Jan 17, 2013

SPICE Models No Longer Only A Foundry’s Worry

A nice post at chipdesign:

By Dr. Zhihong Liu, Executive Chairman, ProPlus Design Solutions, Inc.

 
SPICE Models Play a Critical Role in Both Modeling and Design Communities
Circuit designers work with foundry libraries to evaluate a foundry process before they run real circuit designs. It, therefore, becomes necessary to understand the models and use them properly. Complexities of modern libraries have made it inefficient or almost impossible to understand them by browsing into the files.
A library can easily contain many different sections besides core models in a macro (sub-circuit) format, such as multiple corner model sections, statistical model sections, mismatch model components, models for layout dependent effects and reliability models. Without a good understanding of those details, simulations by combining those model sections may lead to inaccurate results.
Second, foundry models often are not built for specific applications. Design companies are investing in SPICE models by doing model validations, customizing models for specific needs or even building their own models. High-end systems-on-chip (SoCs) are now integrating more functionalities and may have different operation modes, evaluated by performance, power, area, lifetime, cost (yield) and time to market.
Design specifications are tougher, but the room to maneuver has shrunk. One set of generic models can’t meet the requirements for all different applications. Thus, it’s worthwhile for design companies to identify the real needs of their applications, then work with foundries or third parties or build their own capabilities to make model libraries more application specific and provide more value for their designs.
Third, the key motivation for a circuit designer to understand foundry model libraries is the impact of process variations on circuit performance and yield. Although process engineers have tried different ways to mitigate variation sources during manufacturing, some remain in a design that are fundamental and must be managed during different design stages, including global and local random variations or LDE.
Designers can only cross their fingers if they do not know the possible results before tapeout. Modeling engineers have figured out ways to model those systematic and random variation effects. The next step is to apply that information and analyze the impact to a design.
Strain engineering improves device performance, but leads to the strong layout dependence of device characteristics. Designers then need to consider the impact of LDE during pre-layout design, layout design, LVS extraction and post-layout verifications. Understanding the LDE based on the models would help designers better optimize area versus performance, and reduce differences between pre- and post-layout designs to shorten design time.
Increasing random variations, especially the local mismatch for paired transistors, affect the final chip yield and performance. Traditional PVT analysis and selective Monte Carlo analysis give limited information that can help achieve chip’s functionalities, but not the possible yield or performance distributions.
A reliable and practical design for yield (DFY) flow with fast and accurate statistical simulation engine is required. Moreover, before using DFY tools for yield analysis targeting yield and performance trade-off, designers need to know how corner models and statistical models are defined. Otherwise analysis results, based on improper use of the variation models, will offer the wrong direction for design optimizations. 

... read more at the source...

Compact model Engineer job in IBM India (Bangalore)


For nearly 30 years, IBM has been at the forefront of technology innovation for semiconductor solutions. IBM has transformed semiconductor design and manufacturing with world-renowned research and development. Our contributions are recognized throughout the industry. Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC), Copper Interconnects, Silicon Germanium (SiGE) and Silicon on Insulator (SOI) are some of the innovations that have come from IBM. 

IBM Semiconductor Research & Development centre is expanding its operations by opening a CMOS development & enablement group at ISL, Bangalore. Mentioned below are some of the key areas which will be operational out of India centre.

Compact Model Development in Bulk, SOI & SiGe Technology

Skills important to the area:

Relevant vacancies:

SWG-0050763              Compact Model Engineer

How to apply:

Go to the career section in their homepage...

Jan 16, 2013

New IC-CAP with GaN and Python support

Some news from EDN:


Agilent Technologies recently announced a new version of IC-CAP (integrated circuit characterization and analysis platform) for high-frequency device characterization and modeling, offering parameter extraction, data analysis, instrument control and interface responsiveness. This announcement actually includes two noteworthy topics: GaN and Python.

Angelov-GaN is an industry-standard compact device model for GaN semiconductor devices. Since GaN devices typically operate at high power, it is important to be able to model thermal issues and their impacts on device characteristics. Designers working with GaN quickly realized that GaAs models were not good enough. Fortunately, Prof. I. Angelov at Chalmers University of Technology developed his Angelov-GaN model as an alternative.

