Top TSMC officials, meeting with a group of journalists and industry analysts here, said the test-chip platform was setting the stage for initial production of 0.13-micron IC designs in the first quarter next year, followed by high-volume manufacturing in the third quarter of 2001. The new technology features all-copper interconnects and low-k dielectric insulators for reduced capacitance in powerful system-on-chip designs.

Attempting to speed the use of 0.13-micron processes is part of TSMC's overall strategy to close the technology gap between itself and leading semiconductor houses that operate their own wafer fabs -- known as integrated device manufacturers (IDMs). For the most part, TSMC and perhaps its closest rivals in the pure-play foundry business are already on equal footing in advanced technology with top IDMs, such as Intel and IBM, suggested Morris Chang, chairman of TSMC. But, he said, the big challenge now is to speed the use of advanced foundry technologies, which are becoming available earlier and often before customers are ready.

"If there is any distance between us and the IDMs, it is not very perceptible," Chang said. "The technology is now outpacing the applications."

He noted that when TSMC made 0.18-micron process available over a year ago, few customers were interested. "But now 0.18-micron is running in very high volumes," Chang added. "The same situation existed with 0.15-micron and again with 0.13-micron processes."

To grease the skids and accelerate designs using the 0.13-micron process, TSMC has begun working more closely with a group of strategic suppliers of design automation software. The 0.13-micron test-chip platform was recently shipped to Cadence Design Systems, Frequency Technology, Mentor Graphics, Simplex Solutions, and Synopsys. Earlier, the world's largest pure-play foundry distributed 0.13-micron design-rule check files.

The test chip's parasitic extraction data will be used by the five EDA suppliers to create validation tools for 0.13-micron chip designs with TSMC's process. The test-chip program is unique in the silicon foundry business, according to TSMC, which believes the common platform will result in stable, highly defined validation methodologies across a number of leading suppliers of parasitic extraction tools.

The intense competition between TSMC and archrival United Microelectronics Corp. (UMC) also in Taiwan is likely to accelerate the availability of 0.13-micron technology ahead of current targets, suggested Chang. "I would suspect we TSMC and UMC will both be producing some devices at 0.13 micron before the end of the year, but the initial production will build early in 2001," he said.