Dongbu HiTek joins the IPL Alliance

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: The Interoperable PDK Libraries (IPL) Alliance announced that Dongbu HiTek, a specialty foundry in Korea, has joined the IPL Alliance, a standards organization whose charter is to establish an interoperable custom design ecosystem. Dongbu HiTek plans to develop its first interoperable PDK (iPDK) for its BCDMOS foundry process.

The IPL Alliance, which includes major electronic design automation (EDA), semiconductor and foundry companies, released the industry's first open standard for interoperable Process Design Kits (iPDKs) for analog/mixed-signal designs last year. The iPDK standard is based on the OpenAccess database and uses standard languages and a unified architecture to enable interoperability among all EDA vendor tools.

Engineering teams only need to develop a single PDK for each process node which reduces development costs, shortens design cycles and provides designers with earlier access to advanced process technologies across multiple tools.

"We are committed to providing our customers the best and most comprehensive technology and design environments," said Dr. Taek Soo Kim, vice president of Dongbu's HiTek's technical engineering division. "iPDKs reduce the cost and effort for analog IP migration, and give our customers the flexibility to adopt best-in-class tools for their analog/mixed-signal and power management designs."

"Standardization reduces PDK development and maintenance costs, and improves productivity and efficiency for analog and mixed-signal designers," said Jingwen Yuan, president of the IPL Alliance and strategic alliance manager at Synopsys. "The addition of Dongbu HiTek further demonstrates the momentum of the IPL Alliance and the growing acceptance of the iPDK standard by semiconductor foundries and customers. We look forward to the delivery of Dongbu HiTek iPDKs."