TSMC’s FinFET 16N Technology Chip Design Seminars
IUMA Institute, within the training and dissemination activities of advanced technology design methodologies and techniques, has launched a series of free seminars for student training and PDI in the design of advanced integrated circuits in TSMC FinFET technology. These seminars are part of the participation of the IUMA in the EUROPRACTICE pilot programme in advanced technologies.
This first session, held on July 15, was given by the Microelectronic Technology Division (TME) of the IUMA. The session was oriented to design full-custom. Key aspects of TSMC’s 16N TSMC technologies have been introduced in the first part of the session, including the architecture of transistors, process layers, particularities, capabilities and advantages of this FINFET technology over the planar nodes. Next, attendees are introduced to the TSMC 16N FinFETs design kit full-custom, detailing its components and libraries.
The second half of the session had a more practical approach (hand-ons), serving as a direct introduction to schematic design by using design tools professions, Cadence Virtuoso. The characterization of a FinFET transistor was carried out, obtaining and analyzing its I-V curves, a fundamental step to understand its physical behavior and the particularities that the transistor presents. Finally, robust design techniques were proposed, with the realization of different simulations of corners of the process (min-max conditions) and a statistical analysis of Monte Carlo was performed. New sessions are planned for the full-custom design until completing the circuit layout and physical verification
A forthcoming seminar to be given by the IUMA SICAD Division will address the design semicustom, where the complete layout of a standard cell-based integrated circuit of the TSMC FinFET 16N library will be made from its description in a hardware description language (HDL). In this case different ASIC design techniques will be used, including simulation, logical synthesis and physical design using tools for placement and route.
Those interested in attending this seminar should contact with for additional information.
