TSMC has provided foundry-qualified DRC, LVS, and parasitic extraction rule decks qualified for Mentor Graphics Calibre® physical verification product, as well as Spice models for Mentor's Eldo® Spice simulator. And now, starting with this latest release of the 0.13µ (micron) mixed-mode and RF Mentor-PDK for TSMC's CR013G process, TSMC now supports Mentor Graphics IC studio custom/mixed-signal IC design flow. This kit now includes symbol library for Design Architect®-IC schematic capture and parameterized layout generators for IC Station® layout editor. This complete Mentor-PDK has been pre-qualified with the TSMC process. Design kits for the 90nm and 65nm nodes are currently being developed.

"TSMC and Mentor Graphics have collaborated in the development and validation of the Mentor process design kit," said Ed Wan, senior director of product marketing and design service at TSMC. "With the release of qualified process design kits such as this, IC designers will be able to leverage the readiness of our analog mixed-signal and RF technologies more efficiently and effectively, and jump start their design activities quickly and confidently."

Among many users of this CR013G Mentor-PDK is MediaPhy, a fables semiconductor company developing next generation solutions for global mobile media applications. MediaPhy has been an early adopter of this kit since its alpha and beta stages.

"We have been working closely with Mentor Graphics and TSMC through the early development stages to address our ever-increasing requirements for mixed-signal and RF designs." said Mohammad Moradi, co-founder and VP of engineering at MediaPhy. "We have been receiving collaborative support from both Mentor and TSMC, which has made this design kit a center piece of our advanced design methodology. We are pleased to see its official offering from TSMC that gives added confidence and benefits not only to us, but to the greater IC design community."

"The partnership between TSMC and Mentor has supported chip designers in their quest to complete designs efficiently. I am pleased to see this collaboration elevated to the next level." said Jue-Hsien Chern, vice president and general manager, Deep Submicron (DSM) division, Mentor Graphics. "With the support of Mentor-PDKs and Eldo/ADMS Views, we are enabling our common customers to design in TSMC's leading nanometer technologies."

By Mentor Graphics