Message #34 From:
NewsBot Date: November 6, 2006 03:00:00 AM
CDNS News Cadence and UMC Collaborate to Achieve Wireless Reference Design Silicon Success for Customers
SAN JOSE, Calif. & HSINCHU, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CDNS), the leader in global
electronic-design innovation, and leading global semiconductor foundry
UMC (NYSE:UMC) (TSE:2303) today announced the success of their RF
integrated-circuit design and verification on a co-developed wireless
system-on-chip (SoC) reference flow. The flow, featuring the Cadence®
QRC Extraction and the Virtuoso® UltraSim
Full-chip Simulator, combines the Cadence Virtuoso custom design
platform and UMC’s RFCMOS process to deliver
silicon-accurate chip simulation and verification flows.
UMC and Cadence announced their alliance to streamline wireless design
for the fabless market on October 6, 2005. Since then, UMC has
successfully produced a test chip that verifies the Cadence QRC
Extraction technology. The Cadence Virtuoso UltraSim provided UMC with
transistor-level transceiver simulation, which reduced the verification
cycle time by half. UMC and Cadence worked closely together to develop a
methodology and flow to verify post-layout transistor-level full-chip
transceivers, by combining UMC’s 0.13um MM/RF
PDK validated for the Virtuoso platform, silicon-accurate Cadence QRC
Extraction technology, and the Virtuoso UltraSim.
“Designers building SoCs for wireless
applications can gain a competitive advantage when they use Virtuoso
combined with UMC’s RFCMOS process,”
said Patrick Lin, chief SoC architect at UMC. “For
back annotation verification, Cadence QRC Extraction provides a
convenient and accurate methodology to predict the performance in
critical building blocks such as LC-tank VCO. Further, the extraction
that covers RLCK can be used to predict with greater accuracy the
frequencies and how the design will perform in silicon. These benefits
and our alliance with Cadence have resulted in a seamless design
environment for the analog/RF design communities.”
The continually increasing demand for feature-rich wireless devices with
complex functionality and minimized area and power requirements is
driving the need for silicon-accurate parasitic extraction and
transistor-level full-chip simulation flows that reduce risk and
time-to-market for custom wireless SoCs.
“Cadence and UMC are working side-by-side to
drive and deliver integrated, low-cost, high-performance, low-power
wireless SoC solutions to our mutual customers,”
said Charles Giorgetti, corporate vice-president, Product Marketing, at
Cadence. “By collaborating with UMC, we are
able to provide a silicon-validated methodology that meets changing
requirements for wireless designers as they develop new and increasingly
more innovative products.”
A reference design flow is available through UMC’s
customer support channels. The live demonstration of this reference
design flow for a 2.4GHz, 4GHz and 7GHz LC tank VCO will be presented at
CDNLive in HsinChu, Taiwan on Nov, 7.
About UMC
UMC (NYSE:UMC) (TSE:2303) is a leading global semiconductor foundry that
manufactures advanced process ICs for applications spanning every major
sector of the semiconductor industry. UMC delivers cutting-edge foundry
technologies that enable sophisticated system-on-chip (SoC) designs,
including 90nm copper, 0.13 um copper, and mixed signal/RFCMOS. UMC is
also a leader in 300mm manufacturing; Fab 12A in Taiwan and
Singapore-based Fab 12i are both in volume production for a variety of
customer products. UMC employs approximately 10,500 people worldwide and
has offices in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Europe, and the United States.
UMC can be found on the web at http://www.umc.com
About Cadence
Cadence enables global electronic-design innovation and plays an
essential role in the creation of today's integrated circuits and
electronics. Customers use Cadence software and hardware, methodologies,
and services to design and verify advanced semiconductors, consumer
electronics, networking and telecommunications equipment, and computer
systems. Cadence reported 2005 revenues of approximately $1.3 billion,
and has approximately 5,200 employees. The company is headquartered in
San Jose, Calif., with sales offices, design centers, and research
facilities around the world to serve the global electronics industry.
More information about the company, its products, and services is
available at www.cadence.com.
Note From UMC Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
Some of the statements in the foregoing announcement are forward looking
within the meaning of the U.S. Federal Securities laws, including
statements about future outsourcing, wafer capacity, technologies,
business relationships and market conditions. Investors are cautioned
that actual events and results could differ materially from these
statements as a result of a variety of factors, including conditions in
the overall semiconductor market and economy; acceptance and demand for
products from UMC; and technological and development risks.
Cadence and Virtuoso, are registered trademarks, and the Cadence logo
is a trademark, of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. All other trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.
