UMC and Virtual Silicon Technology join Europractice MPW service

Citation

(1999), "UMC and Virtual Silicon Technology join Europractice MPW service", Microelectronics International, Vol. 16 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/mi.1999.21816cab.014

UMC and Virtual Silicon Technology join Europractice MPW service

UMC and Virtual Silicon Technology join Europractice MPW service

Keywords IMEC, UMC, Virtual Silicon Technology

A new route to low-cost ASIC prototyping and low volume production has been announced by the Europractice IC Service, following an agreement between IMEC, Belgium (lead partner of the Europractice ASIC Service), UMC (Taiwan) and Virtual Silicon Technology, USA.

The agreement covers a multi-project wafer service on UMC's 0.25 micron CMOS process which features single poly and five layers of metal. Three MPW runs are currently scheduled by IMEC at UMC this year, beginning in June.

The arrangement also provides for use of Virtual Silicon Technology's Diplomat-25 Advanced Cell Library (including standard cells and I/O cells, RAMs and EDA design kits). IMEC will deliver the phantom cells and EDA models and design kits to 500+ customers as part of its Europractice CD-ROM design kit package.

Within the MPW Service, IMEC offers training, back-end ASIC physical design, tapeout assistance, packaging and testing services. Customers world-wide can access the libraries and 0.25 micron MPW service through IMEC.

The participation price for these MPW runs is C=1,600 per mm² with a minimum charge of C= 24,000. Use of the VST library is C=12,000 per MPW run. More information is available on: www.imec.be/europractice

For further information please contact Dr Brian Jones, Central Microstructure Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0QX, UK. Tel: +44 1235 445451; Fax: +44 1235 446283; E-mail: brian.jones@rl.ac.uk