MICROELECTRONIC SYSTEMS NEWS
FILENUMBER: 9502
BEGIN_KEYWORDS
Prototyping MCMs QTAI
END_KEYWORDS
DATE: april 1997
TITLE: Quick-turn Prototyping of MCMs
The Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC)
has released its QTAI Design Kit, a software application that
aids the design of multichip modules (MCMs) for fabrication using
MCC's "quick-turn-around interconnect" (QTAI) design and process-
ing methodology. The QTAI Design Kit supports die placement and
netlist routing and can be interfaced to full-featured physical
layout editors via a standard interchange format. At the heart
of the QTAI Design Kit is a proprietary routing engine that effi-
ciently routes complex netlists in near real time. Users input
die layout, placement, and netlist information and obtain infor-
mation on a particular design's feasibility, performance, and
cost.
For example, the routing of a 2 x 2-inch MCM consisting of ten
die with 249 nets and 984 total I/Os takes only 15 seconds on a
200 MHz Pentium Pro system running under Windows NT. Given its
speed and utility, the QTAI Design Kit improves designers' pro-
ductivity by permitting quick evaluations of different MCM
designs prior to detailed layout and fabrication.
The QTAI Design Kit is available at no cost and is downloadable
from WWW and runs
on the Microsoft Windows NT and Windows 95 platforms.
The QTAI Design Kit was developed as part of MCC's Flexible MCM
Manufacturing (FMM) Project, a three-year effort funded by the
Information Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA). FMM's goal is to produce a streamlined
process for manufacturing quick-turn, high density interconnect.
FMM supports both flip chip and wire bond chip attachment. Using
the QTAI Design Kit with MCC's laser direct write flexible
manufacturing technology has been proven to reduce turn-around
time by 75% over conventional methods of producing high density
interconnect substrates. Such a substantial reduction in turn-
around time can help companies overcome the challenge of ever-
shortening product cycle times.
dbouldin@utk.edu
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