Copper Design Contest Draws 44 Entries From 34 Universities.DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 1999-- Contest sponsored by SRC (SouRCe) Contrast with DST, which is an abbreviation of "destination." , Novellus, UMC UMC United Methodist Church UMC United Microelectronics Corporation UMC University Medical Center UMC United Microelectronics Corp (Republic of China) UMC University of Missouri-Columbia Group and SpeedFam-IPEC sparks interest in novel circuit designs that exploit the power of copper The Semiconductor Research Corp. (SRC) in conjunction with contest co-sponsors, Novellus Systems Inc., the UMC Group and SpeedFam-IPEC, today announced that 44 teams from a total of 34 universities have submitted design proposals for the "SRC Copper IC Design Challenge". The contest offers over $150,000 in cash prizes and $850,000 in technical services and design implementation support. The submissions, which will leverage the power of copper interconnects, have focused on five areas: interconnect architecture, digital implementation, mixed-signal implementation, technology/component and wireless/RF (radio frequency). The contest's objective is to create novel circuit designs that will help accelerate the adoption of new semiconductor copper technology by engaging the creative interest of university faculty and students. According to the contest sponsors, emerging semiconductor manufacturing technologies, such as copper, provide opportunities to create new design architectures that can significantly improve the functionality and performance of integrated circuits (ICs) and the systems in which they will be used. The sponsors hope to leverage the creativity available at leading engineering universities to speed the adoption of novel new approaches to IC design at the 0.18-micron node. "We are extremely gratified grat·i·fy tr.v. grat·i·fied, grat·i·fy·ing, grat·i·fies 1. To please or satisfy: His achievement gratified his father. See Synonyms at please. 2. by the strong response to this contest," said Larry Sumney, the SRC's president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. . "The technical and design knowledge gained during this contest will be of considerable value to our industry. Moreover, the students participating in the contest -- who are the future of our industry -- will gain valuable experience that will be beneficial to them in their professional careers." The 44 university teams that have submitted design proposals will now move to Phase One of the contest, which will be conducted during the 1999 Fall semester. Each team will submit paper designs for evaluation by the panel of judges Panel of Judges is an indie pop band from Melbourne, Australia. Members
n. 1. The act or process of metallizing. for interconnect structures. Up to five designs from this phase will be selected for awards. Each university with a winning design in Phase One will receive a $20,000 award for the support of IC design education programs. The award will be presented to the university in the name of the winning team's leader. Phase Two of the contest will be conducted during the Spring 2000 semester and will consist of the Phase One winners entering their layouts (in GDSII GDSII Graphic Design System II format) for actual silicon fabrication fabrication (fab´rikā´sh  n),n the construction or making of a restoration. at the UMC Group. The fabricated devices will be then be returned to the contestants for test and evaluation. Contestants will then be expected to submit measured performance data and a discussion comparing this data with simulation data to the judges. The judges will select an overall winner to be announced To be announced (TBA) A contract for the purchase or sale of an MBS to be delivered at an agreed-upon future date but does not include a specified pool number and number of pools or precise amount to be delivered. at SEMICON SEMICON Semiconductors Equipment and Material International Conference West 2000. The winners of both Phase One and Phase Two will be invited to present their designs at TECHCON TECHCON Technical Control 2000 in Phoenix. A $30,000 first-place award will be made to the winning team's university in the name of the team leader. A $20,000 second place award will also be granted. The cash prizes will support IC design education programs at the universities and allow a monetary reward for participating students on the winning teams. The evaluation criteria for Phase Two will focus on creativity of design, impact of the design on future applications, design efficiency, test procedures, correlation of test results to the design performance predicted in Phase One and completeness of the materials submitted. All rights to designs submitted remain with the university or universities from which they originate. About the Semiconductor Research Corporation SRC, based in Research Triangle Park Research Triangle Park, research, business, medical, and educational complex situated in central North Carolina. It has an area of 6,900 acres (2,795 hectares) and is 8 × 2 mi (13 × 3 km) in size. Named for the triangle formed by Duke Univ. , N.C., with an office in San Jose, is the largest continuous industry-driven university research program in the United States. The SRC plans and manages a $35 million program of basic and applied research carried out principally at North American North American named after North America. North American blastomycosis see North American blastomycosis. North American cattle tick see boophilusannulatus. universities on behalf of participating