BTA Technology Introduces Service That Enables RC Extractors to Match Silicon Data; Interconnect Test Chip and Characterization Service Calibrates RC Layout Extraction Tools.

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 31, 1998--BTA Technology, Inc., a leading EDA and TCAD provider of modeling solutions for deep submicron technologies, today announced that it is introducing an interconnect characterization service that tunes RC layout extraction tools to silicon data.

The service includes test chip design, measurement, and calibration to customer specific RC layout extraction tools.

Customers now have a complete interconnect characterization solution much like what they have currently for active devices, such as MOS transistors, through one source. The service brings silicon verification to interconnect parasitics and ensures that design tools have the maximum modeling accuracy -- less than 2% error compared to silicon results.

"Our new service is a reflection of the need for design tools to be physically calibrated with silicon data," said Dr. Zhihong Liu, CEO and president of BTA Technology. "This calibration stage is the key for any designer who wants accurate RC information."

The enabling technology for design tool calibration is a thorough test chip design. BTA Technology has developed a comprehensive set of test structures with sub-femto farad (less than 0.001pF) resolution capability. These test structures have features that heighten specific physical dependencies (such as spacing between parallel metal wires) and include patterns, which appear most frequently within layouts as well.

"The former allows us to extract physical parameters," Dr. James C. Chen, the original inventor of the sub-femto farad test structures and BTA Technology product manager, noted, "while the latter ensures that calibration results can be practically used."

What a User is Saying

BTA Technology's interconnect characterization service has already won numerous endorsements from semiconductor companies such as Kawasaki Steel Corporation (KSC), one of BTA Technology's service customers. Osamu Haida, Director of KSC's Utsunomiya Works LSI Division, remarked, "We have thoroughly compared BTA results with other interconnect characterization solutions, and have concluded that BTA's is the best."

Pricing and Availability

The service is available from BTA Technology for $50,000 (USD) and up. This price includes test structure design, measurement, and RC layout tool calibration. Customers who use their own or non-BTA test chips can use the measurement portion of the service for $15,000 (USD).

About BTA Technology and Its Products and Services

BTA Technology, founded in 1993, provides solutions for the challenging problems facing the semiconductor industry in the deep-submicron arena. BTA Technology specializes in reliability simulation and technology characterization and modeling. The company offers IC reliability simulators, like BTABERT(TM) and Glacier; SPICE modeling and model parameter extraction tools -- BSIMPro(TM) and SIGMAPro(TM); and noise and RF characterization tools.

The company offers full model parameter extraction services for both interconnect and transistors as well. The company is headquartered at 4633 Old Ironsides Drive, Suite 200, Santa Clara, CA 95054. 408/986-1011, Fax: [phone], [e-mail], http//www.btat.com.

Note to Editors: BTABERT, BSIMPro, Glacier, and SIGMAPro are trademarks of BTA Technology, Inc. All other trademarks are property of their owners.

Reference

An On-Chip, Interconnect Capacitance Characterization Method with Sub-Femto-Farad Resolution by J.C. Chen, D. Sylvester, B. McGaughy, C. Hu, H. Aoki, S. Nakagawa, and S-Y. Oh, University of California Berkeley and Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, USA at the 1997 IEEE International Conference on Microelectronic Test Structures.

Acronyms -0-

EDA:     Electronic Design Automation
TCAD:    Technology Computer Aided Design


    CONTACT:  BTA Technology (Public Relations Counsel)
               Georgia Marszalek, 650/345-7477
               [e-mail]
               www.btat.com