Software cuts design times

PCX technology is capable of processing hundreds of Gbyte of post OPC data with almost zero MDP input overhead.

TSMC has implemented Synopsys' PCX technology to reduce design to mask cycle time for its process technologies.

Proteus-CATS data eXchange (PCX) technology is a highly scalable parallel interface technology designed to reduce data communication overhead and turnaround time between Synopsys' Proteus optical proximity correction (OPC) and CATS mask data preparation (MDP) software.

The advantage of TSMC's in-house mask services can be further enhanced by shortening the mask making cycle time, which will be difficult for the merchant maskshops to match.

Developed for both the GDS and OASIS library data formats, PCX technology is capable of processing hundreds of Gbyte of post OPC data with almost zero MDP input overhead.

PCX technology includes user-defined, scheduling-based workload management options for data processing optimisation.

Additionally, PCX technology helps ensure that data integrity is maintained during the OPC to MDP transfer.

"Minimising data I/O and providing an integrated OPC and mask data preparation solution plays an increasingly critical role in reducing the total cycle time for mask synthesis and mask data preparation", stated Wolfgang Fichtner, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Silicon Engineering Group, Synopsys.

As process geometries continue to shrink, the resulting increases in design complexity and chip pattern density have fueled a data explosion for advanced semiconductor designs.

This growing volume of data can lengthen both product development cycles and overall time to market.

Two areas in the production flow that are most adversely affected include mask synthesis (OPC, RET) and MDP.

"Synopsys PCX is the result of a technical collaboration with TSMC to provide a streamlined architecture and data transfer from OPC to MDP", said Kuo Wu, Deputy Director of Design Service Marketing at TSMC.

"We've seen encouraging results integrating PCX technology with the TSMC advanced technology production flow, which should reduce overall production turnaround time to directly benefit our customers".

Currently, PCX is supported on the Proteus 2006.09 and CATS 2006.09 software versions.

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