CSMC Technologies Corporation adopts Synopsys Proteus OPC platform

"In order to meet the demands of the burgeoning China semiconductor market, it is vital that CSMC delivers new process technologies in a timely and reliable manner," said Wesley Chang, CSMC director, Design Service Center. "Choosing the complete Proteus platform, along with the great support of the local Synopsys OPC team, helped us to deliver 153nm on an aggressive schedule."

CSMC Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of the China Resources Microelectronics Limited, is pioneering the open foundry business model in China. CSMC currently offers a broad range of adaptable CMOS specialty processes that are supported by their 6 and 8" foundry facilities located in China. Since China is one of the fastest growing emerging markets for the semiconductor industry, CSMC's role to support China's fabless houses is also growing.

The Proteus platform includes the traditional OPC, Lithography Rule Check (LRC) and Rule-Base Assist Features (RBAF). The Proteus platform is pipelined and highly scalable to thousands of cores, resulting in efficient time-to-market control. Proteus is also pipelined with Synopsys' CATS mask write and mask inspections products, resulting in near-zero overhead for the Mask Data Preparation (MDC) steps. Proteus and CATS tools provide the fastest path from GDS to mask while reducing cost of ownership.

"Synopsys has invested heavily in our Proteus OPC platform and support team in China to meet the needs of foundries like CSMC," said Howard Ko, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Silicon Engineering Group, Synopsys. "We are very pleased that CSMC was able to accelerate delivery of their 153nm technology with help from Synopsys and we look forward to working with CSMC on future processes."