Honeywell (NYSE: HON) and Synopsys, Inc. (NASDAQ: SNPS) have signed an agreement to jointly develop a design infrastructure to support the creation of leading-edge radiation-hardened and radiation-tolerant Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs).
The agreement is intended to enable Honeywell's military and aerospace customers to more rapidly design and implement ASICs required for next-generation systems, including satellites and space vehicles. The collaboration combines core strengths from both companies to produce the industry's leading design and manufacturing infrastructure for components that require various levels of radiation resistance. Radiation-hardened components are designed to continue to perform during and after exposure to high doses of radiation.
Honeywell is currently a producer of radiation-hardened ASICs and other components used in aircrafts, satellites and space vehicles. The Department of Defense (DOD) Radiation Hardened Microelectronics Accelerated Technology Development program has provided funding to Honeywell for development of a deep submicron multimillion gate ASIC design and fabrication capability.
Synopsys is the world leader in semiconductor design software, providing comprehensive integrated circuit design and verification technologies through its Galaxy™ design and Discovery™ verification platforms and its DesignWare® portfolio of semiconductor intellectual property (IP). Semiconductor IP refers to pre-designed building blocks of common semiconductor functions that can be reused across multiple chip designs.
"This agreement will allow us to produce our customer's high performance 'rad-hard' circuits more quickly and with relatively low risk to our customer," said Eric Doremus, vice president and general manager at Honeywell's Solid State Electronics Center. "We expect to begin offering the design environment produced by this collaboration in second quarter of 2004."
The agreement provides for a collaborative design environment and comprehensive set of design services that will also offer expanded support options for radiation-hardened ASIC development.
"Working with Honeywell, a leader in the military and aerospace industries, gives us the unique opportunity to apply the full complement of Synopsys' technology and services to meet the rapidly advancing design requirements of modern rad-hard ASICs," said John Chilton, senior vice president and general manager, Solutions Group, Synopsys. "The resulting design flow will not only accommodate semiconductors of increasing complexity, but will also improve the predictability of the ASIC development process for Honeywell's ASIC customers."
Through the collaboration, the parties expect to reduce the size of individual transistors on radiation-hardened integrated circuits to 0.15 microns, or about six millionths of an inch. This would enable designers to place up to 100 million transistors on an integrated circuit the size of a fingernail, or nearly four times as many transistors than possible using current design techniques. This is an improvement that would significantly increase data computing volume and speed.
A logic gate is a control element that directs electrical signals from one path to another inside a chip. For ASICs, a larger number of logic gates bring additional efficiency, speed and functionality to information processing.
About Honeywell
Honeywell International is a $22 billion diversified technology and manufacturing leader, serving customers worldwide with aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings, homes and industry; automotive products; turbochargers; specialty chemicals; fibers; and electronic and advanced materials. Based in Morris Township, N.J., Honeywell's shares are traded on the New York, London, Chicago and Pacific Stock Exchanges. It is one of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Average and is also a component of the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. For additional information, please visit www.honeywell.com.
About Synopsys
Synopsys, Inc. is the world leader in electronic design automation (EDA) software for semiconductor design. The Company delivers technology-leading semiconductor 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 more than 60 offices located throughout North America, Europe, Japan and Asia. Visit Synopsys online at http://www.synopsys.com/ .
NOTE: Synopsys and DesignWare are registered trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. Discovery and Galaxy are trademarks of Synopsys. All other trademarks or registered trademarks mentioned in this release are the intellectual property of their respective owners.
This release contains forward-looking statements as defined in Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements about future business operations, financial performance and market conditions. Such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties inherent in business forecasts as further described in our filings under the Securities Exchange Act.
SOURCE: Synopsys, Inc.
CONTACT: Cathy Gedvilas of Honeywell, +1-602-365-2934, or
cathy.gedvilas@honeywell.com; or Julie Crabill of Edelman Public Relations,
+1-650-429-2732, or Julie.crabill@edelman.com, for Synopsys, Inc.; or
Yvette Huygen of Synopsys, Inc., +1-650-584-4547, or yvetteh@synopsys.com
Web site: http://www.honeywell.com/
Web site: http://www.synopsys.com/
