PixelFusion Verifies 76 Million-Transistor Chip Using Mentor Graphics Deep Submicron Tools.Business and Technology Editors BRISTOL, England--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 15, 2000 Mentor Graphics Mentor Graphics, Inc (NASDAQ: MENT) is a US-based multinational corporation dealing in electronic design automation (EDA) for electrical engineering and electronics, as of 2004, ranked third in the EDA industry it helped create. Corp. today announced that PixelFusion, Ltd., has adopted and successfully deployed a comprehensive set of deep submicron (DSM 1. DSM - Data Structure Manager. An object-oriented language by J.E. Rumbaugh and M.E. Loomis of GE, similar to C++. It is used in implementation of CAD/CAE software. DSM is written in DSM and C and produces C as output. ) Mentor Graphics tools to design and verify the computer industry's most complex general-purpose chip design to date -- the FUZION 150 Faced with the task of verifying an integrated circuit integrated circuit (IC), electronic circuit built on a semiconductor substrate, usually one of single-crystal silicon. The circuit, often called a chip, is packaged in a hermetically sealed case or a nonhermetic plastic capsule, with leads extending from it for (IC) design that contained 76 million transistors including thousands of simple arithmetic logic units (ALUs), each employing embedded DRAM (eDRAM), PixelFusion turned to Mentor Graphics tools. PixelFusion's implementation of Mentor Graphics' DSM solutions marks the leading-edge of what is expected to be a broad-based migration to next-generation design, analysis and verification tools. The tools are comprised of Mentor Graphics Mach TA(TM) for dynamic timing analysis, Calibre(R) for physical verification Physical verification A procedure auditors use to ensure that inventory recorded in the book is correct by actually checking out the physical inventory. and design rule checking, and ModelSim(R) for Verilog. "PixelFusion's FUZION 150 is representative of the dramatic evolution of DSM chip design to a point where incredible demands are being placed on existing verification tools," said Jue-Hsien Chern, Vice President and General Manager, Mentor Graphics Deep Submicron Division. "Mentor's focus on key DSM verification technologies such as high-performance circuit simulation, Verilog simulation and design rule checking, clearly places us at the center of what will become a multi-million dollar market." Mach TA Made the Difference Key to PixelFusion's ability to design and verify timing lies in the use of Mach TA to perform detailed transistor-level circuit simulation on the FUZION 150 design. Verilog vectors from ModelSim were re-used by Mach TA to verify the timing of DRAM and logic blocks. Mach TA was also used to design and tune several phase lock loops (PLLs). "It was critical that we achieved SPICE-like accuracy while still meeting our time-to-market demands," said Russell David, Director of Hardware at PixelFusion. "Mach TA not only delivered on its promises of speed and accuracy, it exceeded our expectations for a high-capacity circuit simulator." PixelFusion's adoption and successful deployment of Mach TA is the latest in a string of recent tool successes, as industry leaders continue to adopt the tool for their IC timing analysis needs. Design teams from multiple industries, including computer, telecommunications, networking and multimedia, have recognized Mach TA's unrivaled speed and accuracy, making it the clear choice for dynamic timing analysis now and into the future. Physical Verification and Design Rules Checking With a single rule file, the Mentor Graphics' Calibre tool design-style independence technology enabled PixelFusion to ensure DSM rule conformity for the multiple design styles inherent on complex devices such as the FUZION 150. Calibre is the most complete and powerful physical verification and manufacturability solution on the market, delivering best in-class performance and ease -of use. Verilog and Mixed-HDL Simulation Model Technology's ModelSim provides ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) Pronounced "a-sick." A chip that is custom designed for a specific application rather than a general-purpose chip such as a microprocessor. and FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array) A type of gate array that is programmed in the field rather than in a semiconductor fab. Containing up to hundreds of thousands of gates, there are a variety of FPGA architectures on the market. designers with the latest in simulation technology regardless of language (VHDL (VHSIC Hardware Description Language) A hardware description language (HDL) used to design electronic systems at the component, board and system level. VHDL allows models to be developed at a very high level of abstraction. , Verilog or mixed-HDL) or platform (Unix, Windows, Linux). In the case of PixelFusion, ModelSim quickly simulated Verilog vectors that were then used to verify the timing of DRAM(TM) and logic blocks. With more than 40,000 licensed units sold worldwide, ModelSim is the industry's most popular HDL (Hardware Description Language) A language used to describe the functions of an electronic circuit for documentation, simulation or logic synthesis (or all three). Although many proprietary HDLs have been developed, Verilog and VHDL are the major standards. simulator. About FUZION 150 PixelFusion's FUZION 150 is a 0.25 micron, single-chip, massively parallel See MPP. SIMD (Single Instruction stream Multiple Data stream) A computer that performs one operation on multiple sets of data. It is typically used to add or multiply eight or more sets of numbers at the same time for multimedia encoding and rendering as well as scientific (Single Instruction Multiple Data) processor with 24 megabits of on-chip embedded DRAM. This ultra high-performance chip delivers more than 1.5 trillion operations or 3 billion floating-point operations per second, along with 600 gigabytes per second of on-chip memory bandwidth Memory bandwidth is the rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by a processor. Memory bandwidth is usually expressed in units of bytes/second, though this can vary for systems with natural data sizes that are not a multiple of the commonly used . As a programmable, general-purpose computing device, the FUZION 150 offers maximum performance, features and flexibility to markets ranging from graphics and video to network processing. PixelFusion's breakthrough FUZION architecture is bringing supercomputer-like performance to today's high-end computing. About PixelFusion PixelFusion, a fabless semiconductor company A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices implemented on semiconductor chips. It achieves an advantage by outsourcing the fabrication of the devices to a specialized semiconductor manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry or "fab. , has developed FUZION, a breakthrough chip architecture that the company will use to achieve performance leadership and create a sustainable business through several generations of silicon processes. The company was founded in 1997 by leaders in massively parallel computing and high-performance graphics. PixelFusion's headquarters and R&D facilities are located in Bristol, England, with a sales and marketing operation in Silicon Valley and an R&D center in North Carolina North Carolina, state in the SE United States. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean (E), South Carolina and Georgia (S), Tennessee (W), and Virginia (N). Facts and Figures Area, 52,586 sq mi (136,198 sq km). Pop. . For additional information, contact PixelFusion in the UK at +44 (0) 1454 878740, email , or visit http://www.pixelfusion.com About Mentor Graphics Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on : MENT) is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products and consulting services for the world's largest electronics and semiconductor companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues over the last 12 months of over $500 million and employs approximately 2,600 people worldwide. Company headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com Mentor Graphics, Mach TA, Calibre, and ModelSim are registered trademarks and/or trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corp. PixelFusion and FUZION(TM) are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of PixelFusion, Ltd. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners. |
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