May 24, 2012 -- Mentor Graphics Corp. today announced the availability of a new DFM Analysis Service based on the Calibre platform for TSMC 40-nm and 28-nm foundry customers. The service analyzes the customer's design database in accordance with TSMC's lithography process-checking (LPC) flow. It then delivers a results database with hotspot locations and fixing hints that routers can use to perform corrections. This DFM approach is an attractive alternative for designers taping out relatively few advanced node devices per year.

"Mentor offers a very efficient solution because we work with TSMC to validate sign-off tools and decks early in the technology development process," said Michael Buehler-Garcia, Senior Director of Marketing for Calibre Design Solutions at Mentor Graphics. "Our DFM service links TSMC's process expertise with Calibre's software expertise, and the compute power of Mentor's Calibre data center, resulting in fast, secure LPC runs. For designers with a relatively small number of tape-outs per year, the service option gives them a way to meet TSMC's sign-off requirements until their design volumes and complexity necessitate the need to run LPC in house. Additionally, the service complements the traditional Mentor long-term license purchase and short-term leasing options also available."

The DFM Analysis Service helps designers optimize their physical designs by performing TSMC's mandatory lithography checks using TSMC DFM Data Kits (DDK) running on Calibre LFD prior to tape-out and acceptance by the foundry. Mentor performs all the required tool setup and runs the litho checks against the customer's GDSII design database. Customers are protected by an advanced security infrastructure that isolates and secures their intellectual property in Mentor's data center in Wilsonville, Oregon, where the runs are conducted. Only Mentor employees in support of this service have access to customer files and the customer-specific environment.