Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has announced that the readiness of two foundry-first reference flows, one supporting 20nm and another supporting CoWoS (chip on wafer on substrate) technologies. The new 20nm reference flow will help chip designers to start making 20nm chips with double patterning, whereas CoWoS will enable multi-die integration for complex chips.

“These reference flows give designers access to TSMC’s advanced 20nm and CoWoS technologies. Delivering advanced silicon and manufacturing technologies as early and completely as possible to our customers is a chief goal for TSMC and its OIP design ecosystem partners," said Cliff Hou, vice president of R&D at TSMC.

TSMC’s 20nm reference flow enables double patterning technology (DPT) design using proven design flows. Leading EDA vendors’ tools are qualified to work with TSMC 20nm process technology by incorporating DPT aware place and route, timing, physical verification and design for manufacturing (DFM).

TSMC’s 20nm reference flow enables 20nm design with DPT aware capabilities to reduce design complexity and deliver required accuracy. DPT enablement includes pre-coloring capability, new RC extraction methodology, DPT sign-off, physical verification and DFM. In addition, TSMC and its ecosystem partners design 20nm IP for DPT compliance to accelerate 20nm process adoption.

The new silicon-validated CoWoS reference flow enables multi-die integration to support high bandwidth, low power can achieve fast time-to-market for 3D IC designs. The CoWoS flow also benefits designers by allowing them to use existing, mainstream tools from leading EDA vendors.

The CoWoS reference flow enables 3D IC multi-die integration. The new CoWoS reference flow allows a smooth transition to 3D IC with minimal changes in existing methodologies. It includes the management of placement and routing of bumps, pads, interconnections, and C4 bumps; innovative combo-bump structure; accurate extraction and signal integrity analysis of high-speed interconnects between dies; thermal analysis from chip to package to system; and an integrated 3D testing methodology for die-level and stacking-level tests.

In addition, TSMC released custom design reference flow that enables DPT in 20nm custom layouts. It provides solutions to 20nm process requirements, including a direct link with simulators for the verification of voltage-dependent DRC rules, and integrated LDE solutions and handling of HKMG technology. RF Reference Design Kit provides new high frequency design guidelines. These consist of 60GHz RF model support, high performance electromagnetic (EM) characterization that enables customer design capability through the examples of 60GHz front-to-back implementation flow and Integrated Passive Device (IPD) support.

Tags: TSMC, 20nm, CoWoS, Semiconductor