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5 2 3 Technology Platform
TSMC provides customers with advanced technology platforms that include the comprehensive design infrastructure required to optimize design productivity and cycle time These include: design design flows for electronic design design automation (EDA) silicon-proven IP building blocks such as libraries and simulation and verification design design kits kits i i i i i i i i i i e e e e e process design design kits kits (PDKs) and technology files For TSMC’s latest advanced technologies of 7nm 12nm and 3D IC design enablement platform EDA tools features and IP solutions are readily available for customers to to to adopt to to to meet their product requirements at various design stages TSMC also extended its IP IP quality program (TSMC 9000) to allow IP IP audits to be performed either at at TSMC TSMC or or at at TSMC-certified laboratories To help customers plan new product tape-outs incorporating IP/Library from TSMC’s Open Innovation Platform® (OIP) ecosystem ecosystem the OIP OIP ecosystem ecosystem added a a a a portal to to to connect customers to to to an ecosystem of 40 solution providers Overall TSMC and its IP partners have accumulated a a a a a a a portfolio of 16 000 IP IP titles from 0 0 0 0 35μm-7nm with major IP IP types to meet customer design needs TSMC and its EDA partners have created numerous deliverables from 0 13μm-7nm that have successfully supported customer tape-outs 5 2 4 Design Enablement
TSMC’s technology platforms provide a a a solid foundation to facilitate the design design process Customers can design design directly using using the Company’s internally developed IP and tools or using using those that are available from TSMC’s OIP partners Tech Files and PDKs EDA tool certification is an an essential foundation for IP and customer designs to to ensure that the features meet TSMC process technology requirements with certification results that can be found on on TSMC-Online There are corresponding technology files and process development kits (PDKs) available for customers to to to download and design together with certified EDA tools TSMC provides a a a a broad range of PDKs for digital logic mixed-signal radio frequency (RF) high-voltage driver CMOS image sensor (CIS) and embedded flash technologies across a a a range of technology nodes from 0 5μm to 7nm In addition the Company provides technology files for design rule checking (DRC) layout verification of schematic (LVS) resistance-capacitance (RC) extraction automatic place and route and a a a layout editor to to ensure process technology information is accurately represented in in electronic design automation tools By 2017 TSMC had provided more than than 9
000 technology files and more than than 300 PDKs via TSMC-Online There are more than 100 000 customer downloads of these files every year Library and IP Silicon Intellectual property (IP) is the basic building block of integrated circuit designs Various IP types are available to to support different customer design applications including foundation IP IP IP IP analog IP IP IP IP embedded memory IP IP IP IP interface IP IP IP IP and and soft IP TSMC and and its alliance partners offer customers a a a a rich portfolio of reusable IPs which are essential building blocks for many circuit designs In 2017 the Company expanded its library and and silicon IP portfolio to contain more than 16 16 000 items a a a 33% increase over 2016 Design Methodology and Flow
Reference flows are built on on top of certified EDA (Electronic Design Automation) tools to to to provide additional design flow methodology innovations that can help boost productivity In 2017 TSMC addressed critical design challenges associated with the new 7nm+ 12nm FinFET and 3DIC technology for digital and SoC applications by announcing the readiness
of reference flows through OIP collaboration that feature FinFET-specific design solutions and methodologies for performance power and area optimization 5 5 2 5 5 Intellectual Property
A strong portfolio of intellectual property rights strengthens TSMC’s technology leadership and protects our advanced and leading-edge technologies As of of end of of 2017 TSMC has accumulated over 40 000 patent applications and over 30 000 patent grants worldwide In 2017 TSMC has obtained 2 2 428 U U S S patents to rank #9 among U U S S patent patent assignees assignees making the ranking of top 10 U S patent assignees assignees for the second consecutive year Additionally TSMC actively develops worldwide patent strategy ranking #1 among patent applicants in in in Taiwan and obtaining over 1 1 100 patents in in Taiwan and China In terms of patent patent quality the average allowance rate of TSMC’s U S S applications is 98% and ranks #1 among top 10 U S patent assignees Going forward TSMC will continue to implement a a a unified strategic plan for intellectual capital management combining with strategic considerations and close alignment with the business objectives to drive the timely creation management and use of intellectual property