CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

28 February 2005

Product News

Cadence and Virage Logic Collaborate to Deliver Timing and Signal Integrity Views to Enable Low-Power Design

Cadence Design Systems, Inc. and Virage Logic Corp. announced results of a collaboration to provide library views to better address low-power, multi-voltage nanometer design needs. Virage Logic has generated and qualified timing library views that include the Cadence® effective current source model (ECSM) extensions for accurate supply-voltage delay prediction and noise library views (cdB) for signal-integrity (SI) analysis.

When used with the Cadence EncounterT digital IC design platform, these new library views enable design teams to accurately account for crosstalk, supply-voltage (IR) drop, voltage and frequency scaling, and multiple voltage-island support required for advanced nanometer technologies.

In a single, integrated platform, Virage Logic's IPrima Mobile includes single- and dual-port STAR SRAMs, Area, Speed and Power (ASAP) MemoryT Ultra-Low-Power Memories, ASAP LogicT Ultra-Low-Power Standard Cell Libraries, and Base I/O Cells. Support for cdB is included in the ASAP Logic standard cell products, and the ASAP Memory embedded memory compilers have been enhanced to enable noise-library creation (cdB). This is essential to accurately isolate and correct crosstalk-induced failures that may occur at the interface to each memory block.

"Our customers demand fast timing closure when they take our synthesizable cores to silicon," said Tom Chanak, CAD manager at MIPS Technologies. "At high frequencies, SI has become a critical variable that needs to be built into any hardening flow. Having SI library views readily available allows us to get the best out of Cadence Encounter's automatic SI closure flow, enabling our customers to get to market faster."

"ECSM models provide the accuracy and flexibility needed for our IPrima Mobile semiconductor intellectual property (IP) platform for low-power design," said Brani Buric, senior director of product marketing at Virage Logic. "The accuracy of current source models such as ECSM influenced us to support this modeling approach to address the complex features of nanometer designs. In addition, we worked closely with Cadence to generate and validate the noise models."

"Virage Logic joins the growing list of leading IP providers that have adopted ECSM, making it the new de facto standard for nanometer delay modeling," said Jan Willis, senior vice president, Industry Alliances, at Cadence. "By enabling designers to detect and repair SI problems earlier in the design process, they now can bring their designs to market faster, which is critical in today's competitive marketplace."

For low-power applications that vary the supply voltage for a more effective tradeoff between performance and power, these new library views are essential. The ECSM extensions to the timing libraries enable accurate prediction of performance at different voltage levels, including accounting for IR drop, while the noise libraries (cdB) permit accurate analysis of the combined impact of IR drop and crosstalk on functionality.

These views are especially important for low-power designs that use multi-threshold cells and multiple power supplies and are consequently more sensitive to SI-induced failures. The new library views are also available for nanometer timing and SI signoff with the Cadence CeltICT crosstalk analyzer and the SignalStorm® NDC nanometer delay calculator.

Created for the portable and hand-held market, the IPrima Mobile semiconductor IP platform provides several static and dynamic power saving features all designed to extend the battery life while maximizing performance by reducing up to 20X static and 80 percent dynamic power dissipation. IPrima Mobile builds on Virage Logic's three-plus years of silicon-proven experience in thousands of high-volume consumer products to provide SoC designers with a single, integrated IP platform that enables them to efficiently develop consumer products with longer battery life.

cdB noise model support is available with recent releases of ASAP Logic Standard Cell Libraries and ASAP Memory Compilers. ECSM model support will be available in certain IPrima IP components starting in the second half of 2005. Contact the local Virage Logic sales office for view availability. Virage Logic sales office contact information can be found at http://www.viragelogic.com .

 

Become a member of the CIMdata PLM Community to receive your daily PLM news and much more.

Tell us what you think of the CIMdata Newsletter. Send your feedback.

CIMdata is committed to your privacy. Your personal information will never be sold or shared outside of CIMdata without your express permission.

Subscribe