North American companies. SRC can be found on the web at www.src.org About Novellus Systems Novellus Systems Inc. manufactures, markets and services advanced automated wafer fabrication systems for the deposition of thin films. Novellus deposition systems are designed for high-volume production of advanced, leading-edge semiconductors at the lowest overall cost. Headquartered in San Jose, Calif., with subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan, Novellus is a publicly traded company publicly traded company A company whose shares of common stock are held by the public and are available for purchase by investors. The shares of publicly traded firms are bought and sold on the organized exchanges or in the over-the-counter market. on the Nasdaq stock exchange (Nasdaq: NVLS NVLS Novellus Systems (stock symbol) ). Additional information about the company is available on Novellus' home page on the World Wide Web, located at www.novellus.com About the UMC Group The UMC Group is a world leading semiconductor foundry group consisting of United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC), United Semiconductor Corp. (USC An abbreviation for U.S. Code. ), United Integrated Circuits Corp. (UICC UICC Union International Contre le Cancer International Union against Cancer ), United Silicon, Inc. (USIC USIC University Science Instrumentation Centre USIC United States Intelligence Community USIC United States interdiction coordinator (US DoD) ), UTEK Semiconductor Corp. (UTEK) and the first dedicated foundry in Japan, Nippon Foundry Inc. (NFI NFI Nasjonal Forskningsinformasjon (Norwegian Research Database) NFI National Fisheries Institute NFI National Fatherhood Initiative NFI National Forest Inventory (Australia) NFI Nutrition Foundation of India ). The UMC Group leads the dedicated foundry industry in value-added design support with its Gold IPTM IPTM Institute of Police Technology and Management program. UMC Group companies are headquartered in Taiwan, with marketing and customer support offices located in the United States, Japan and the Netherlands. UMC Group (U.S.A.) offices are located at 788 Palomar Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086, tel. (408) 733-8881, fax (408) 733-8090. The company's website address is www.umcgroup.com About SpeedFam-IPEC SpeedFam-IPEC, Inc. designs, develops, manufactures, markets and supports chemical mechanical planarization (CMP CMP (cytidine monophosphate): see cytosine. (1) (CMP Media LLC, Manhasset, NY, www.cmp.com) Part of United Business Media, CMP is a leading integrated media company that offers a wide variety of publications and services in the information ) systems used in the fabrication of semiconductor devices and other high-throughput precision surface processing systems. SpeedFAM-IPEC's flat surface processing systems are used in the thin film memory disk media, silicon wafer and general industrial components markets. The company also markets and distributes polishing liquids (slurries), parts and consumables used in its customers' manufacturing processes. SpeedFam-IPEC, Inc. owns a 50-percent interest in each of two joint ventures, SpeedFAM-IPEC Co., Ltd. (the Far East Joint Venture) and Fujimi Corp. SEE ATTACHMENTS FOR LIST OF PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES AND CONTEST TIMELINE. -0-
ATTACHMENT 1
PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES
(By Entry Category)
Interconnect Architecture
-------------------------
Carnegie Mellon University
Georgia Institute of Technology(a)
Michigan State University
Oregon State University
The City College of the City University of New York
The State University of New York at Buffalo
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign(a)
University of California, San Diego
University of Florida
University of South Florida
Yale University
Digital Implementation
----------------------
Carnegie Mellon University
North Carolina State University(a)
North Dakota State University
University of California, Los Angeles
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
University of Southern California
University of Utah
Mixed-Signal Implementation
---------------------------
Duke University
Purdue University
University of Colorado
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University(a)
Technology/Component
--------------------
Boston University
Carnegie Mellon University
Illinois Institute of Technology
North Carolina State University
Oregon State University
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
University of Minnesota
University of Virginia
Wireless/RF
-----------
Arizona State University
Carnegie Mellon University
George Washington University
Kansas State University
Ohio State University
Rice University
The City College of the City University of New York
University of Washington
Washington State University
(a) These universities have two entries in the same category.
ATTACHMENT 2
Copper Design Contest Timeline
July 12-14, 1999: Participating universities announced at
SEMICON West `99
Aug. 15, 1999: Phase One begins
Dec. 3, 1999: Paper designs submitted for review by judges
Jan. 3, 2000: Layouts submitted in GDSII format for fabrication
at UMC
Apr. 4, 2000: Fabricated devices returned to university teams
for test and evaluation
Jun. 1, 2000: Measured performance data and comparison
with simulation data submitted to judges
Jul. 10-12, 2000 Winning designs announced at SEMICON West 2000,
San Francisco
Sept. 23-25, 2000 Winning designs presented at TECHCON 2000, Phoenix
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