Memory Characterization Focus on Yield Improvements
With rising mask cost and increasing
design complexity, the ‘low-yield’ risks are becoming very critical for
nanometer technology.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 2, 2005
– Legend Design Technology, Inc., a provider of circuit simulation and
semiconductor IP characterization software, today announced that its
industry-leading CharFlo-Memory! product, an automatic memory
characterization tool, has been upgraded with new capabilities for
improving silicon yields. The new release addresses the modeling
optimization and reliability checks against signal integrity and
noise-margin for embedded memories on system-on-chip (SoC) designs. It
builds upon the market-leading position of CharFlo-Memory! product,
offering the advantages of automation, performance, and accuracy in a
fully integrated tool.
Legend’s memory characterization tool
has been adopted by major foundries, IDMs and fabless design companies
such as TSMC, UMC, Broadcom, Marvell and most Japanese semiconductor
companies etc.. The timing and power models generated have been
successfully proven in numerous SoC designs, including 65nm and 90nm
technology.
With rising mask cost and increasing design
complexity, the ‘low-yield’ risks are becoming very critical for
nanometer technology. As a result, the market windows for the
associated products could be totally missed. The newly released
CharFlo-Memory! can prevent reliability problems and enhance design
quality for improving silicon yields of memory IP, which occupy the
majority of silicon areas. Yield improvements in the new release have
been achieved by
1. Using the exact
'instance' characterization for various PVTs (Process, Voltage and
Temperature) rather than just roughly interpolated or extrapolated from
table models. The instance characterization has been critically
required for 90nm and 65nm memory IP modeling.
2.
Performing reliability check at circuit-level after recognizing
the structures and patterns of memory designs. In memory
characterization process, the model parameters have been optimized with
the following constraints
• The signals need be stronger than the noise-margin (e.g. 100mv).
• The signals need be 'glitch' free.
• The signals need be 'meta-stability' free.
• The signals need be 'signal-integrity violation' free.
3. Enabling the 'layout parasitic RC extraction' by
providing only critical nets to be extracted. Since the 'critical nets'
is less than 1% of the total nets on chip, the time-consuming 'layout
parasitic RC extraction' can be done in much shorter time. Furthermore,
the circuit netlist extracted becomes much smaller, too.
The applications of using CharFlo-Memory! tool can be categorized for
1. Commercial memory-compiler users
At various PVTs (Process, Voltage and Temperature), CharFlo-Memory! can
be used to automatically re-characterize the memory instances and
generate the timing and power models in ‘.lib’ format at silicon-level
accuracy. This ‘push-button’ flow supports all leading commercial
memory compilers from 0.25um to 90nm technology.
2. In-house memory-compiler or custom-memory development
CharFlo-Memory! can be used for both detailed design verification and
yield-oriented characterization. Either the accurate instance model or
table-lookup compiler model can be automatically generated. Even for
nanometer memory designs, the modeling accuracy and silicon yields have
been fully verified in production at major foundries.
CharFlo-Memory! tool with new capabilities for improving silicon yields is available now from Legend Design Technology, Inc.
About Legend
Legend Design Technology Inc. is a leading provider of circuit
simulation and semiconductor IP characterization software for SoC
designs. With an emphasis on productivity and value, Legend’s
CharFlo-Memory! toolset revolutionizes the time-consuming and
error-prone processes associated with characterization. MSIM is
Legend’s high-accuracy SPICE circuit simulator with great convergence
and extensive model support. Turbo-MSIM is Legend’s high-speed and
high-capacity circuit simulator ideal for timing and power simulation,
and function verification. Both simulators are well designed for
nanometer technology challenges, and provide excellent price
performance. For more information, visit www.LegendDesign.com.
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CharFlo-Memory! and Turbo-MSIM are trademarks, and MSIM a registered trademark of Legend Design Technology, Inc.
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Contact Legend Design Technology, Inc.
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