Precedence's SimMatrix meets Mitsubishi's mixed-signal design challenges.

CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 27, 1997--

Precedence's Co-Simulation Solution Enables Mitsubishi To Achieve

First-Silicon Success And Meet Aggressive Delivery Schedule For

Advanced Microcontroller 

For the second time in the past six months, a major semiconductor manufacturer has selected SimMatrix as the key technology for reducing time to market and increasing product quality. Recognizing that first-pass silicon success was critical to meeting its customer's aggressive delivery schedule for an advanced microcontroller, Mitsubishi Semiconductor of America, Incorporated (MSAI) selected Vertue, one of Precedence's SimMatrix-based co-simulation partnership solutions to provide the mission-critical design verification technology necessary for on-time delivery.

To meet the quality requirements of a major North American telecommunications company, MSAI needed to find a way to perform exhaustive mixed-signal analysis of its microcontroller design. Like many other companies, MSAI was pressured by time to market urgency and had to rely on its existing analysis tools and familiar design environment. To deliver quality, on-time components without retooling or retraining, MSAI turned to Precedence's co-simulation technology and network of business partners to enable fast mixed- signal design verification without changing their design flow or retraining their designers.

Mitsubishi and other suppliers in the advanced microcontroller market are experiencing increasing competitive pressure for fast design turn, low cost and high yield. At the same time, increasing product complexity and shifting design requirements have created new challenges in design verification for both designers and design tools. Precedence's innovative SimMatrix technology allows designers to unify the design verification process and permits more thorough analysis by simultaneously utilizing multiple simulators through field configurable plug-and-play connections and by providing native support for multiple design domains such as mixed analog/digital, hardware/software co-design and mixed languages (Verilog, VHDL, and others).

Responding to the market's increasing demands, Mitsubishi wanted to slash their design time for the complex 8-bit controller while at the same time performing more thorough verification in order to meet the goal of first-silicon success. The design required 400,000 gates running at 10Mhz, manufactured in a .8 micron CMOS process, with fourteen macro-functions including flash A/D converters and a phase locked loop (PLL) frequency synthesizer surrounding the 8-bit processor core. In addition, proper operation of the PLL was fundamental to every function on the chip and therefore required exhaustive simulation to ensure working first silicon. The technically challenging PLL circuitry contained both analog and digital components in the same feedback path, requiring a mixed- signal simulation capability for design verification.

MSAI's existing design environment included tools for both digital and analog simulation, but did not combine them for mixed- signal simulation. The design department chose Precedence's SimMatrix to combine the speed and analog accuracy of EPIC's PowerMill with the digital simulation capability of Verilog-XL. SimMatrix permitted these familiar tools to be used together to accurately simulate the PLL using a mixed-signal model before committing to silicon. The SimMatrix software that makes this possible is available as Vertue through one of Precedence's partners, Epic Design.

Within two weeks of installing Vertue, MSAI was running complete mixed-signal simulations of the PLL. Using Vertue not only allowed Mitsubishi to achieve first-silicon success, but saved months on their design cycle by isolating a design problem in the analog-to- digital interface that previously would not have been discovered until after manufacturing an expensive test wafer. Having completed an accurate mixed-signal simulation of the PLL for the microcontroller design, MSAI can further improve its productivity by re-using it with confidence in new designs.

"Mitsubishi's success, following so closely behind that of another major semiconductor vendor underscores both the growing need for and the benefits of co-simulation in all IC design environments," said Kevin Jorgensen, Precedence's vice president of marketing. "Their need to achieve multi-level verification accuracy and quick design turn-around is common in any company that uses multiple simulation tools in their ASIC, IC or System design flow - and we're now at the point where that describes any company in the electronics industry. SimMatrix's plug-and-play flexibility and native support for the most popular design domains make it the logical step to address these issues without massive reinvestment in tools and training."

"Vertue sped up the verification process, shortened design cycles, increased yields and benefited the entire design environment," said Dr. Jim Morizio, senior staff engineer for mixed- signal design at MSAI. "Not only did co-simulation meet the design team's goals for ease of adoption and reduced run times, but allowed us to increase the quality of our product by verifying the PLL design over all the process corners. We intend to continue to leverage the benefits of co-simulation with Precedence in future design projects."

Precedence Incorporated is a pioneer and leading provider of co- simulation solutions to designers of electronic integrated circuits, printed circuit boards and systems. Through the SimMatrix(tm) simulation backplane, designers can seamlessly combine and concurrently apply simulation tools from Cadence, Chronologic, EPIC, IBM, IKOS, Mentor Graphics, Vantage, Viewlogic and Zycad. Leveraging its strategic business and technology partnerships, Precedence distributes its solutions worldwide through its partner companies and direct distribution channels. A wholly-owned independent subsidiary of Mentor Graphics, Precedence is headquartered at 1700 Dell Avenue, Campbell, CA 95008. Phone: [phone], Facsimile: (408) 345- 4884. The Company's recently updated World Wide Web site is: http://www.precedence.com .

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SimMatrix is a trademark of Precedence Incorporated. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

CONTACT: Lorie Bowlby Tony Greene

Precedence Incorporated Sterling Hager, Inc.

408-345-4880 ext. 275 617-259-1400