In its IC-CAP 2013.01, Agilent has fully embraced the Angelov model with the W8533 Angelov-GaN extraction package. An interface lets users execute a step-by-step extraction flow to obtain model parameters. A turnkey flow aims to provide a quick-start modeling of GaN devices. Roberto Tinti, device modeling product manager with Agilent EEsof EDA explained that the company developed the extraction package in conjunction with some Japanese and US GaN partners, but he was unable to reveal company names.

read more from the original...

ASP-DAC 2013 CALL FOR PARTICIPATION



Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference 2013

Pacifico Yokohama, Yokohama, JAPAN
January 22 - 25, 2013
http://www.aspdac.com/aspdac2013
WEB REGISTRATION DUE!!!: *** Jan. 17, 2013 ***
Please check the Registration Page:
For technical program, Please check the following link:

ASP-DAC 2013 is the eighteenth in a series of annual international conference on VLSI design automation. Asia and South Pacific region is one of the most active regions of design and fabrication of silicon chips in the world. The conference aims are providing the Asian and South Pacific CAD/DA and Design community with opportunities of interchanging ideas and collaboratively discussing the directions of the technologies related to all of Electronic Design Automation (EDA).

I N D E X [1] Keynote Speeches
[2] Designers' Forum
[3] Special Sessions
[4] Technical Sessions
[5] Tutorial
[1] Keynote Speeches
We have three keynote speakers from industry.
Keynote I : Wednesday, January 23, 8:30-10:00
"From Circuits to Cancer"
Dr. Sani Nassif, IBM
Keynote II : Thursday, January 24, 9:00-10:00
"Gearing Up for the Upcoming Technology Nodes"
Dr. Kee Sup Kim, Samsung Electronics
Keynote III : Friday, January 25, 9:00-10:00
"Human, Vehicle and Social Infrastructure System Development for
Sustainable Mobility - Development Innovation based on Large-Scale
Simulation -"
Dr. Hiroyuki Watanabe, Toyota Motor Corp.
[2] Designers' Forum
Designers' Forum is conceived as a unique program that shares the design experience and solutions of real product developments among LSI designers and EDA academia/developers. Admission fee is included in the Conference registration fee. Registration for Designers' Forum only is also available.

5A January 24, 13:40-15:40
Invited Talks: "Heterogeneous Devices and Multi-Dimensional Integration Design Technologies"
(Sony, Tokyo Inst. of Tech., TSMC, STARC, IMEC)
6A January 24, 16:00-18:00
Panel Discussion: "Future Direction and Trend of Embedded GPU"
(Panasonic, Kyushu Univ., ARM, Intel, Digital Media Professionals,
Fujitsu Lab.)
8A January 25, 13:40-15:40
Invited Talks: "Photonics for Embedded Systems"
(Hitachi, Luxtera, NEC, PETRA)
9A January 25, 16:00-18:00
Panel Discussion: "Harmonized Hardware-Software Co-design and Co-verification"
(STARC, Fujitsu Lab., Renesas, Tokyo Inst. of Tech., RWTH Aachen Cadence, Synopsys)

