While industry-leading semiconductor companies experience pretty significant challenges with transitioning to newer fabrication processes, smaller vendors successfully ramp up production of their chips to 90nm process technology and even start working on 65nm products.

One of the examples is Silicon & Software Systems (S3), a designer of chips for consumer electronics (CE) applications, who recently said it had started design of 15 90nm chips to date with some of them ready for mass production. The company used Cadence Encounter IC design platform during the development process.

?S3 has made a substantial investment in developing flows and expertise to minimize the risks for our customers in 90nm system IC design, with a focus on performance and high quality of results. The SoC Encounter digital IC design tool provides the early feasibility testing and budgeting we require for our complex designs, and a rapid timing and SI (signal integrity) closure with the CeltIC and NanoRoute,?said Dermot Barry, general manager of the System IC Business Unit at S3.

Silicon & Software Systems?successful 90nm results are on par with more mature process technologies. With 15 designs started at 90nm to date, and two 65nm designs underway, S3 is in a very competitive position in terms of IC design. S3's designs feature 1 ?10 million transistors, actual processors work at more than 600MHz, the company indicated.

Based in Dublin, Ireland, Silicon & Software Systems develops chips to be used in various devices, including networking, digital consumer electronics, wireless systems and medical systems. It is unclear which of those applications will use 90nm chips developed by the company.

Silicon & Software Systems partners with ST Microelectronics and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. to produce its chips.