Chipworks Granted Patents for Ground-Breaking Automated Semiconductor Reverse Engineering Tool - The Design Analysis Workstation.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SEMICON Japan 2003

Booth#: 5-B402

TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2003

Chipworks Inc. ("Chipworks"), the standard setting supplier of reverse engineering (RE) services, announced today at SEMICON Japan 2003, that the US Patent and Trade Mark Offices has issued a notice of allowance for the US correspondent patent to Chipworks' Canadian patent CA 2 370 766 and Chipworks' Taiwanese patent TW 176297. This patent describes Chipworks' proprietary software tool the Design Analysis Workstation (DAW). The DAW revolutionizes semiconductor reverse engineering analysis; increasing accuracy, reducing costs and decreasing time to market.

The DAW is a significant breakthrough in the science of reverse engineering. For many years engineers took individual photomicrographs of their competitor's chips using simple optical microscopes and then manually taped them together into large photo mosaics. However, the increase in the numbers of transistors on a chip, the proliferation of layers of interconnect, and the rapid decrease in feature sizes make these traditional RE methods too expensive, too time consuming and too inaccurate. Without advanced tools, many companies have abandoned reverse engineering even though it is often the most effective way to do competitive analysis and the most effective way to confirm the use of proprietary intellectual property in competitor's chips.

"The days of engineers crawling on their hands and knees with felt tip pens over large photo mosaics are gone!" stated Chipworks' president and co-inventor of the DAW Julia Elvidge. Chipworks' Design Analysis Workstation is the cornerstone of a fully computerized process that has been utilized internally at Chipworks for more than 5 years. Digital images from optical, ultra-violet and scanning electron microscopes are assembled into high precision photo mosaics for use on the DAW. Each layer of an integrated circuit is captured separately and then locked into a precise 3-dimensional photographic representation of the chip. An analysis engineer can then open windows to look at a specific area of interest. Windows can be opened on any number of layers of the chip and each window is locked to every other window. Layers of interconnect can then be precisely traced and transferred down to transistor layers to allow accurate and fast extraction of schematic diagrams from any commercially available semiconductor device. "Engineers are thrilled with the DAW!" according to Chipworks' manager of R&D, Alexander LaChance. "Not only does it make their work easier and faster to complete, they no longer are required to crawl around the floor sorting through large and cumbersome photo mosaics."

Chipworks is dedicated to being the premier source of knowledge through creative investigation and analysis. The DAW project is an integral part of Chipworks' overall R&D program. Additional efforts include improving sample preparation and depocessing techniques to match the relentless advances in semiconductor processing techniques. "Today's Design Analysis Engineer at Chipworks can hardly conceive that it is possible to reverse engineer a chip without our DAW and other proprietary tools. We've had to keep a few old sets of knee pads around just to remind them how far we have come!" stated Chipworks CEO and another DAW co-inventor Terry Ludlow.

About Chipworks

Chipworks is an internationally recognized technical services company that analyzes the circuitry and physical composition of semiconductor chips and electronics systems for applications in patent licensing support and competitive study. Chipworks' technical experts use sophisticated lab facilities and a rich library of in-house semiconductor data and expertise to conduct detailed analyses of a wide selection of chip types. Chipworks develops high value, meticulously researched, on-time reports presented in a format that is easy to understand and tailored to customer needs.

Since 1992, Chipworks has successfully helped semiconductor and electronics organizations achieve their goals by supporting research and development efforts and patent portfolio management. Headquartered in Ottawa, Canada, the Company has offices worldwide. Chipworks can be visited via the Internet at www.chipworks.com.

SEMICON Japan Booth #: 5-B402