Highlights:

• Imec validates Cadence LPA PLUS for advanced-process technologies
• Customers can verify design manufacturability during implementation and signoff, enabling them to detect and fix yield-limiting lithography hotspots 

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CDNS) today announced the Cadence® Litho Physical Analyzer (LPA) Production Lithography Unified Solution (PLUS) developed in partnership with ASML, which seamlessly provides foundry-enabled lithography simulation capabilities during chip design implementation and signoff. Cadence LPA PLUS enables engineers to detect lithography hotspots during design implementation and physical signoff and automatically fix them in Cadence design platforms. As a result, designers can improve design reliability and yield, while also accelerating time to market and yield ramp-up of their products. For more information on Cadence LPA PLUS, please visit www.cadence.com/go/lpaplus.

Cadence LPA PLUS enables engineers to predict and optimize the manufacturability and printability of their designs using a production simulation model and optical proximity correction (OPC) technique from ASML prior to tapeout. This ensures the efficient delivery of high-quality designs that function as intended. In addition, this technology is integrated with the Cadence Virtuoso® environment and Innovus™ Implementation System, providing a simple way to detect and fix printability hotspots during implementation, thereby further optimizing design manufacturability and yield.

Cadence and ASML developed the LPA PLUS to address the most complex design for manufacturing (DFM) requirements for advanced nodes that industry ecosystem partners demand. Furthermore, the Cadence LPA PLUS solution, validated by imec for advanced node designs, is readily accessible from the designer’s desktop, giving the designer greater control over manufacturability optimization while reducing foundry iterations.

“At advanced nodes, bridging the gap between design and manufacturing is imperative,” said Christophe Fouquet, executive vice president of applications at ASML. “We recognized that the Cadence design solution provided the optimal platform to bring manufacturing awareness to designers. The powerful combination of ASML Brion computational lithography technology and Cadence LPA brings together best-in-class technologies that fill that gap.”

“With Cadence LPA PLUS, engineering teams can simulate the manufacturability of their design at any time during implementation and signoff so they can accelerate time to market,” said Dr. Anirudh Devgan, senior vice president and general manager of the Digital & Signoff Group and the System & Verification Group at Cadence. “By working closely with ASML and imec, we’re enabling customers to take control of their design intent, reliability and yield.”

Customer and Partner Endorsements

“As a fabless design company, our designers need access to designer-friendly, production-accurate manufacturability checks. Without this capability, our designers would need to rely on checks run by the foundry, creating lengthy iterations leading to schedule delays. Since Cadence LPA PLUS has been validated by imec, we have increased confidence that our designers can successfully run checks during implementation, optimize the design for yield and stay on schedule with our latest innovations.”

-Jason Cain, principal member of the technical staff at AMD

“For advanced-node designs, manufacturability must be taken into account throughout the design phase, and adding manufacturability checks early in the process helps customers achieve Design Technology Co-Optimization (DTCO). We are working with Cadence on early node exploration which would allow design houses to highlight hotspots in their design, thereby ensuring the delivery of higher quality designs to the market.”

-Praveen Raghavan, distinguished member of technical staff at imec

About Cadence

Cadence enables electronic systems and semiconductor companies to create the innovative end products that are transforming the way people live, work and play. Cadence’s software, hardware and semiconductor IP are used by customers to deliver products to market faster—from semiconductors to printed circuit boards to whole systems. The company’s System Design Enablement strategy helps customers develop differentiated products in mobile, consumer, cloud datacenter, automotive, aerospace, IoT, industrial and other market segments. Cadence is listed as one of FORTUNE Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. Learn more at cadence.com.