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Overview
Multibeam Corporation, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, is a key player in the semiconductor industry. Founded by Silicon Valley Engineering Hall of Famer Dr. David K. Lam, the company has developed the first high-resolution and high-productivity e-beam lithography system with direct write capability for fab production. Their Multicolumn Electron Beam Lithography (MEBL) Systems, integrated with Synopsys CATS data preparation software, streamline the path from chip design to production, offering a faster and more efficient solution for chipmakers.
Challenges
Multibeam faced several significant challenges in their quest to revolutionize chip production.
- Long Cycle Times: Traditional mask-based lithography required lengthy cycles to produce complex masks, delaying time to market.
- High Costs: The evolution of mask-based lithography was becoming exponentially more expensive, impacting profitability.
- Limited Flexibility: Traditional lithography did not support rapid design changes, slowing down innovation and iteration processes.
Solution
Multibeam's maskless e-beam lithography system, integrated with Synopsys CATS software, addresses these challenges by:
- High-Resolution and High-Productivity: Enabling direct-write capability on wafers, eliminating the need for masks.
- Rapid Cycles of Learning: Allowing for immediate design changes and wafer-scale experiments, facilitating faster design iteration and validation.
- Advanced Integration: Supporting next-generation interposers for higher chip-to-chip bandwidth and lower energy per bit transfer, crucial for AI chips.
Results
With the integration of Synopsys CATS software, Multibeam achieved significant results:
- First System Shipment: The first MEBL system with Synopsys inside is set to ship this spring.
- Faster Time-to-Market: Enabling chipmakers to rapidly explore new design variations and bring products to market faster.
- Enhanced Yield and Efficiency: Providing chip designers and manufacturers with the tools to produce higher performance chips at a faster pace.
- Ongoing Collaboration: Multibeam continues to develop and enhance its technologies in collaboration with Synopsys, driving advances in lithography.
With this collaboration, Synopsys and Multibeam are poised to revolutionize the semiconductor manufacturing process, offering innovative solutions that meet the demands of today's compute-intensive applications.
