14 DAY TRIAL // The 16nm FinFET manufacturing technology is said to be the new fad, or expected to become the new fad, on the semiconductor industry. TSMC is now getting help from Synopsys for it.
Currently, TSMC is still on the 28nm manufacturing process, preventing NVIDIA and AMD from advancing their GPU designs. There are older processes of course, but the whole focus of the media, and the companies too for that matter, is on the 16-nm FinFET process.
Synopsys is a global provider of software, IP and services used to accelerate innovation in chips and electronic systems.
It will help TSMC with the 16-nm Custom Design Reference Flow.
The Synopsys toolset will let TSMC establish voltage-dependent Design Rules and provide/carry out Laker Custom Design Solution Updates, Circuit Simulation Performance and Accuracy, IC Validator Signoff Physical Verification for 16-nm FinFET, and Electromigration and IR-drop Analysis.
In layman terms, they will make sure 16nm technology comes without delay and, hopefully, without any big yield issues.