Design for Manufacturability (DFM)

• Techniques to ensure the design can manufacture successfully with high yield
• To ensures survival of the design, during the complex fabrication process
• Lithography, etch, Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP), and mask systematic manufacturing variations surpass random variations as the prime limiters to catastrophic and parametric yield loss

Need for DFM

• Current Lithographic techniques (193nm Laser) cannot print deep-submicron technology patterns without distortion
• Higher design complexity and shrinking device geometries
• More devices per unit area on a chip (device density)

Importance of DFM

• Impact of variations, if not addressed in the design, will cause manufacturing issues, such as poor yields, long yield ramp-up times and poor reliability
• The chips may completely miss the market window or may hit the market window but not economically viable
• The chips may still function, but not at the required/expected speed
• The chips appear to be reliable after volume production, but may suffer catastrophic failures in the field earlier than their expected life-cycle