Agilent to open IC device modeling R&D center in China

To better serve the industry’s leading semiconductor foundries and to respond to advancements in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) modeling, Santa Clara, CA-based semiconductor test and measurement tool supplier Agilent Technologies Inc. http://www.agilent.com

Agilent says this move expands its investment in its Integrated Circuit Characterization and Analysis Program (IC-CAP) device modeling software.

Jim McGillivary, general manager of Agilent’s EEsof EDA division http://www.agilent.com/find/eesof-iccap noted in a statement, “The recent decline in viable solutions has allowed Agilent to gain marketplace prominence as the only Fortune 500 company providing CMOS modeling solutions.”

“We’ve seen several leading semiconductor foundries choose IC-CAP because they want a device-modeling platform that keeps pace with CMOS technology advances. We’re increasing our investment in this important area by adding key engineering talent in Asia, where we can work closely with these foundries,” he said.

IC-CAP provides characterization and analysis capabilities for semiconductor modeling processes, including instrument control, data acquisition, graphical analysis, simulation, optimization and statistical analysis.

Agilent maintains that IC-CAP is the first device-modeling software platform to include a comprehensive extraction methodology for all three of the standard CMOS device models (BSIM3, BSIM4 and PSP), giving designers the ability to use current extraction processes and move to the next-generation model within a single software environment.

Recent advances in IC-CAP have led to improvements in device modeling productivity, such as direct extraction methodology, compared with the more time-consuming optimization approach, which has allowed modelers to reduce core tasks from 14 to two days when using IC-CAP and the BSIM4 modeling package, the company added.