Partnership links software, design automation to silicon that works the first time "Designed for manufacturability" now has foundry’s seal of approval

San Jose, CA -- September 16, 1996 -- Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and Excellent Design Inc. have announced a comprehensive three-year agreement covering joint technical and marketing activities between the two companies.

The agreement calls for Chartered to deliver design rules, Spice models and process data to Excellent Design. Excellent Design will then create the methodology and tools to generate libraries optimized for Chartered’s deep submicron processes. Traditionally, this procedure is done serially: A new process was refined, then the libraries, tools and services were developed and delivered to engineers for the design of product prototypes.

According to Ray Hawkins, senior vice president, worldwide marketing and sales, the agreement outlines two key areas of cooperation that set an industry trend. First, Chartered and Excellent will exchange information that will enable

semiconductor companies and systems manufacturers to develop their own proprietary circuits and be assured that the product is designed for manufacturability; that is, a product can be successfully fabricated to work as it was originally designed.

Next, through the open exchange of data, Chartered and Excellent can help systems engineers accelerate time to production for their new products by providing early access to new manufacturing processes. This is especially critical in complex, deep submicron designs of 0.35 micron and below.

Hawkins stated, "Customers benefit because they know Excellent Design’s libraries have been tested at Chartered and work to our manufacturing guidelines."

Today, the total time from chip design to market entry is squeezed into three-to-six months, yet the designs contain half a million gates. The relationship between the foundry and the electronic design automation company lets designers beat the shrinking market window by giving customers a roadmap that links high-level designs to silicon implementation," Hawkins continued.

Van Chang, director of U.S. operations for Excellent Design, said, "Customers can use Excellent Design’s libraries of dense layout optimized to Chartered’s process. Two weeks after we receive the Spice models and design rules, the Chartered library is completed and ready for use by designers. With our proven methodology, we can generate a 400-cell library layout in one day and completely characterize libraries with the generation of associated models and data sheets within a week."

Excellent currently has 0.5- and 0.35-micron libraries geared to Chartered’s process. Their agreement calls for the companies to begin development on 0.25- and 0.18-micron processes and libraries next.

Excellent Design Inc. (EXD) produces EDA solutions for designers of deep-submicron integrated circuits. EXD provides comprehensive libraries and library development tools for silicon implementation. The Company, which was founded in 1990, is headquartered in Yokohama, Japan, and has offices in Santa Clara, California.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing (CSM) is a dedicated foundry that provides quality manufacturing and exceptional customer service for semiconductor companies worldwide. Using a broad range of leading-edge processes, CSM manufactures semiconductor products for a broad range of market applications. CSM is headquartered in Singapore, with offices in the United States and Taiwan. CSM is a member company of Singapore Technologies Semiconductors (STS). The STS companies provide design, integrated circuit wafer fabrication, assembly and test, marketing and distribution. STS is a strategic business unit of Singapore Technologies.