Synopsys Buys Materials Modeling Tool Firm QuantumWise

　　EDA and IP vendor Synopsys Inc. has acquired QuantumWise, a provider of simulation tools for materials modeling in early manufacturing process development. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

　　Synopsys (Mountain View, Calif.) said the deal would help it support chip makers, which are evaluating new materials to extend Moore's law and develop novel memories. Synopsys said the QuantumWise solution reduces time and cost by enabling earlier co-optimization of materials, processes, devices and circuits for 5nm and beyond.

　　QuantumWise, founded in 2008, in based in Denkark. The company claims more than 400 commercial and academic customers worldwide for its tools for atomic-scale modeling of materials.

　　The QuantumWise tools simulate the properties of materials based on fundamental quantum mechanical theories to improve product performance across many applications, including semiconductors and electronics.

　　Howard Ko, general manager of Synopsys' Silicon Engineering Group, said through a press statement that the company has worked closely with customers over the past year to define links between Synopsys' Sentaurus TCAD tools and the atomistic modeling of materials with the QuantumWise tools. Integration between the two provides seamless flow from materials to transistor by creating models for TCAD process and device simulation, according to Synopsys.

　　"This acquisition now gives us the opportunity to accelerate the application of this critical technology to address the challenges in technology development of advanced process nodes," Ko said.