Cross-Foundry Partnering Ensures Design Portability

April 26, 2004

The industry's first cross-foundry design enablement program, just inked between Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing and IBM Corp., will support leading-edge chip development starting at the 90-nm process node. The program builds on the existing joint technology and manufacturing deal already in place between the two companies. Yet it also sets a new standard for foundry compatibility, design portability, and flexible sourcing across multiple suppliers.

IBM and Chartered are already collaborating to expand the ecosystem of design technology and service providers with offerings prequalified for the two companies' 90-nm process node. The first key milestone is shared library support with Artisan Components Inc. and Virage Logic Corp., the leading suppliers of baseline libraries. The roadmap will continue with initiatives spanning electronic-design-automation technology files to system-level intellectual property, including joint qualification of reference design flows and third-party design services.

Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing www.charteredsemi.comIBM Corp. www.ibm.com/chips

About the Author

Dave Bursky

Technologist

Dave Bursky, the founder of New Ideas in Communications, a publication website featuring the blog column Chipnastics – the Art and Science of Chip Design. He is also president of PRN Engineering, a technical writing and market consulting company. Prior to these organizations, he spent about a dozen years as a contributing editor to Chip Design magazine. Concurrent with Chip Design, he was also the technical editorial manager at Maxim Integrated Products, and prior to Maxim, Dave spent over 35 years working as an engineer for the U.S. Army Electronics Command and an editor with Electronic Design Magazine.