January 13, 2006 -- Coventor, Inc.  has introduced SEMulator3D, a computer-aided design (CAD) tool that provides silicon-accurate 3-D models of the devices and chips fabricated with semiconductor processing equipment to facilitate communication among fab personnel. Once calibrated, or tuned, to the specific production equipment and processes within a given wafer fab, SEMulator3D provides a fast, easy-to-use way to generate silicon-accurate interactive 3-D models of the films, structures and devices actually produced by that wafer fab.

SEMulator3D also lets users document and certify a wafer fab's manufacturing process, and any modifications, so the process can be transferred among a company's different wafer fabs, or between fabless chipmakers and foundries. These tasks are critical but difficult to do, given the complexity of today's semiconductors and the multiplicity of technologies needed to build them. TCAD simulations are time-consuming, while manual microscopic examinations and drawings may be inaccurate and require experienced engineers whose time could be better-spent.

SEMulator3D CAD software is an outgrowth of Coventor's MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) design software for the analysis and optimization of micro-scale devices and fluidic components and subsystems. It uses geometric or topographic parameters as input, not electrical or chemical input. This parametric input is taken from existing mask-layout data files and process flows in the standard GDSII format, and also from actual measurement of devices and structures fabricated by a given piece of production equipment. "End users customize SEMulator3D to their fabrication processes without exposing sensitive proprietary information about their process technology to outside parties. All that is needed to know is what a piece of equipment is actually capable of doing," said Josephus van Kuijk, VP Marketing & Business Development. "For example, a chipmaker's proprietary method for removing material from the side of a trench does not matter to SEMulator3D. All SEMulator3D needs to know is that a particular piece of equipment is capable of removing the material to a certain depth and with a specified side-wall profile. With this simple parameterized input, it can model the 3-D structure that will result after that processing step has been performed by that piece of equipment."

SEMulator3D performs error- and physical feature-detection, and its visualization capabilities aid in the yield analysis and optimization of semiconductor devices. The software enables one to view complex structures, electrical/mechanical connectivity, dynamic or interactive cross-sections; to measure distances; to control cross-sectional layer properties; to import/combine parts of various native CAD formats; to manipulate 3-D images, to save animation and camera settings, and to save screenshots in various standard formats, among many other functions.

SEMulator3D includes a process library that supports all the typical process steps used in an advanced wafer fab, including those associated with CMOS processing (e.g. oxidation, implant, patterning, diffusion, etc.); material addition and removal (e.g. PVD, CVD, conformal and axial deposition, RIE, anisotropy etching, CMP, etc.); and advanced etching techniques. It can find design errors caused by merged parts, improper connections and stringers, and verify electrical connectivity/shorts.

The software can help process engineers identify defects like voids and air pockets, the effects of mask misalignments and other process deviations. For mask operations, SEMulator3D accepts GDSII input, supports Boolean operations, and is robust to mask defects. Output can be in either tetrahedral or mixed-mesh forms, and in UNV, DXF, ANSYS or TCAD data formats.

SEMulator3D is controlled by a Python-based scripting language and supports parameterized arguments and the IDLE graphic user interface. It runs on the Windows 2000 and Windows XP platforms, and requires an OpenGL video card.

Pricing and Availability

SEMulator3D is available immediately for process documentation and training applications, starting at $25,000.