by Dylan McGrath - EETimes
SAN FRANCISCO, Mar. 30, 2016 –
EDA and IP vendor Synopsys Inc. Wednesday (March 30) introduced a new custom design tool that aims to help offset design challenges posed by the era of FinFETs with an intuitive concept dubbed visually assisted automation.
The incorporation of FinFETs - 3D transistors - create significant challenges for designers, including increased design rule complexity, additional layers of interconnect and the need for the use of double-pattern lithography to produce them. Synopsys estimates that it takes about three times more effort to do a custom designed circuit with FinFETs than it would take to do an equivalent planar circuit, according to Dave Reed, director of marketing for Synopsys' analog/mixed-signal design tool group.
"FinFET brings a significant challenge to custom design," Reed said in an interview with EE Times.