[3] Special Sessions
1D January 23, 10:20-12:20
University LSI Design Contest (Presentation + Poster Discussion)
21 designs are selected from 36 designs from five countries/areas.
1A January 23, 10:20-12:20
Invited Talks: "Advanced Modeling and Simulation Techniques for
Power/Signal Integrity in 3D Design"
(San Diego State Univ., Shizuoka Univ., KAIST, National Taiwan Univ.)
2A January 23, 13:40-15:40
Invited Talks: "Dependability of on-Chip Systems"
(Karlsruhe Inst. of Tech., Kyoto Univ., UC Irvine, UCLA)
3A January 23, 16:00-18:00
Invited Talks: "Design Automation for Flow-Based Microfluidic Biochips: Connecting Biochemistry to Electronic Design Automation"
(Ritsumeikan Univ., National Cheng Kung Univ., NAIST,
Tech. Univ. of Denmark, UC Riverside)
4A January 24, 10:20-12:20
Invited Talks: "High-Level Synthesis and Parallel Programming Models for FPGAs"
(Altera Toronto Technology Center, Advanced Digital Sciences Center,
Univ. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)
4D January 24, 10:20-12:20
Invited Talks: "Emerging Security Topics in Electronic Designs and Mobile Devices"
(Air Force Research Lab., New York Univ., UCLA, Univ. of Pittsburgh, Rutgers Univ.)
7A January 25, 10:20-12:20
Invited Talks: "Many-Core Architecture and Software Technology"
(Kyushu Univ., Univ. of Electro-Communications, Ritsumeikan Univ.,
Fixstars Corp., Fixstars Multicore Lab., TOPS Systems Corp.)
[4] Technical Sessions
97 papers are selected from 311 submissions for regular presentation
that cover key topics from system design to physical design. For
more details, please see the Home page:
http://www.aspdac.com/aspdac2013/technical_program/
[5] Tutorial
On January 22, five two-hour tutorials are scheduled, which will provide the audience with an introduction to hot topics in Embedded Multicore Programming, Pulse Based Design, Non-volatile System, Dependable Embedded Systems and RF-MEMs. Each tutorial will be presented twice a day to allow attendees to cover multiple topics. If you register for tutorials, you have the option to select three out of the five topics. Access to electronic files of tutorial presentations and a lunch coupon is included in Tutorial fee.

Tutorial-1 January 22, 9:30 - 11:30, 13:00 - 15:00
Programming Embedded Multiprocessor Systems: Application Code Mapping
and Performance Estimation Technologies
Tutorial-2 January 22, 9:30 - 11:30, 15:30 - 17:30
Pulse Based Design and Optimization
Tutorial-3 January 22, 13:00 - 15:00, 15:30 - 17:30
Temperature- and Process Variation-Aware Dependable Embedded Systems
Tutorial-4 January 22, 9:30 - 11:30, 13:00 - 15:00
Non-Volatile Memory Based Design
Tutorial-5 January 22, 13:00 - 15:00, 15:30 - 17:30
Introduction to RF CMOS and MEMS Design

Home page: http://www.aspdac.com
Sponsored by: ACM SIGDA, IEEE CASS, IEICE ESS, IPSJ SIGSLDM
Technical co-sponsor: IEEE CEDA
Japan Electronics Show Association(JESA)
1-1-3, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-0004, Japan
Tel: 81-3-6212-5231 Fax: 81-3-6212-5225
E-mail: aspdac2013@aspdac.com


Jan 9, 2013

10th IWCM Workshop Program

10th International Workshop on Compact Modeling 

January 22 (Tue), 2013 

Pacifico Yokohama, Room 419

Yokohama, Japan

Time
#
Title
Authors
Affiliation
9:00-9:10

Opening: H. J.  Mattausch (Workshop Chair)




Power Devices   Chair: D. Navarro


9:10-9:30
1
HiSIM_HV Temperature Modeling for Multi-Geometry LDMOS: Comparison of the Temperature Flag Options
Y. Iino
Silvaco Japan
9:30-9:50
2
Analysis and Further Improvements of the Drain-Resistance Modeling in HiSIM_HV
T. Umeda et al.
Hiroshima University
9:50-10:10
3
Floating-Base Effect Modeling for IGBT Structure using Potential Modification
T. Yamamoto
et al.
Denso
10:10-10:30

- Break -




Novel FET Structures Chair: T. Nakagawa


10:30-10:50
4
Study on Dynamic Threshold Nanowire Tunnel FET
A. Zhang et al.
Peking University
Shenzhen
10:50-11:10
5
A DC Model of TFETs for SPICE Simulations
L. Zhang and M. Chan
HK UST 
11:10-11:30
6
A Surface Potential Based Compact Model of Organic Thin-Film Transistor for Circuit Simulation
T.K. Maiti et al.
Hiroshima University
11:30-11:40

