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FRANK WEILER, TERRY MA & DAVID CHEN, Avant! Corporation, Fremont, CA, USA

ABSTRACT

Fierce competition in the market forces new generations of technologies to be rolled out every six to twelve months. In the 1990s, technology propels the success the pure-play foundries such as TSMC, UMC, and Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing. They are the result of delivering very solid technologies to customers at very competitive prices. The Technology Development (TD) group in foundries and Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDM) are staffed with leading technologists who have earned well deserved respect for establishing high quality process technologies designed for high volume manufacturing. To stay ahead of competition, therefore, a foundry or an IDM has to find ways to reduce process development cycle to deliver technologies in the time frame that meets market demand.