IC design software handles 22-nm ultra-low-power process technology

Mentor, a Siemens business, announced that multiple Mentor product lines are now certified for United Microelectronic Corporation’s (UMC’s) 22uLP (ultra Low Power) process technology, including Mentor’s Calibre platform, Analog FastSPICE platform, and Nitro-SoC digital design platform.

UMC’s 22nm process features 10 percent area reduction, improved power-to-performance ratio and enhanced RF capabilities compared to the company’s 28nm High-K/Metal gate process. The platform is ideal for a wide variety of applications including consumer integrated circuits (ICs) for set top box, digital TV and surveillance applications. UMC’s 22nm process is also well-suited for power-sensitive ICs intended for wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) products requiring longer battery life.

The Mentor product lines now certified for UMC’s 22uLP process are:

• The Calibre nmDRC platform, which continues to serve as UMC’s standard for physical verification at the 22nm node, enabling exceptional performance and scaling with sign-off accuracy;
• The Calibre LVS platform, which delivers advanced capabilities at each process node to help customers solve design complexities and manage additional foundry requirements arising at each new geometry;
• The Calibre xACT platform, which delivers outstanding parasitic extraction to support low-power applications. The Calibre xACT platform’s unique integration of field solver accuracy and rule-based turnaround time is designed to give mutual Mentor and UMC customers the confidence to aggressively push the power and performance limits of UMC’s 22uLP process.
• The Calibre PERC platform, which is designed to boost reliability and protect designs from electrostatic discharge (ESD). The Calibre PERC platform is enabled for full chip IO-ESD and cross power domain ESD design verification.
• The Nitro-SoC physical implementation software, which is optimized for ultra-low power ICs fabricated on the UMC 22uLP process. Nitro-SoC offers an industry-first, knowledge-driven reference flow to reduce design effort, so companies creating ICs for use in IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), and edge applications can lower their cost of tool ownership and get to market faster.
• The Analog FastSPICE platform for the simulation of analog, mixed-signal, radio frequency (RF) and custom digital IC designs, which present extraordinary demands relative to accuracy and turnaround time. Design teams at leading semiconductor companies around the world can now use Mentor’s Analog FastSPICE platform to verify their chips with confidence when leveraging the very latest UMC technologies.

In addition to 22nm qualifications, UMC has certified these Mentor solutions for its other recent processes in production, including 28HPC+.