Mask data preparation supports more formats

Mentor has two new Calibre products, Calibre Fracturej and Calibre Fracturet, which support the JEOLV52 and Toshiba VSB11 mask writing machines.

Mentor has two new Calibre products, Calibre Fracturej and Calibre Fracturet, which support the JEOLV52 and Toshiba VSB11 mask writing machines.

These tools expand Calibre's mask data preparation (MDP) tool portfolio for variable shaped beam (VSB) mask writing machines.

The MDP portfolio also includes Calibre Fracturem for the MEBES mask writing format and Calibre MDPView, the multiformat viewing and job deck environment.

The release is part of Calibre's strategy to deliver a complete and unified design-to-silicon platform.

Additional mask writer formats are in preparation.

As data volumes explode and mask costs soar to the million-dollar range, mask manufacturers and IC design companies are looking for ways to reduce costs and turn-around-time.

Calibre MDP tools allow integrated circuit design data, in which resolution enhancement techniques and geometry processing have been applied, to be exported directly from the Calibre hierarchical processing engine to the mask writer.

The direct export of data eliminates the data volume bottleneck created by the formation of large, intermediate files.

This streamlined flow, combined with the optimisation of data at the output stage, enables mask writers to maintain and even exceed current performance levels, and optimise turn-around times, even as gate count and design sizes grow.

"Retaining mask data hierarchy as long as possible has proven to be the best way to reduce cycle times and costs while also allowing us a more efficient operation of our current production equipment", said Craig Kokjohn, Executive Vice President of Worldwide Operations, DuPont Photomasks.

"Using Calibre MDP tools has shown that we can streamline our data flow even as we shift toward the challenges of the most advanced semiconductor designs".

"Continuing technology advances for mask manufacturing and managing costs for advanced technology nodes are the most critical issues facing the semiconductor industry", said Joseph Sawicki, General Manager, Design-to-Silicon Division, Mentor Graphics.

"Expanding Calibre's design-to-silicon platform to include these two advanced MDP formats allows us to leverage our hierarchical processing power to deliver new mask technology while at the same time, lowering the cost of mask manufacturing".

Calibre Fracturej and Calibre Fracturet are wholly integrated with Calibre's industry-standard physical verification and manufacturability tools and are easily integrated into design flows.

An extensive set of Calibre tools are used in an MDP flow including: Calibre DRC and Calibre DRC-H for design rule and hierarchical rule checking including mask rule checking (MRC) and rules-based mask proximity corrections (MPC) as user programmable capabilities; Calibre RVE results viewing environment for viewing mask rule checking results; Calibre Fracturem for creating the MEBES format output; and Calibre MDPview for a visual verification of GDSII and the converted data prior to export.

Pricing for the Calibre mask data preparation products begins at $39,500.

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