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07/10/2005
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The traditional goal of right first time ic design is getting more difficult to achieve as design complexity increases and geometries shrink. Yet, with the cost of silicon processing escalating and time to market pressures growing, right first time has never been more important.
Mask cost varies for any design or process but, for example, a 26 mask set for 0.35µm process costs about $60,000. A 130nm process may need 32 masks and the set could cost more than $600,000. A 90nm mask set may have a price tag approaching $1million and need 34 individual masks.
Collett International Research has found that 61% of chip designs need at least one respin. Of those that needed changes before they could go to volume manufacture, 71% had functional or logic bugs. The cost of respins could clearly reach a level that jeopardises products – and even companies.
Does that mean ic designers have to budget up to $2m for mask costs so problems spotted in silicon can be fixed? Not necessarily. It is possible to reduce the cost of producing ic prototypes dramatically, to the point where the cost of producing a mask set is incurred only when the design is ready to move to full production.
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Author
Paul Double
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