Elpida Memory goes for Avant!'s Taurus-OPC

Elpida Memory has selected Avant!'s Taurus-OPC as the optical proximity correction (OPC) solution for its advanced 0.13-micron DRAM production processes.

Elpida Memory has selected Avant!'s Taurus-OPC as the optical proximity correction (OPC) solution for its advanced 0.13-micron DRAM production processes.

Elpida Memory is a joint venture between NEC and Hitachi.

Elpida uses Taurus-OPC to adjust design layout shapes in critical circuit layers to assure the highest quality pattern transfer from photomask to wafer.

With Elpida's advanced processes of 0.13 micron and below, the Taurus-OPC model-based technology is a requirement for rapid, accurate optical proximity correction.

IC circuit features are printed more accurately and more uniformly, resulting in significant chip yield improvement and high circuit speed.

"Based on extensive testing of the available solutions, we concluded that Avant!'s Taurus-OPC optical proximity correction solution gave us the most accurate results on wafers", said Hiroyoshi Tanabe, project manager, process development department, development division at Elpida.

"Even more importantly, the small standard deviation in the results gives us high confidence that we can consistently achieve high yields in production.

Without this tool, our physical design teams would be unable to meet both our accuracy and production requirements".

"Rules-based OPC solutions were adequate at the 0.26 to 0.15-micron feature sizes", said Dr Paul Lo, chief operating officer at Avant! "But as the relentless pursuit of Moore's Law drives process technology to 0.13 microns and below, rules-based OPC solutions become too complex for production use.

For today's advanced processes, model-based OPC is a necessity.

We're pleased that Elpida Memory recognises the quality and capability of our model-based Taurus-OPC solution".

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