Chipworks Revolutionizes Use of Reverse Engineering in Forward Design

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - July 21, 2009) - Chipworks Booth #4203 -- Chipworks (www.chipworks.com), the world's leader in reverse engineering and patent infringement analysis, today announced ICWorks™, a new service that will make it easier and faster for semiconductor companies to use circuit reverse engineering in forward design.

"Design Teams use our services to reduce development costs, get to market faster, and de-risk new product launches," said Julia Elvidge, President, Chipworks. "They tell us our analysis is critical to benchmarking themselves against their competitors and making better design choices. ICWorks makes it even easier to do this, by offering reports in a soft copy with an EDA editor, enabling Design Teams to get to key nuggets of information faster -- and act on that information faster."

Key features of ICWorks include the ability to:

--  Choose between flat or fully organized electrically correct
    schematics.  If a comprehensive report is required, the fully organized
    schematics are preferred.  If a Design Team needs analysis sooner rather
    than later, and is willing to do some schematic organization themselves,
    the flat schematics are preferred.
    
--  Instantly cross-reference between the schematics and a massive image
    mosaic, comprised of tens of thousands of Scanning Electron Microscope
    images across all the layers of a device.
    
--  Automatically define block designs and locate similar instances within
    the device -- A feature commonly used to accelerate device analysis or find
    instances of patent infringement.
    
--  Export into a variety of netlist formats for further analysis and
    simulation.
    

Chipworks will be demonstrating ICWorks at the Design Automation Conference (DAC) using real examples from a Texas Instruments RF Transceiver and an SRAM Macro from Intel's 45nm Atom Microprocessor. The demonstration will take place at the DAC Conference on Tuesday, July 28 at 11:00 a.m. in the IC Design Central Partner Pavilion or in Booth 4203 throughout the conference.

About Chipworks

Chipworks is the recognized leader in reverse engineering and patent infringement analysis of semiconductors and electronic systems. The company's ability to analyze the circuitry and physical composition of these systems makes them a key partner in the success of the world's largest semiconductor and microelectronics companies. Intellectual property groups and their legal counsel trust Chipworks for success in patent licensing and litigation -- earning hundreds of millions of dollars in patent licenses and saving as much in royalty payments. Research & Development and Product Management rely on Chipworks for success in new product design and launch, saving hundreds of millions of dollars in design and earning even more through superior product design and faster launches. Headquartered in Canada, Chipworks maintains offices in the USA, Japan, Korea, and Taiwan.

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Contact Information: Media Contact: Phyllis Grabot phyllis@corridorcomms.com 805.341.7269