Computational Lithography Platform Points Toward 45 And 32 nm

The second generation of Brion Technologies' computational lithography platform, Tachyon 2.0, is aimed at the difficult manufacturing challenges of the 45- and 32-nm nodes. Tachyon 2.0 offers a 4X increase in modeling power and a 4X speedup in optical proximity correction (OPC) and OPC verification. With improved process-window accuracy, a single Tachyon 2.0 system rack can replace the production capacity of four Tachyon first generation racks.

Tachyon 2.0 provides a tightly integrated hardware and software platform, bringing greatly improved full-chip optical simulation technology to its users. Tachyon 2.0 improves modeling power by 4X, supporting optical simulation kernels up to 256 and optical interaction range up to 4 microns for 45-nm designs.

The platform also incorporates advancements in hardware-accelerated design that reduce power consumption by more than 50%, in comparison to an original Tachyon cluster with equivalent computational throughput. All of these improvements and refinements add up to improved cost of ownership, as well as advanced capabilities, such as 3D photomask lithography simulation.

Brion will deliver a beta version of Tachyon 2.0 to a customer in April with volume shipments in the end of the second half of the year. For more information, go to Brion Technologies.