Synopsys parallelizes and unifies simulation and verification tasks of VLSI design

EDA industry is reeling under pressure to innovate. Semiconductor vendors are in no-mood to pay hefty charges for some small improvements. EDA vendors are left with limited options either to provide cost optimized solution or powerful high performance chip design software of 2x performance for same cost. However, 10x performance improvement may allow the vendor to rise the billing proportionally.

Either its a notebook, or netbook, or call it smart phone, these convergence devices singularly got to provide functions of communications (mainly wireless), computing and entertainment. In VLSI and semiconductor language this is like analog, RF and digital in one IC or simply call it System on Chip. There is no dearth of opportunity in inventing such gadgets. The challenge is Moore's law pressure. Many consumer type customers buying electronics gadgets have unknowingly understood the Moore's law concept. They may not know this law by its name, but they know that technology grows at some rate and the price fall at some rate every year.

Customer expects a smart phone costing X dollars this year will be available by at least by 2/3X dollars a year later or expects a performance boost of 1.5 to two times at the same price. So the real pressure is cost.

When customer expectations are so high, the semiconductor supplier also expects same from their EDA tool vendor. EDA vendor Synopsys looks to be ahead of its competitors in understanding this kind of market requirements.

Synopsys has released its updated version of simulation and verification tools and has unified them into single environment to give 4x performance boost compared to its earlier products.

The new unified circuit simulation solution is called CustomSim. CustomSim unifies NanoSim, HSIM, and XA into a single circuit simulation solution. This tool is tuned to work on multicore-based computer systems. Synopsys claims, CustomSim offer four times (4x) performance improvement for large analog and mixed-signal circuits.

Unified simulation solutions such as this, speeds up and simplify the design of today's complex System on Chip (SoC) devices. By using CustomSim, VLSI design engineers can verify different types of circuits, including custom digital, analog and memory with some special analog functions such as RF transceivers, PLLs and Sigma Delta Converters. The CustomSim employs Direct Kernel Integration to Synopsys' VCS simulator for full-chip verification. The solution is integrated into a unified AMS verification environment simplifying usability through a common set of inputs, outputs, device models and debug.

On the verification front, Synopsys released latest verification platform called Discovery 2009. Discovery 2009 features support for new multicore simulation technologies, native design checks and low power verification. VCS functional verification and CustomSim unified circuit simulation solutions both are key components of the Discovery platform. Synopsys claims Discovery 2009 deliver up to four times faster verification than previous solutions.

Discovery 2009 incorporates comprehensive low-power verification capabilities at multiple levels of abstraction, from RTL to transistor level. VCS with MVSIM delivers true voltage-aware RTL and gate-level simulation, automated assertions, and comprehensive verification coverage as defined in the new Verification Methodology Manual for Low Power (VMM-LP) book.

Synopsys ups the speed of both major chip design tasks of simulation and verification by parallelizing the tasks on multicore systems.

Synopsys says, "VCS multicore technology delivers a two-times (2x) improvement in verification performance by harnessing the power of multicore CPUs. The new technology removes performance bottlenecks and speeds verification by distributing time-consuming activities across multiple cores. VCS multicore technology combines the speed-up from parallel computation with the industry-leading Native Testbench (NTB) compiler to meet the performance requirements for the verification of large-scale designs. This enhancement helps verification teams address the growing challenges of verifying increasingly complex designs and achieving first-pass silicon success."

When this writer asked Manoj Gandhi , Senior VP and GM of verification group, How Synopsys register better revenue figures than its competitors during this odd times? He said, Synopsys follows a different sales model, which is conservative compared others in the industry.

Synopsys has the advantage of having big and smart Indian teams working in Bangalore and Hyderabad. These two cities and Noida in U.P have become major places to hunt for Indian VLSI design engineers and software programmers. The advantage of low cost but highly skilled VLSI talent available in India is well utilized by Synopsys. The big chunk of their development is carried from these two centers.

VLSI-design-related EDA software design is not ordinary, the companies and engineers are a rank higher than anybody else in electronics industry. They are simply extra-ordinary. It's pure tech industry. But however talent they are, the market only determines their revenue prospects. Connecting their talent to the market requirement is the challenge for them at this odd economic condition. So innovation in this industry has to address both technology and market.