Over the past year interest in DFM has exploded in the semiconductor industry, and this despite the lack of a uniform working definition. The origin of this surge is shown to be related to three converging trends: increased design cost, shortened product lifetimes, and lower manufacturing yields for 130 nm technologies versus previous generations. A comparison to other industries reveals the distinct challenges attendant to semiconductor DFM and highlights the unique risks, which often necessitate non-intuitive solutions. Finally, the case is made to view DFM as a woven throughout the physical design flow, from cell design to mask data prep.

Date Published: 3 May 2004
PDF: 9 pages
Proc. SPIE 5379, Design and Process Integration for Microelectronic Manufacturing II, (3 May 2004); doi: 10.1117/12.546792

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5379:
Design and Process Integration for Microelectronic Manufacturing II
Lars W. Liebmann, Editor(s)