-  Break -




Optical and Wireless Chair: J. He


11:40-12:00
7
An Embedded Modulation of Silicon Germanium FIN-LED - A simulation study
J. Kwon et al.
Seoul National
University
12:00-12:20
8
Predicting Key Parameters of Inductive Power Links
S. Raju et al.
HK UST 
12:20-14:00

- Lunch Break -




Aging and Degradation Chair: M. Miura-Mattausch


14:00-14:40
9
Invited Keynote: Interaction of Bloch Carrier and Bound State in the Reliability Modeling
Y.J. Park and
S. Choi
Seoul National
University
14:40-15:00
10
Development of Unified Predictive NBTI Model and its Application for Circuit Aging Simulation
C. Ma et al.
Hiroshima University, STARC
15:00-15:20
11
Effects of Nonlocal Concentration of Carriers in the Oxide for NBTI Simulation
S. Rhee et al.
Seoul National
University
15:20-15:40

-  Break -




Fabrication Variation Chair: Y. J. Park


15:40-16:00
12
Parameter Extraction for Statistical Variation of HV-MOSFETs
Y. Ueda et al.
Ricoh, STARC
16:00-16:20
13
Analysis of Gate-Length Dependence of MOSFET Random Variation by Using HiSIM-RP
S. Kumashiro
et al.
Renesas Electronics
16:20-16:40
14
Random Dopant Fluctuation Effects on Double Gate Tunneling FET Performance
Y. Zhu et al.
Peking University
Shenzhen
16:40-16:50

Closing: H.J. Mattausch (Workshop Chair)



Jan 7, 2013

IDESA Lecture


Lecture: MOSFET Modelling
J-M. Sallese; EPFL

Specific 90nm physical effects (DIBL, gate current, mobility saturation, velocity saturation). Available models and their RF performance: BSIM, EKV3, PSP. Modeling of analog and RF parameters (e.g., gm/ID, gm/gDS, CV modeling, gate leakage, etc.). Other topics include: noise modeling, distortion, breakdown effects, thermal issues and power devices, and physical layout effects (parasitics, test, maximizing gain-bandwidth, etc.). 

Location: STFC/RAL, UK; From: 14-Jan-2013 To: 18-Jan-2013
[more about IDESA Courses]

Job offer for Compact Modelling Engineer.

A job offer for compact modelling engineers, found in the web. For more information about the company, visit their website. Remember that we're not associated with them in any manner, and that we only post this as an information.

Compact Model Engineer
Reporting To: VP of Technology
Company: IO Semiconductor, Inc.
Location: San Diego, CA

Job Description and Responsibilities
  • Collaborate with product development, technology development and process engineering teams on the evaluation, optimization, validation, assessment and characterization of compact device models for circuit simulation.
  • Characterization and analysis of solid-state devices
  • Refinement and optimization of compact models for improved analog and RF
  • design efficiency and implementation on EDA platforms
  • DC and RF Spice model parameter sets for typical and skewed conditions
  • Device and circuit simulations
  • Test structure designs for parameter extractionReports, presentations and interpretations of simulation and characterization results

Required Skills and Experience
  • MS or PhD in electrical engineering, physics or equivalent
  • Solid technical understanding of semiconductor device physics, device
  • characterization and compact modelling for circuit simulation.
  • Experience with electrical characterization, including proficiency in setting-up
  • and programming measurement systems.
  • Programming experience in at least one high-level, script-based language, such as
  • HP Basic, Matlab or LabVIEW.
  • Experience in test structure design and layout.
  • Expertise in silicon-on-insulator (SOI) transistor physics and high speed device
  • characterization are highly desirable.
  • Experience with process and device simulation and modelling (TCAD) tools is
  • desirable.
  • Excellent verbal and written communication skills and a proven ability to work in
  • teams.
  • Excellent analytical skills
  • Excellent time management and organisational skills
  • A strong, hands-on individual contributor and a self-starter
  • Sound communication and interpersonal skills
  • Demonstrated ability to work effectively with others