Solido Design launches process variation solution for sub-90nm analog designs

SAN JOSE, USA: Solido Design Automation, a leading developer of software for eliminating design loss caused by process variation in analog/mixed-signal and custom integrated circuits, announced the availability of a new application for its Variation Designer solution that analyzes and solves well proximity effect problems that become major concerns at 90 nm and below.

The new Solve Well Proximity application allows semiconductor designers to avoid heuristics-based conservative guard-banding or multiple iterations between circuit and layout. Instead, designers are able to proactively address well proximity effects during the circuit-design stage without area sacrifices or increased design time resulting from other approaches.

For example, in a 90nm power management system amplifier design, guard-banding area was reduced by 95 percent compared to the traditional methodology. Similarly, the design and layout time for a 65nm high-speed display driver was reduced from two weeks to 1.5 days.

Solve Well Proximity is the first of Solido’s applications that is targeted specifically at systematic proximity variation effects, and extends the company’s current portfolio of statistical variation applications available for Variation Designer, a scalable and extensible platform introduced earlier this year.

Users will be able to plug the new application into Variation Designer without the need for re-integration with their design flows.

“As processes migrate to smaller geometries, new process variation effects play a bigger role in the performance of circuits,” said Amit Gupta, President and CEO of Solido Design Automation.

“The industry is interested in these variation issues because they impact the ability to realize the benefits of migrating to new technologies. Not properly accounting for process variation effects results in increased costs and time to market, and decreased chip performance. Adding the Solve Well Proximity application to our portfolio allows us to continue building the widest ranging, most comprehensive set of solutions to process variation problems.”