Simplex Contributes Breakthrough Test Chip Methodology as Industry Standard.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 1998--

New "COSMIC" Approach to Deep Submicron Interconnect Measurement Makes Accuracy Validation Available to Worldwide Semiconductor Industry

Simplex Solutions, Inc. (Sunnyvale, Calif.) today announced a new methodology for validating the accuracy of interconnect extraction tools for electronic circuit design.

In addition, the company announced that the methodology and associated test structures would be licensed free of charge to the entire worldwide chip design industry. The new methodology, called COSMIC (comprehensive semiconductor measurement of interconnect capacitance), is now available on the Simplex web site, http://www.simplex.com.

"Simplex is taking the lead by enabling the semiconductor industry to use a standard measurement methodology for deep submicron interconnect capacitance," said Penny Herscher, president and CEO of Simplex Solutions. "Semiconductor manufacturers and EDA companies can now use one test chip to validate all extractors to a higher degree of accuracy than ever before, and save the time and money previously wasted due to lack of standardization."

"Two essential issues face fabless companies as we approach the next millennium: qualification standards and design and interconnect verification challenges," said Al Kordesh, chairman of the FSA Modeling Subcommittee and principal device technology engineer at Information Storage Devices (San Jose, Calif.). "The COSMIC standard will have a major positive impact on solving both the qualification and verification challenges due to interconnect."

Having standard test structures for interconnect is expected to reduce the number of individual design tool and process qualifications required by fabless companies. Millions of dollars have been spent on test chips for device models, but today's challenge is obtaining accurate interconnect models.

COSMIC Test Chips

Simplex has used the COSMIC methodology on test chips manufactured by Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing, Inc. and United Microelectronics, Inc. to validate that Simplex' Fire & Ice(TM) full-chip 3D extraction tool is within +/-10 percent of Chartered and UMC's silicon. Simplex is in the process of completing test chips with three additional foundry partners within the next three months -- NEC, TSMC, and Toshiba.

In a related announcement today, TestChip Technologies announced the addition of the COSMIC test structures to its public library, and said they will use COSMIC on future test chips. TestChip Technologies supplies test chips to semiconductor device manufacturers and provides services and support for the FSA's Standard Foundry Process Qualification (SFPQ) test chip program.

"Part of the Simplex mission is to make deep submicron accessible and successful for more designers," continued Herscher. "Today's design teams waste valuable resources on redundant extraction accuracy benchmarks, or work with un-validated tools. As a result, they struggle to predict silicon performance. With COSMIC as a standard, foundries and EDA companies can now eliminate redundant test chips and supply accurate extraction validation results to their customers: the IC designers."

Active Approach for Deep Submicron

COSMIC is an "active" approach to measuring capacitance at the femtofarad level (one femtofarad is equal to 0.001 picofarad), as it uses an on-chip sensor circuit for the measurements. It is based on research originally performed at UC Berkeley that Simplex enhanced to produce COSMIC.

Earlier approaches, known as "passive," measured semiconductors only to the picofarad range, which is insufficient for the microscopic scale of deep submicron wires. Simplex is the first company to successfully validate extraction accuracy using an active test chip methodology.

"The FSA supports practices or methodologies that will reduce time to market for fabless companies," said Jodi Shelton, executive director of the FSA, "and those that continue to improve the interaction and interdependence between fabless companies and their foundry partners. We thank Simplex for their contribution of the COSMIC methodology."

About Simplex

Simplex Solutions, Inc. is a pioneer in the new market for deep submicron full-chip interconnect verification. The company currently develops full-chip IC extraction and analysis software, used worldwide by companies developing microprocessors and integrated circuits (ICs) to improve chip performance and reliability. Simplex works closely with semiconductor foundries Chartered, IBM, NEC, TSMC, Toshiba and UMC to develop extraction models and validate extraction accuracy.

The company's investors include Attractor Investment Management, Intel Corp., Mayfield Fund, Sumitomo Corp., and Worldview Technology Partners. Simplex can be reached at 408/617-6100 or on the web at http://www.simplex.com.

Note to editors: Fire and Ice and Thunder & Lightning are trademarks of Simplex Solutions.

    CONTACT: Simplex
              Jan Willis, 408/617-6100
              or
              VitalCom
              Scott Seiden, 650/637-8212