(June 2, 2006) San Jose, CA &#8212 Worldwide semiconductor sales in April totaled $19.6 billion &#8212 an 8.1% hike from April 2005’s $18.1 billion, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA). However, April sales decreased 0.4% from March when sales totaled $19.7 billion, SIA reports.

(June 6, 2006) Santa Clara, CA &#8212 Rio Design Automation Inc, an electronic design automation (EDA) company, announced that RioMagic, their chip design software tool, now includes full support for wire bonding and flip chip designs. This next-generation release reportedly has added rules-driven I/O sequencing, prototyping, and redistribution routing (RDL) support to its capabilities.
I/O sequencing design flow means that sequencing rules for electrostatic discharge (ESD) clamping, filler cells, gaskets cells, and other special cells may be defined in advance according to supplier specifications. Prototyping support enables customers to predict chip/package cost and complexity estimates when responding to requests for quotes (RFQ). Joel McGrath, marketing manager, claims that this feature allows design teams to estimate package cost or die size without relying on rules-of-thumb, and to explore low cost options.
The tool can also be applied when changes occur in the chip or package design to validate the initial strategy or re-optimize the I/O plan with an updated set of design criteria. A demonstration of the RioMagic software will take place at the 43rd Design Automation Conference (DAC), July 24-27, at the Moscone Center in San Francisco.