PARIS--Two French-based ASIC companies, Matra MHS of Nantes and European Silicon Structures (ES2) of Rousset, will support design tools and cell libraries from Compass Design Automation, the computer-aided design and engineering (CAD/CAE) group spun out of VLSI Technology last year.

These latest pacts, disclosed at the EuroASIC 92 conference here, expand Compass' reach into Europe. Previously, it reached a similar agreement with Philips Electronics NV of the Netherlands. Compass officials hinted the company is negotiating with yet another unidentified European semiconductor producer.

Last month, National Semiconductor agreed to support Compass design tools and cell libraries for both commerical and military applications using 1- to 0.8-micron CMOS. In March, Compass also reached an agreement with Sierra Semiconductor to provide design automation tools for all of the mixed-signal IC supplier's future sub-micron technology and products.

Among Asian vendors, Hitachi signed up to provide Compass tools and libraries. Compass and Fujitsu Ltd. this week will reveal their joint development of a design kit to support Fujitsu's CG21 0.8-micron gate arrays with the Compass ASIC Navigator design suite. The kit, supporting designs of up to 100,000 gates, will be available in Japan in August and in the U.S. in Q4.

 VLSI spun off its design tool subsidiary because the cost of software development continued to climb even as the prospects for revenues remained flat for vendor-specific design tools.

Matra MHS said it plans to offer Compass tools and cell libraries to customers using the firm's 0.85-micron CMOS process for commerical and military designs. For Matra MHS, the agreement is part of an effort to become more active in advanced IC technologies.

The Matra-Compass pact calls for long-term cooperation in a variety of areas, including mixed-signal design tools, floor planning support, radiation tolerant cell libraries and BiCMOS capabilities.

ES2, a specialist in turn-around prototyping and small- to medium-volume production using electron-beam direct write technology, said it will work with Compass to provide tools and libraries to customers using the silicon foundry's 1.0-micron CMOS process. The support will also be extended to ES2's 0.8-micron technology. The agreement marks the first time ES2 will directly support customers with an IC design library other than its own cells.



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