UMC certifies Mentor product lines for its new 22nm ultra-low-power process technology

Mentor, a Siemens business, today announced that multiple Mentor product lines are now certified for United Microelectronic Corporation’s (UMC’s) 22uLP (ultra Low Power) process technology, including Mentor’s Calibre™ platform, Analog FastSPICE™ platform, and Nitro-SoC digital design platform.

UMC's 22nm process features 10 percent area reduction, improved power-to-performance ratio and enhanced RF capabilities compared to the company’s 28nm High-K/Metal gate process. The platform is ideal for a wide variety of applications including consumer integrated circuits (ICs) for set top box, digital TV and surveillance applications. UMC’s 22nm process is also well-suited for power-sensitive ICs intended for wearables and Internet of Things (IoT) products requiring longer battery life.

“Mentor is pleased to partner with UMC as we continue to build on our long track record of delivering world-class solutions for our shared customers,” said Shu-Wen Chang, director of Calibre Foundry Programs for Mentor, a Siemens business. “UMC’s new 22uLP process delivers outstanding power efficiency, and our recent certifications for this platform are great news for our worldwide base of mutual customers.”

The Mentor product lines now certified for UMC’s 22uLP process are:

• The Calibre nmDRC platform, which continues to serve as UMC’s standard for physical verification at the 22nm node, enabling exceptional performance and scaling with sign-off accuracy;
• The Calibre LVS platform, which delivers advanced capabilities at each process node to help customers solve design complexities and manage additional foundry requirements arising at each new geometry;
• The Calibre xACT platform, which delivers outstanding parasitic extraction to support low-power applications. The Calibre xACT platform’s unique integration of field solver accuracy and rule-based turnaround time is designed to give mutual Mentor and UMC customers the confidence to aggressively push the power and performance limits of UMC’s 22uLP process. 
• The Calibre PERC platform, which is designed to boost reliability and protect designs from electrostatic discharge (ESD). The Calibre PERC platform is enabled for full chip IO-ESD and cross power domain ESD design verification.
• The Nitro-SoC physical implementation software, which is optimized for ultra-low power ICs fabricated on the UMC 22uLP process. Nitro-SoC offers an industry-first, knowledge-driven reference flow to reduce design effort, so companies creating ICs for use in IoT, artificial intelligence (AI), and edge applications can lower their cost of tool ownership and get to market faster.
• The Analog FastSPICE platform for the simulation of analog, mixed-signal, radio frequency (RF) and custom digital IC designs, which present extraordinary demands relative to accuracy and turnaround time. Design teams at leading semiconductor companies around the world can now use Mentor’s Analog FastSPICE platform to verify their chips with confidence when leveraging the very latest UMC technologies.

In addition to 22nm qualifications, UMC has certified these Mentor solutions for its other recent processes in production, including 28HPC+.

“The verification of Mentor’s platforms on UMC’s production-ready 22nm ultra-low power technology will help accelerate the design-in process for our shared customers,” said Y.H. Chen, director of the IP Development and Design Support Division at UMC. “We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with Mentor to further certify their leading platforms on future specialty process technologies.”

UMC is a leading global semiconductor foundry that provides high quality IC production with a focus on both logic and specialty technologies. The company’s comprehensive technology and manufacturing solutions include logic/RF, embedded high voltage, embedded flash, RFSOI/BCD on 8" & 12" wafers and IATF-16949 automotive manufacturing certification for all its manufacturing facilities. UMC operates 12 fabs strategically located throughout Asia with a maximum capacity of more than 750,000 8-inch equivalent wafers per month.