Synopsys Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS), the world leader in semiconductor design software, today announced that Star-RCXT™ -- a key product in Synopsys' Galaxy™ Design Platform and standard in the TSMC Reference Flow -- has been verified by TSMC and is now supported for all TSMC processes, including the latest 0.11 micron and Nexsys™ 90 nanometer (nm) technology. Mutual TSMC-Synopsys customers such as Altera Corporation are now standardizing on Star-RCXT for parasitic extraction and modeling of 90nm effects with accurate correlation to silicon.

"Altera has used Star-RCXT on its Stratix™ devices and its HardCopy™ structured ASIC devices, and has now standardized on the tool for parasitic extraction on its Stratix II device family, a 90-nanometer optimized FPGA," said Bahram Ahanin, vice president of Design Automation at Altera. "Star-RCXT was selected on the merits of its TSMC verification, its proven ability to model 90-nanometer effects with sub-femtofarad accuracy, and its seamless integration with Altera's standard physical verification solution, Synopsys' Hercules™."

Star-RCXT is the market-leading parasitic extraction solution, offering the highest performance, capacity and accuracy for cell-based, custom digital and analog/mixed signal designs. Star-RCXT supports key 90nm process capabilities including in-die process variation solutions -- such as selective process biasing (spacing and width dependent metal bias), local density effects (LDE), length of diffusion (LOD) -- and metal fill. In modeling such advanced silicon process features, Star-RCXT extracts highly accurate RC parasitics for PrimeTime® to ensure rapid timing sign-off.

"Since the inception of our Reference Flow, TSMC and Synopsys have partnered to produce design tools and flows for current and next-generation process nodes," said Genda Hu, vice president of Marketing at TSMC. "As a result of this validation of Synopsys' Star-RCXT, mutual customers can now take full advantage of our leading-edge Nexsys foundry process for accurate modeling of 90 nanometer technology effects."

"Through our long-standing collaboration, TSMC and Synopsys continue to deliver proven design flows that enable mutual customers to produce accurate designs using the most advanced silicon capabilities," said Antun Domic, senior vice president and general manager of Synopsys' Implementation Group. "With this proven foundry flow, Altera is now able to deliver its next- generation devices to market with high predictability and yield."

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. is the world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductor design. The company delivers technology-leading IC design and verification platforms and IC manufacturing software products to the global electronics market, enabling the development and production of complex systems-on-chips (SoCs). Synopsys also provides intellectual property and design services to simplify the design process and accelerate time-to-market for its customers. Synopsys is headquartered in Mountain View, California and has offices in more than 60 locations throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/ .

NOTE: Synopsys and PrimeTime are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. Galaxy, Star-RCXT and Hercules are trademarks of Synopsys. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Synopsys, Inc.

CONTACT: Nancy Renzullo of Synopsys, Inc., +1-650-584-1669, or
renzullo@synopsys.com; or Sarah Seifert of Edelman, +1-650-429-2776, or
Sarah.seifert@edelman.com, for Synopsys, Inc.

Web site: http://www.synopsys.com/