The Gold Standard for Accurate Parasitic Extraction and Signal Integrity Solutions

 

 

Contact: Jerry Tallinger

VP Marketing & Sales, OEA

(408) 738-5972

 

OEA INTERNATIONAL AND AMD COLLABORATE ON NEXT-GENERATION MICROPROCESSOR DESIGN

Santa Clara, CA – April 17, 2000 - OEA International, Inc. has signed a collaborative agreement with Sunnyvale, CA-based Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.   Under the terms of the agreement, OEA will provide AMD with design consultation services and assist with the analysis and optimization of performance critical interconnects in the deep-submicron processes.  OEA will apply its software expertise to support the design of AMD's next-generation microprocessor with the use of their state-of-the-art 3-D field solver technology that models interconnects with very high accuracy.

Global Clock Analysis
OEA will modify the OEA CLOCK Designer tool, a VLSI Clock Design Planner, to meet the requirements of AMD process technology and design strategy.  CLOCK Designer, used together with OEA NET-AN 3-D Critical Net Extractor will assure that the planned clock routing strategy will perform according to design specifications for skew requirements.

Bus Analysis
OEA will work with AMD to model the planned on-chip busing structure with the use of the OEA BUS-AN Interconnect Design Rule Planner.  OEA will perform RC and RCL analysis of various busing strategies for delay equivalence, edge-rate, and noise.  Analyses of dependencies will include line width, line length, line spacing, bus width, and maximum crosstalk and noise limits on the bus structure.

Power and Ground Distribution Integrity
OEA will also analyze the integrity of the planned global power distribution networks in the microprocessor design.  This includes analysis of resistance, capacitance, and inductance of the power and ground networks.  

"Using the OEA backend analysis tools allow us to model the power distribution and clock networks of our chips with unprecedented accuracy.  This adds up to speed, functionality, and yield for us", said Fred Weber, Vice President of Engineering.

"Working with AMD on this project represents the first time an EDA vendor has been able to share its expertise so directly with the customer on an actual design.  This allows OEA to make sure OEA tools are customized to meet the growing needs of the latest microprocessor designs", said Jerry Tallinger, VPof Marketing and Sales at OEA.

About OEA International, Inc.

OEA International, Inc. designs and licenses state-of-the-art signal integrity software for the electronic design automation (EDA) industry. OEA's software is designed to be extremely high performance and handle very complex models with a high degree of accuracy. OEA products are used to substantially increase engineering productivity and first time success in the design of interconnect and packaging technologies for sophisticated electronic systems and integrated circuits. For additional information, call (408) 738-5972, or visit OEA online at http://www.oea.com.

About AMD

AMD is a global supplier of integrated circuits for the personal and networked computer and communications markets.  AMD produces processors, flash memories and products for communications and networking applications.  AMD processors, including the AMD-K6®-2 and AMD Athlon product families, power computers manufactured by nine of the Top 10 computer manufacturers worldwide.  According to PC Data Hardware Report for January 2000, AMD's mobile processors are used in more than 65 percent of notebook computers sold in the retail market to consumers and small businesses.   Founded in 1969 and based in Sunnyvale, California, AMD had revenues of $2.9 billion in 1999.  (NYSE: AMD).