Application of technology CAD in process development for high performance logic and system-on-chip in IC foundry

In recent years, IC foundry leaders such as TSMC have invested heavily in leading edge process technologies. These technologies are developed to meet market demand from fabless, integrated device manufacturers as well as system companies. The application spectrum spans high performance logic/mixed-mode processes used in fabricating microprocessors, DSP's, and also embedded memory technologies that enable system-on-chip designs such as logic/mixed mode IC's with integrated SRAM, DRAM, nonvolatile memories. The use of TCAD tools is imperative to accelerate the development of these processes, meet high performance targets, ensure process compatibility and manufacturability, minimize development cost especially for embedded memory technologies. This paper gives an overview of TCAD application in process development within TSMC R&D. The challenges of using TCAD tools in the IC foundry will also be discussed.