IMEC and Praesagus Join for New Approach to Modeling Interconnect Manufacturing Research

IMEC, Europe's largest independent nanoelectronics and nanotechnology research center, and Praesagus Inc., a privately held company that provides solutions to model interconnect manufacturing variation, today announced a technology development agreement to extend Praesagus' physics-based modeling approach for pattern-based interconnect manufacturing variation.

The

partnership will build on Praesagus' physics-based interconnect thickness variation modeling technology and expand the scope to include copper/low-k and three-dimensional modeling. The partnership will leverage IMEC's copper damascene, ultra low-k dielectric and 65nm expertise and experience.
Developing next-generation processes for electro-chemical deposition (ECD) and chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) will require a much more detailed understanding of the causes of interconnect variation and solutions to mitigate those causes.

"IMEC has initiated this program with Praesagus to help our core technology partners address a serious concern as they move to the next process node," said Karen Maex, Ph.D., IMEC Fellow in the Silicon Process Technology Division.

"The current design for manufacturing (DFM) communication paradigm of CMP design rules and worst-case thickness tech files is running out of steam and the recently proposed alternative of density-based models does not provide enough accuracy," said Hugo De Man, IMEC Senior Research Fellow. "In our System-Level Integration Program, IMEC is researching the impact of process variability in deep submicron technologies on circuit and system level. Variability in interconnect RC delays is a main concern as we are scaling down technology beyond the 90 nm node. Praesagus' expertise in physics based modeling of interconnect technology offers a promising alternative to accurately predict the interconnect performance, serving as a critical input to system designers."

"IMEC has been a pioneer in addressing leading edge issues in semiconductor manufacturing by partnering with industry leaders," said Taber Smith, Praesagus president. "We are pleased to collaborate with Europe’s leading applied research organization and leverage both their processing expertise and also their design expertise."

The term of the agreement is two years. IMEC Industrial Affiliation Partners will have early access to the technology and Praesagus expects to incorporate the results into their commercial product.

The original press release can be found here.

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