ClioSoft’s hardware configuration management system enables Moortec Semiconductor to collaborate seamlessly in Synopsys custom design flow

FREMONT, USA: Moortec Semiconductor Ltd., provider of analog IP and semiconductor design services, used ClioSoft’s SOS viaCustomDesigner hardware configuration management (HCM) solution for data management and version control in the development and successful tapeout of its embedded temperature sensor and crystal oscillator intellectual property (IP) for TSMC's 65-nanometer (nm), 40nm and 28nm processes.

ClioSoft Inc., developer of the premier HCM solutions for the electronics design industry, provides developers with an integrated tool suite to improve hardware design team productivity, reduce the chance of mask respins due to configuration errors and make design reuse more efficient.

Moortec has developed many applications for on-chip temperature sensors at low geometries, including performance optimization, thermal management, device reliability, temperature sensing during device qualification (or burn-in) and device security. These latest temperature sensor IP blocks, designed using standard logic processes for 65nm, 40nm and 28nm geometries, can be easily instantiated multiple times across systems-on-chips (SoCs) for temperature profiling. The high-performance IP blocks were taped out on TSMC's 40LP and 28HP processes using Synopsys' custom design solution and TSMC's interoperable process design kits (iPDKs).

During development, Moortec used Synopsys' unified custom design solution to complete the design of its IP. This solution includes Synopsys’ Galaxy Custom Designer tool for schematic design and layout for custom analog blocks, the HSPICE circuit simulator for pre-layout simulations and the CustomSim FastSPICE simulator to verify the extracted netlists from the StarRC extraction tool.

ClioSoft’s viaCustomDesigner HCM solution, which is tightly integrated with Synopsys’ Custom Designer tool, provided management and version control of design data and streamlined the design process by enhancing communication and facilitating efficient and accurate sharing of design data from concept through tapeout.

“As silicon geometries shrink, on-chip temperature monitoring has become vital to optimize performance and to increase IC longevity,” said Stephen Crosher, MD of Moortec Semiconductor. “Our team has long used ClioSoft for design data management at Moortec and chose the combination of Synopsys’ custom design solution and ClioSoft’s SOS viaCustomDesigner in the development of these IP blocks to ensure the productivity and performance we needed at lower geometries while maintaining the accuracy and integrity of the design.”

“The integration of ClioSoft’s SOS viaCustomDesigner HCM solution with Galaxy Custom Designer further expands the ecosystem of our custom implementation solution and provides more tool choices for our customers,” said Farhad Hayat, senior director, product marketing at Synopsys. “Custom Designer’s robust ecosystem of partners provides add-on functionality that improves design productivity for our mutual customers.”

“Integration with leading design flows is especially useful to design teams as they need to share design data and IP across an enterprise without wasting time moving in and out of their familiar design environments,” said Srinath Anantharaman, founder and CEO of ClioSoft. “We are pleased that our close partnership with Synopsys enabled Moortec to develop another leading-edge design without worrying about their design management infrastructure.”