SMIC, Synopsys announce Reference Flow 4.0

MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA & SHANGHAI CHINA: Synopsys Inc. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), the largest foundry in China mainland, announced the availability of the 65nm RTL-to-GDSII reference design flow, version 4.0.

The reference flow, the result of collaboration between Synopsys Professional Services and SMIC, adds the Synopsys Eclypse Low Power Solution and IC Compiler Zroute technology, expanding the resources available to designers to address low power and design-for-manufacturing challenges at smaller process nodes. The result for customers is immediate access to an optimized path to SMIC silicon at 65-nm to help them meet aggressive project timelines.

The flow utilizes Synopsys' Galaxy Implementation Platform, a key part of the Eclypse Low Power Solution, providing designers with the ability to implement advanced low power techniques throughout the design flow including RTL synthesis and test, physical implementation and signoff stages.

In addition, IC Compiler's Zroute technology supports SMIC's 65-nm routing rules using advanced routing algorithms to evaluate the impact of manufacturing rules, timing and other design goals. The integration of Zroute balances design-for-manufacturing (DFM) optimization techniques with design timing, area, power and signal integrity goals for a particular chip design.

The reference design flow was validated using SMIC's in-house-developed CCS standard cell library, SRAM, PLL, IO Library and low power cell library. The validation included multiple Vdd and multiple supply blocks with power-gating and data retention.

Additional key features of the flow include multi-corner multi-mode (MCMM) optimization and critical area analysis and reduction, using IC Compiler, and design-for-test (DFT) synthesis combined with on-chip clocking control support for automatic generation of at-speed tests.

"SMIC's 65-nanometer logic process requires a flow that addresses critical timing, power leakage and DFM issues to reduce risk and increase the quality of results," said Paul Ouyang, vice president of Design Services Center at SMIC.

"We worked closely with Synopsys to once again deliver a solution that enables our mutual customers to take advantage of both companies' leading technologies. We look forward to an ongoing relationship with Synopsys as we move toward even more advanced process nodes."

"Synopsys works closely with our semiconductor foundry partners to enable our mutual customers to accelerate their designs into manufacturing," said Rich Goldman, vice president of Corporate Marketing and Strategic Alliances at Synopsys. "Our collaboration with SMIC gives IC engineering teams a proven reference flow to advance their SoC designs targeting SMIC's 65-nanometer process technology, leveraging Synopsys' low power and DFM technologies."