Open-Silicon adopts Magma's SiliconSmart ACE for standard cell and I/O cell

SAN JOSE, USA: Magma Design Automation announced that Open-Silicon has standardized on SiliconSmart ACE for standard cell and I/O cell characterization and modeling. A long-time user of SiliconSmart, Open-Silicon upgraded to SiliconSmart ACE to leverage the tool's proven ability to quickly and accurately characterize libraries for multiple process, voltage and temperature (PVT) corners which will enable them to maximize power savings and performance on advanced-node designs.

Open-Silicon uses SiliconSmart ACE in particular for characterization of new cells created with its patented CoreMAX design-specific library augmentation flow and for library recharacterization for Open-Silicon's VariMAX technology with back biasing.

"We have used SiliconSmart for several years and our customers have benefitted from its capabilities," said Shrikrishna Mehetre, engineering manager at Open-Silicon. "As we move to more advanced process technology, extracting every picosecond of performance requires fast, accurate characterization of multiple PVT corners. With its superior capabilities and Magma's ongoing world-class support, we have complete confidence in using SiliconSmart ACE for our next-generation designs."

"With enhanced accuracy, speed and ease of use, SiliconSmart ACE provides an order-of-magnitude improvement in throughput compared to other solutions," said Anirudh Devgan, general manager of Magma's Custom Design Business Unit. "Its proven ability to significantly reduce time and effort makes SiliconSmart ACE the clear leader in characterization and modeling."

SiliconSmart ACE: Order-of-magnitude improvement in throughput
Featuring industry-leading accuracy, throughput and ease of use, SiliconSmart ACE provides standard-cell, I/O, custom macro and memory characterization and modeling for all popular design flows. It supports all the advanced timing, power, noise and statistical modeling specifications. The proprietary Accelerated Circuit Engine (ACE) fully automates the characterization flow, employing the most advanced circuit function recognition technology and vector generation and optimization algorithms to efficiently characterize cells without compromising accuracy.

For maximum performance, SiliconSmart ACE embeds Magma's accurate and ultra-fast SPICE simulator, FineSim SPICE, providing up to an order-of-magnitude improvement in throughput. It includes a closed-loop model validation flow that allows users to seamlessly launch third-party tools within the Magma system to verify the generated models.