The evolution of IC design is driven by a continuous demand for increased performance. This
push translates into more functionality and increasing complexity. Design closure is getting more
difficult to achieve at each subsequent node because of new process effects and variability that
impact design functionality and performance.
More accurate extraction and simulation is required to help designers converge on an optimal
design that has a high certainty of achieving yield at the target specifications, without costly and
time-consuming over-design. Time-to-market pressures dictate that a solution to this problem
must fit into existing design flows for a wide range of design applications and not increase the
cycle time.
Traditional parasitic extraction tools are unable to meet the parasitic accuracy criteria at 28 nm
and below. IC designers at these nodes need to extract parasitics with field solver accuracy to
evaluate the effects of parasitics on circuit timing and functionality, without compromising
performance. Rule-based extractors are fast, but they are not designed to extend to evertightening
accuracy requirements. Traditional field solvers are not designed to deliver the
needed performance. These limitations force designers to build in extra design margins, which
eliminates the benefits of moving to a smaller node in the first place.
Enter Calibre? xACT 3D—a new product designed to provide the reference-level accuracy of a 3D
field solver coupled with fast performance and high scalability. Calibre xACT 3D leverages its
integration into the established best-in-class production design sign-off flow with Calibre LVS
and its device and interconnect modeling infrastructure for maximum usability. This paper
details how the Calibre xACT 3D extraction solution addresses the extraction challenges for
design signoff at advanced nodes.