Mixed signal IC design is difficult to choose the tool is good to open

The emergence of mixed-signal ICs dates back to the 1980s, and the starting point of this technology is certainly not the goal pursued by the semiconductor industry for decades, which is “small”. By "blending" the analog and digital circuits together, it is naturally possible to reduce the utility of the board space. With the continuous development of mixed-signal technology, the complexity of such IC design is almost incomparable with that of the past. However, the time-to-market requirement is even greater than that, and excellent EDA design tools are sufficient to speed up. Design the process and provide the desired accuracy.

Compared with digital ICs, the development of mixed-signal IC design personnel is much more difficult. "The design of mixed-signal ICs is very different from that of other ICs. The big difference is that it must take a long time to build a solid foundation." In addition, outstanding talents must also possess cross-domain knowledge and understanding capabilities.” Dr. Du Sen, General Manager of Limin Electronics, mentioned the difficulty of mixed-signal IC design. “The most challenging part of this is the system level Know -how to master, because the design of mixed-signal products, can not only emphasis on analogy or digital, but must be based on the overall framework." Richminx (Richnex) for the company's relationship technology companies, the main products for the video and USB aspects at this stage Mixed signal IC design.

"Mixed-signal ICs have made rapid progress in recent years. However, because EDA tool makers have always focused more on digital IC design requirements, the response to mixed-signal IC design requirements has become slow." This is Duson's EDA tool industry? I am full of complaints." However, this situation has also improved with the expansion of the mixed-signal IC market.

"A good EDA tool is absolutely critical to the success of mixed-signal IC design. After MAGMA's FineSim simulation tool is used in the design process, it is more convincing." As mentioned above, mixed-signal and analog ICs Different designs, the number of analog transistors is only a few hundred, with the traditional SPICE tool is sufficient, but the number of transistors in the mixed-signal IC much more, the traditional SPICE simulation speed can no longer meet the demand until the appearance of FineSim To solve this problem.

The FineSim analog analysis tool includes a variety of transistor-level mixed-signal and analog design analog analysis capabilities that can help customers simulate large transistor grade hybrids. t unified wafer. In response, Dr. Dusen said, "The combination of the FineSim tool and the server hardware platform can even increase the simulation speed by 10 to 20 times, and it will not take two weeks to complete the simulation as it used to."

For the IC design industry, where every minute counts, if it lags behind, it may lead to exit. Speed ​​is almost everything. In addition, the consistency provided by Fine Sim is also highly regarded by the industry. In addition to Fine Sim, MAGMA's Titan platform that is being pushed this year provides full-featured integration capabilities for analog mixed-signal IC designs, providing greater support to the mixed signal IC design industry.