INTEROPERABLE TECHNOLOGY COMPUTER-AIDED DESIGN (CAD) TOOLS FOR ELECTRONIC CAD

PDF SOLUTIONS PROPOSES TO DEVELOP A STATISTICAL DESIGN TOOL FOR PROCESS/DEVICE AND CIRCUIT DESIGN IMPROVEMENT. BOTH PROCESS AND CIRCUIT DESIGNERS HAVE DIFFICULTY QUANTIFYING THE EFFECT OF PROCESS VARIABILITY UPON A CIRCUIT'S PARAMETRIC YIELD. EXISTING METHODS RELY ON EMPIRICAL OR QUALITATIVE METHODS THAT EITHER PRECLUDE CONCURRENT ENGINEERING OR ARE NOT BASED UPON THE PROCESS PHYSICS. EXISTING TCAD TOOLS WERE DEVELOPED FOR PROCESS AND DEVICE DESIGN BUT DO NOT ALLOW FOR STUDY OF CIRCUIT PERFORMANCE VARIANCE. THE PROPOSED TOOL WILL AUTOMATE THE TRANSFER OF INFORMATION BETWEEN PROCESS DEVELOPERS AND CIRCUIT DESIGNERS. BASED ON PDF'S SIMULATION ENGINE, THE TOOL WILL MODEL BOTH DEVICE AND CIRCUIT VARIABILITY BASED ON INHERENT FLUCTUATIONS IN PROCESS CONTROLS AND ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABLES. PROCESS AND CIRCUIT DESIGN ENGINEERS WILL HAVE THE ABILITY TO DESIGN NEW PROCESSES AND CIRCUITS THAT ARE LESS SENSITIVE TO MANUFACTURING VARIABILITY. A PROTOTYPE VERSION OF THE TOOL WILL CALCULATE STATISTICALLY ACCURATE WORST CASE DEVICE MODELS FOR CIRCUIT SIMULATION. PRESENT METHODS OF WORST CASE DEVICE DESIGN ARE AD HOC AND DO NOT ALLOW THE CONCURRENT APPLICATION OF DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURABILITY TO THE PROCESS AND CIRCUIT. PDF SOLUTIONS IS A TCAD SOFTWARE DEVELOPER WHOSE CHARTER IS TO PROVIDE SOFTWARE APPLYING PROCESS SIMULATION TO DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURABILITY AND MANUFACTURE ANALYSIS. AS SUCH, IT IS IN A UNIQUE POSITION TO DELIVER THE PROPOSED TOOL. THIS PHASE I PROJECT WILL RESULT IN A SPECIFICATION FOR THE STATISTICAL DESIGN TOOL AND THE ADDITIONAL FEATURE REQUIRED OF A TCAD FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT THE ANALYSIS. A PROTOTYPE VERSION OF THE TOOL WHICH CALCULATES WORST CASE DEVICE MODELS WILL ALSO BE DEVELOPED FOR CONCEPT VERIFICATION.