Intel Custom Foundry certifies Mentor physical verification tools for 22FFL FinFET low power process

Mentor, a Siemens business, today announced it has achieved tape-out sign-off certification of the Calibre® physical verification platform and Analog FastSPICE™ (AFS™) circuit simulation platform for the new Intel® 22FFL (FinFET low power) process technology. Mutual customers of Intel Custom Foundry and Mentor can now extend their use of Mentor-based flows to perform design rule checking (DRC), layout vs. schematic checking (LVS), electrical reliability analysis, and advanced fill on their integrated circuit (IC) designs for Intel Custom Foundry’s new 22FFL design platform. In addition, custom and analog/mixed-signal designers can perform fast, accurate circuit verification and simulation.

Intel’s 22FFL process is built on Intel’s proven FinFET technology backed by years of 22nm/14nm proven manufacturing experience. The new 22FFL offers both high-performance and ultra-low-power transistors with up to 100x lower leakage than Intel’s previous 22GP (General Purpose) technology and enables true 22nm class scaling by delivering 17.8 mega transistors per millimeter square. Extensive use of single patterning and simplified design rules make this an affordable, easy-to-use design platform for a broad range of products that is cost-competitive with industry 28 nm processes while providing better performance and power than any planar technology can manage.

Intel Custom Foundry and Mentor collaborated to certify Intel’s 22FFL enablement offerings so that mutual customers can release their next-generation Internet of Things (IoT) and entry mobile designs to Intel Custom Foundry after validation with Calibre tools. The industry-leading Calibre nmDRC™ and Calibre nmLVS™ platforms help teams optimize their designs to meet process requirements, combining fast cycle times with physical verification accuracy. The innovative Calibre PERC™ reliability platform performs a wide range of complex reliability checks for today’s demanding electronics to ensure dependable operation of the chip over its lifetime. The Calibre YieldEnhancer with SmartFill tool enables designers to determine the optimum filling strategy to satisfy challenging design and manufacturing requirements. Using these Calibre tools helps teams expedite design closure with confidence.

For circuit verification and characterization of analog, radio frequency (RF), mixed-signal, memory, and custom digital circuits, the AFS platform is certified for Intel Custom Foundry’s 22FFL process device models and design kits. Mutual customers rely on the AFS platform to deliver nanometer SPICE accuracy faster than traditional SPICE simulators.

“Our ongoing collaboration with Mentor provides our mutual customers with ready access to our new 22FFL process technology, an exciting technology that provides a compelling combination of performance, power, density and ease of design for low-power IoT and mobile products,” said Venkat Immaneni, senior director of Foundry Design Kit Enablement at Intel Custom Foundry. “Certification of the Calibre toolset and AFS platform plus Intel Custom Foundry’s comprehensive 22FFL design platform provides designers with the efficient, accurate verification they need to deliver high-quality, high-performance products with confidence.”

“We were pleased to work with Intel Custom Foundry to expand our certifications to include the new Intel 22FFL process technology,” said Michael Buehler-Garcia, senior director of marketing, Calibre Design Solutions, Mentor. “These certifications are one more example of Mentor serving as the trusted verification connection between IC designers and advanced process technologies.”