MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Ponte Solutions announced an agreement with the Corporate Manufacturing Engineering Center (TCMC), a center of Toshiba Corp., to deliver advanced DFM solutions to Toshiba semiconductor business units. The first joint effort will provide Ponte's via and contact etch modeling capability to Toshiba semiconductor manufacturing groups resulting in acceleration in delivery of advanced process technologies.

"Our agreement with Ponte will allow us to deliver a more robust and high-quality solution to our wafer fabs," said Seiji Onoue, Senior Research Scientist, Process Research Center, Corporate Manufacturing Engineering Center, Toshiba Corporation. "Working with Ponte on the current via and contact etch project, we have been able to extend our analysis beyond standard TCAD environments, making Ponte an essential success partner for us."

"Ponte's physics-based models can predict process variability based on limited process information, so fabs don't need to run large numbers of experimental wafers to tune their processes, leading to faster and cheaper process development," said Ara Markosian, Ponte Solutions CTO.  "These models fill the gap between the TCAD environment, traditionally used by R&D teams, and the chip-level environment that designers work in, thus offering a bridge between design and manufacturing teams."

With the successful outcome of the current joint via and contact etch effort, Toshiba semiconductor fabs will be able to leverage Ponte's DFM platform for accurate prediction of design-induced etch rate and CD variations, resulting in better manufacturability assessment and process control.