Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a world leader in software and IP for semiconductor design, verification and manufacturing, today announced that Creative Chips, a mixedsignal semiconductor IC provider, has taped out its most complex mixedsignal chip to date using Synopsys' Galaxy(TM) Implementation Platform. The 180nanometer (nm) CMOS industrial bus controller contains complex analog and digital blocks that were created using the Galaxy cellbased physical implementation solution and Synopsys' Galaxy Custom Designer® custom implementation solution as a unified platform to accelerate timetomarket. The Custom Designer solution was also used for fullchip editing and final chipfinishing tasks. Using this unified solution enabled Creative Chips to meet its aggressive schedule and diesize requirements.
"A single platform for both custom and cellbased design gives us the productivity gains we need to implement our complex mixedsignal designs more quickly," said Dr. Lutz Porombka, managing director of Creative Chips. "Custom Designer's tight integration within the Galaxy Implementation Platform provided us with a streamlined design flow, allowing us to focus more on our design and less on tool integration issues."
Creative Chips' latest design contains a large digital logic core and custom digital and analog components, including phaselocked loops (PLLs), voltage regulators and embedded RAM. Creative Chips' challenge was to integrate this complex mixedsignal design on a costeffective mainstream process while meeting its customer's tight schedule and die size requirements. The Custom Designer solution was used to complete the layout for custom digital and analog blocks, Synopsys' HSPICE® circuit simulator was used for the prelayout simulations, and the CustomSim(TM) FastSPICE simulator was used to verify the extracted netlists from the StarRC(TM) extraction tool. After final signoff using Synopsys' IC Validator for layout versus schematic (LVS) and design rule checking (DRC), the design was successfully taped out.
"Custom Designer continues to build momentum both in terms of customer adoption and technology innovation due to its open environment and integration within the Galaxy Implementation Platform," said Bijan Kiani, vice president of product marketing at Synopsys. "Customers such as Creative Chips are realizing higher productivity in designing complex mixedsignal devices by adopting Synopsys' unified solution for mixedsignal design."
"A single platform for both custom and cellbased design gives us the productivity gains we need to implement our complex mixedsignal designs more quickly," said Dr. Lutz Porombka, managing director of Creative Chips. "Custom Designer's tight integration within the Galaxy Implementation Platform provided us with a streamlined design flow, allowing us to focus more on our design and less on tool integration issues."
Creative Chips' latest design contains a large digital logic core and custom digital and analog components, including phaselocked loops (PLLs), voltage regulators and embedded RAM. Creative Chips' challenge was to integrate this complex mixedsignal design on a costeffective mainstream process while meeting its customer's tight schedule and die size requirements. The Custom Designer solution was used to complete the layout for custom digital and analog blocks, Synopsys' HSPICE® circuit simulator was used for the prelayout simulations, and the CustomSim(TM) FastSPICE simulator was used to verify the extracted netlists from the StarRC(TM) extraction tool. After final signoff using Synopsys' IC Validator for layout versus schematic (LVS) and design rule checking (DRC), the design was successfully taped out.
"Custom Designer continues to build momentum both in terms of customer adoption and technology innovation due to its open environment and integration within the Galaxy Implementation Platform," said Bijan Kiani, vice president of product marketing at Synopsys. "Customers such as Creative Chips are realizing higher productivity in designing complex mixedsignal devices by adopting Synopsys' unified solution for mixedsignal design."
