OEA International Boosts NET-AN 3D Critical Net Extractor Performance for Nano-Meter Technologies

Morgan Hill, California - June 2, 2005. OEA International, Inc., today announced a 50X performance boost in the calculation

of the resistance portion of a net for its popular NET-AN[TM] full 3D RCLK parasitic extraction tool of a network. The NET-AN tool, the fastest and most accurate full 3D extractor in the industry, is now even faster. With its higher resistance extraction speed, designers can extract entire power networks on a chip. This is particularly important for designers who work with advanced Nano-meter technologies where accurate power simulation is a major concern.

OEA achieved this speed boost through innovative advances in its intelligent meshing and field solving algorithms. The NET-AN extractor uses a fully integrated 3D field solver to dynamically extract resistance and capacitance. In addition, it accurately extracts inductance and mutual inductance parasitics—an important capability for delay and skew analysis in high-speed critical nets. Other extraction tools on the market use approximation and formula-based methodologies that are limited to resistance and capacitance, and have much wider error margins than the NET-AN tool. While these less accurate methodologies have a speed advantage over full 3D field solvers, the speed difference is less of a factor with this new release of NET-AN.

"OEA's NET-AN tool delivers unmatched speed and accuracy," said Jerry Tallinger, vice president of sales and marketing at OEA International. "Our customers, such as SUN Microsystems, have found that DSM ICs have a greatly increased number of nets which need the higher accuracy of NET-AN.  The improved NET-AN speed allows them to maintain the level of accuracy required within project schedules."

NET-AN features include:

Fully coupled 3D field solution parasitic extraction. Multi-net simulations produce capacitively coupled, and optionally inductively coupled, distributed SPICE sub-circuit models. These models allow accurate crosstalk and signal integrity simulations.

Single- or multi-net specification. Designers may select and highlight nets for extraction by annotated name, by using the display and mouse, or by using reference GDSII cells. Individual nets, lists of nets, or groups of coupled nets may be specified for extraction. Also, the surrounding net expansion area to be included in the field simulation is specified.

Full-path SPICE circuits with P&R integration. When a specified path or tree consists of multiple nets, NET-AN can automatically include the referenced driver, buffer, and load cell SPICE sub-circuits in the main SPICE output file and add the appropriate measure statements. The NET-AN results can then be used in SPICE to calculate accurate delay and skew values in report or SDF formats.

Connectivity based hierarchical graphic interface. OEA's advanced IC graphics tool, Post-Layout WorkShop, handles reading of standard IC data, display of the layout, selection of nets, building 3D models, and display of color-coded displays. It will read and display an entire hierarchical VLSI module from GDSII, including calculating full connectivity, renaming nets, and assigning nodes. Levels of hierarchy can be toggled on and off, and the display can zoom in and out to view as much or as little detail as desired.

Process and device technology definition. Post-Layout WorkShop menus may be used to define and save the process technology for the design, including metal and dielectric thickness and metal process bias values. Material properties that are necessary for accurate extraction, such as dielectric constant and metal width dependent resistivity, are also defined. NET-AN recognizes IC devices such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors through flexible device definition menus, and stores the definitions with the process technology.

Batch and interactive graphics interface. With NET-AN designers may operate in either a scriptable batch mode or in a fully interactive graphics mode.

About OEA International

OEA International, Inc., is the industry leader in 3D extraction of interconnects. OEA's tools are currently used in the most demanding extraction and design environments. Some of the world's most advanced design facilities use OEA tools for detailed analysis and design of high-speed clocks, buses, I/O rings, and power grids. For additional information call (408)738-5972, or visit OEA online at www.oea.com.

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