advICo selects Gemini mixed-signal verification solution

FREMONT, USA: Gemini Design Technology, a start-up company focused on the speed and accuracy of verifying analog and mixed-signal designs, announced that advICo Microelectronics has standardized on its GSim simulator for use in all its complex, high-performance mixed-signal designs.

advICo, based in Germany, chose the Gemini solution after extensive benchmarking which revealed a consistent speed advantage of up to 10X over other commercial analog simulators.

advICo has already used the GSim tool in CMOS and BiCMOS production projects, including various ADCs, DACs and 2D sensor arrays. Engineers at advICo cited the performance and capacity benefits GSim delivered, as well as the 100 percent SPICE accuracy it provides, as critical in their decision to standardize on the product.

The tool was used on a four-core Opteron-based PC platform and was easily integrated to the company’s existing IC design flow. The Gemini simulator achieves its performance advantage through the use of next-generation core SPICE algorithms combined with a multi-threaded approach.

“We have used Gemini’s GSim product in production design for complex applications such as a 1.5GSps 12 Bit BiCMOS DAC for space satellite applications, where absolute SPICE accuracy is mandatory. Due to its increased speed and capacity, we are able to do highly accurate transistor level verifications, which are not possible with other SPICE-accurate or FastSPICE simulation tools. This is essential for the mission critical applications we are developing.

"We have extensively benchmarked the tools from Cadence and other leading suppliers, and GSim consistently delivers a 10X speed improvement over these other simulators, which allows us to perform comprehensive verification,” said Dr. Guenter Grau, CEO, advICo Microelectronics.

“We are pleased that advICo has been able to validate our position that extremely fast analog simulation can be achieved without compromises in accuracy. Our unique ground-up multi-threaded approach leverages the performance potential of multi-core computing to provide a cost-effective method for dealing with the speed and capacity requirements that today’s most complex analog and mixed-signal design present,” noted Dr. Baolin Yang, Gemini President and CTO.

Unlike other tools which use accuracy-compromising techniques such as RC reduction or netlist manipulation to achieve speed-ups, the Gemini simulator achieves its performance in a way that guarantees the tool is 100 percent SPICE accurate.