This work describes the Semiconductor Wafer Representation (SWR) for representing and manipulating wafer state during process and device simulation. The goal of the SWR is to provide an object-oriented interface to a collection of functions designed for developing and integrating Technology CAD (TCAD) applications. By providing functions which can be common across many applications, we aim to greatly reduce tool development and integration time. Corporate, vendor, and university TCAD developers have worked together under the auspices of the CAD Framework Initiative to create an architecture and C++ programming interface for an SWR 1.0 draft standard. Here we describe this architecture and the results of creating and using a prototype implementation of the standard both to integrate existing TCAD tools and to develop simple new tools.>

An integrated process simulation system which uses functional utilities to integrate disparate 2-D simulation tools is described. The software utilities provide mechanisms for simulator input generation and user interaction, for mapping between different cross-section formats, and for output visualization. The specific utilities are described. With this approach, several process simulators for lithography, etching, deposition, and thermal processing have been integrated into a unified system, SIMPL-IPX (simulation of profiles from the layout-integrated process simulation environment with X-Windows). Simulation examples for metal l planarization, bipolar technology with a polysilicon , collector 5 plug, and advanced lithography are presented to demonstrated 7 the usefulness of this approach to technology CAD tool 8 integration. Methods for improved data management using 9 a CAD framework are described.>

Article Free Access Share on Linking TCAD to EDA—benefits and issues Authors: G. Chin Stanford University, Stanford, CA Stanford University, Stanford, CAView Profile , W. Dietrich Stanford University, Stanford, CA Stanford University, Stanford, CAView Profile , D. Boning Texas Instruments, Dallas, TX Texas Instruments, Dallas, TXView Profile , A. Wong University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CAView Profile , A. Neureuther University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CAView Profile , R. Dutton Stanford University, Stanford, CA Stanford University, Stanford, CAView Profile Authors Info & Claims DAC '91: Proceedings of the 28th ACM/IEEE Design Automation ConferenceJune 1991 Pages 573–578https://doi.org/10.1145/127601.127735Published:01 June 1991Publication History 5citation247DownloadsMetricsTotal Citations5Total Downloads247Last 12 Months22Last 6 weeks1 Get Citation AlertsNew Citation Alert added!This alert has been successfully added and will be sent to:You will be notified whenever a record that you have chosen has been cited.To manage your alert preferences, click on the button below.Manage my AlertsNew Citation Alert!Please log in to your account Save to BinderSave to BinderCreate a New BinderNameCancelCreateExport CitationPublisher SiteeReaderPDF

A formal object-oriented approach to the data structuring and data management of semiconductor wafer structure and device information is presented. The profile interchange format (PIF) is extended beyond a file format 'intersite' version in order to enhance the storage and access of profile information, the communication of profile information between cooperating tools, and the integration and portability of technology CAD (computer-aided design) tools. An intertool PIF toolkit is a programmatic interface to profile information, consisting of a library of objects for the storage and manipulation of data by technology CAD tools. PIF/Gestalt is presented as a test implementation of the toolkit which provides C and Common Lisp language interfaces, implemented on a database for use in a CAD/CIM (computer integrated manufacturing) system for semiconductor process design and fabrication.>

The binary profile interchange format (BPIF) defines a set of objects and a library of functions which describe an intertool version of the PIF, a representation for semiconductor wafer information. The BPIF toolkit function library enables technology computer-aided design (TCAD) tools, such as process and device simulators, to access PIF data through a common interface, thus facilitating tool integration and encouraging utility sharing. This approach defines a toolkit that is easy to use, and which meets the tool integration and performance needs within a TCAD environment. An experimental BPIF toolkit, based on the C language and the OCT data manager is described in detail. Examples are shown of how TCAD tools may use the toolkit to 'randomly' access wafer data, such as grids and geometries, within a graph of PIF objects. A BPIF package supporting the use of the intertool PIF within the PROSE TCAD environment, which includes a link to the PIF intersite file format, is then presented.>