volume
and Lowers Risks for Advanced Designs
SAN JOSE, Calif. & SINGAPORE—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Nov. 15, 2004—
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN) (Nasdaq:CDN) and Chartered
Semiconductor Manufacturing (Nasdaq:CHRT and SGX-ST: CHARTERED)
announced today that they have jointly qualified the Cadence Fire &
Ice(R) QX cell-based extraction tool for Chartered's advanced
nanometer processes. By integrating Fire & Ice QX into the
Chartered-Cadence digital integrated circuit (IC) reference flow,
companies can shorten the time from chip design to volume production.
Through this collaboration, designers can use Cadence Fire & Ice
QX to determine the timing of their designs on Chartered's advanced
processes and correctly account for cross coupling capacitances
critical for signal integrity (SI) analysis. With timely access to
more accurate analysis results, design teams can meet performance
specifications and improve time-to-market cycles without
over-constraining their designs.
With its innovative 3-D scanning engine and models, Fire & Ice QX
is able to accurately model the new classes of manufacturing effects
introduced with leading-edge process technologies. For example, Fire &
Ice QX calculates the capacitive effect of dummy metal fill on signal
wires, which can complicate timing closure on modern designs. Less
accurate extraction tools may either overestimate these SI effects
resulting in project delays while designers sort through false timing
violations, or underestimate the SI effects resulting in undetected
timing violations and non-functional silicon.
Advanced packages such as flip-chips require wide, non-Manhattan
top-level metal routing. Accurate resistance calculations are required
to model these routes correctly. The resistance engine in Fire & Ice
QX has also been significantly enhanced to deliver highly accurate
resistance values on these challenging structures.
"Interconnect modeling and extraction are key considerations for
companies targeting nanometer process technologies," said Kevin Meyer,
vice president of worldwide marketing and services at Chartered.
"Collaboration with Cadence enables us to service mutual customers
with faster access to pre-qualified technology files and broader
support across Chartered's advanced process platforms. By qualifying
Cadence Fire & Ice QX to help streamline the
design-through-manufacturing flow, companies can predict with greater
accuracy the silicon performance of their designs prior to tapeout."
"Open collaboration by companies within the design chain can
provide fabless customers the comprehensive solutions needed to
address each new technology node," said Jan Willis, senior vice
president of Industry Marketing at Cadence. "Working closely with
leading foundries such as Chartered ensures that engineers using our
digital and custom IC design platforms have a smooth and efficient
path from design through physical implementation."
Availability
Fire & Ice QX technology files for Chartered's latest process
technologies can be found on its customer website at
https://mycharteredsemi.com/.
About Chartered
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, one of the world's top
three dedicated semiconductor foundries, is forging a customized
approach to outsourced semiconductor manufacturing by building lasting
and collaborative partnerships with its customers. The company
provides flexible and cost-effective manufacturing solutions for
customers, enabling the convergence of communications, computing and
consumer markets. In Singapore, Chartered operates four fabrication
facilities and has a fifth fab, the company's first 300mm facility,
which is expected to begin pilot production by the end of 2004.
A company with both global presence and perspective, Chartered is
traded on both the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq:CHRT) and on the
Singapore Exchange (SGX-ST: CHARTERED). Information about Chartered
can be found at http://www.charteredsemi.com.
About Cadence
Cadence is the world's largest supplier of electronic design
technologies and engineering services. Cadence products and services
are used to accelerate and manage the design of semiconductors,
computer systems, networking equipment, telecommunications equipment,
consumer electronics, and other electronics based products. With
approximately 4,850 employees and 2003 revenues of approximately $1.1
billion, Cadence has sales offices, design centers, and research
facilities around the world. The company is headquartered in San Jose,
Calif., and trades on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq
under the symbol CDN. More information is available at
www.cadence.com.
Cadence, the Cadence log, and Fire & Ice are registered trademarks
of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are the property
of their respective owners.
Contact:
Cadence Design Systems Inc.
Bruce Chan, 408-894-2961
chan@cadence.com
or
Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing
Maggie Tan, +(65) 6360.4705
maggietan@charteredsemi.com
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