STARC's Semiconductor Design Technology Research Activities and the HiSIM2 Advanced MOSFET Model Project

STARC (Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center) is a research consortium co-founded by major Japanese semiconductor companies, whose mission is to contribute to the growth of the Japanese semiconductor industry by developing leading-edge SoC design technologies. One of the achievements enabled by the academia collaboration is HiSIM (Hiroshima University STARC IGFET Model) an advanced MOSFET Model. The HiSIM2 version includes required features in modeling for the 45 nm technology node and beyond such as the STI effect. A major development is an improved model consistency, which enables even modeling of the technology variation accurately. HiSIM2 realizes both accurate and fast circuit simulation.

INTRODUCTION

The electronic and information industries, which are the basis of Japan's rapid industrial growth, continue to increase in importance as we move steadily ahead toward a highly sophisticated information society. At the very base of these information industries is the semiconductor development and efficient applications centered on silicon LSIs. It is no exaggeration to say that the growth of the semiconductor industry holds a key to determining the course of Japan's future industrial growth.