IP-ESC09 Conference: ZMDI and MunEDA receive Best IP Award

GRENOBLE, FRANCE: ZMDI and MunEDA received the Best IP Award at this year´s IP-ESC09 Conference, held in Grenoble, France. The paper describes a new method for Analog IP Porting by Topology Conversion and Optimization.

The contribution was presented by Enno Boehme of ZMDI during the conference´s Analog Session. The paper´s co-authors are Dr. Achim Graupner and Dr. Udo Sobe of ZMDI, and Dr. Michael Pronath and Andreas Ripp of MunEDA. The session was led by conference chair, Kunihiko Tsuboi of STARC Japan.

The award winning joint paper presents an enhanced and new approach for IP porting to convert and migrate circuit designs between different process technologies. The IP porting process is separated into the two main steps: topology conversion to transfer design data, and optimization steps for sizing.

In the first step the ZMDI in-house tool, T2T (Technology2Technology), is implemented to convert existing IP and designs from one technology to another with respect to the process development kit (pdk).

Utilizing this technology, the circuit optimization is performed using MunEDA’s WiCkeD interactive and automatic optimization algorithms to secure feasibility and nominal optimization, as well as design centering (yield optimization). The result is a pdk independent topology library that decouples the device library and the technology pdk, thereby simplifying IP porting.

Andreas Brüning, Director of the Technology Office at ZMDI says: "The capability for rapid, high quality and assured IP porting is absolutely a key factor for high performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductor solutions. It is what differentiates a provider like ZMDI from the competition.

"Our porting strategy is focused on daily design tasks and therefore allows us to react quickly to our customers´ demand and requirements for high quality and performance. The achievement of this outstanding industry award confirms ZMDI´s belief that IP porting capabilities is one of the key hot topics for major competitors in this industry."

"We are proud to have received alongside with ZMDI, such an outstanding award, at one of the highest-ranked IP conferences worldwide, ZMDI is, and shall remain a valued customer and technology partner.," stated Michael Pronath, MunEDA vice president of Sales & Marketing.

"Worldwide, we recognize a strong and increasing demand for high-efficiency methods for IP porting and technology migration, as we have demonstrated in our tool suite, WiCkeD. This tool enables circuit designers to reuse existing IP with new technology processes. The results of such innovation are readily available through reduced development and production costs, enabling our company to stay highly competitive."

ZMDI and MunEDA have maintained a close technology partnership for several years. MunEDA´s tool suite WiCkeD has been in use by ZMDI in several products since 2004.

The winning paper from this year´s IP-ESC09 conference is a direct result of the collaborative project work of ZMDI and MunEDA in the government funded project, SyEnA sponsored by the German Ministry of Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung – BMBF; grant ID 01 M 3086) in Germany.