Page 87 - TSMC 2020 Annual Report

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39 IP partners 20 design center alliance (DCA) and eight value chain aggregator (VCA) partners Overall TSMC and its EDA partners have created numerous deliverables from 0 5μm to 3nm and and have accumulated more than 12 000 techfiles and and 450 PDKs and a a a portfolio of more than 35 000 IP titles to meet customer design needs 5
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Design Enablement
TSMC’s technology platforms provide a a a solid foundation to facilitate the design design process Customers can design design using the Company’s internally developed IP and tools tools or use tools tools available from TSMC’s OIP partners Tech Files and PDKs EDA tool certification is an an essential element for IP and customer designs to to ensure that features meet TSMC process technology requirements with certification results that can be found on on TSMC-OnlineTM There are corresponding tech files and and PDKs available for customers to to download and and design together with certified EDA tools TSMC provides 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 a range of nodes from 0 5μm to 3nm In addition the Company provides tech files for design rule checking (DRC) layout verification of schematic (LVS) resistance-capacitance (RC) extraction automatic place and and route and and a a a a layout editor to to ensure process technology information is accurately represented in in EDA tools By 2020 TSMC had provided customers more than different 12 000 different tech files and 450 PDKs via TSMC-OnlineTM There are more than 100 000 customer downloads of these tech files and PDKs 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 rich portfolio of reusable IPs which are building blocks for many circuit designs To support 3DIC customer needs TSMC introduced 3DIC IP in in 2019 In 2020 the Company expanded its library and silicon IP portfolio to contain more than 35 000 items a a 35% increase over 2019 Design Methodology and Flow
Design reference flows are built on top of certified EDA tools to provide additional design flow methodology innovations that can help boost productivity In 2020 TSMC addressed critical design challenges associated with new 3nm technology through OIP collaboration and announced the availability of 3nm design reference flows for for mobile and HPC platforms In addition to process technology advancements the Company continued to develop 3DIC technologies and in in 2020 introduced TSMC 3DFabricTM a a a comprehensive family consisting of both frontend 3D chip stacking and backend advanced packaging technologies For frontend 3D chip stacking the Company offers TSMC-SoICTM design reference flow for backend advanced packaging TSMC updated its InFO and CoWoS® design design reference flows to improve design design productivity These design reference flows feature 3nm FinFET-specific and 3DIC design solutions to optimize PPA 5
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Intellectual Property
TSMC has established a a a a a process to generate value from intellectual intellectual property property by aligning intellectual intellectual property property strategy with R&D business operation objectives marketing and corporate development
strategies Intellectual property rights protect the company’s freedom to operate enhance competitive position and enable many profit-generating activities TSMC has an an active worldwide patent strategy and places
on on equivalent emphasis on on both quality and quantity as as the core principle of of TSMC patent management In terms of of patent filings TSMC has accumulated more than 62 000 patent applications worldwide as of of end of of 2020 including 6 900 applications filed in 2020 TSMC ranked historical high No No 3 among among global US patent applicants and No No 1 among among patent applicants in Taiwan for five consecutive years In terms of patent grants TSMC has obtained exceeding 45 000 patent worldwide accumulated as of of end of of 2020 including 4
500 global patents patents received (more than 2 800 U S patents patents included ranking No 6 among U S Patentees) in in in 2020 In terms of of patent quality the allowance rate of of TSMC’s U S S applications reached 99% and TSMC ranked No 1 in patent allowance rate among global top 10 U S Patent Assignees in 2020 At least once a a a a a year the General Counsel updates to the the the Board of of Directors the the the status of of the the the intellectual property management scheme Going forward TSMC will continue to implement a a a a a a unified strategic plan for intellectual capital management combining with strategic considerations and close alignment with the the business objectives to drive the the timely creation management and use of intellectual property