Silicon Metrics' Industry-leading Cell Library Characterization Tool Provides One-Day Characterization At Hitachi.Business Editors & High Tech Writers AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 15, 2002 SiliconSmart CR(TM) Provides Throughput, Accuracy, and Flexibility Required for Rapid Characterization of Next-Generation Nanometer Libraries Silicon Metrics today announced that Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :HIT) has introduced SiliconSmart CR(TM) as the characterization and modeling solution for its 0.13 micron libraries and below. Hitachi provides standard cell libraries to its internal design groups and to other Hitachi customers that design LSI LSI: see integrated circuit. (Large Scale Integration) Between 3,000 and 100,000 transistors on a chip. See SSI, MSI, VLSI and ULSI. chips integrated into consumer products, car information systems, and mobile networks. To minimize power consumption and maximize timing performance, design teams require rapid library characterization and accurate modeling for specific operating conditions. Hitachi performed a comprehensive evaluation that included the development of production-level quality libraries and test circuit validation suites and determined that SiliconSmart CR was the only solution capable of providing the throughput and accuracy required for its next-generation nanometer technology. Tests Demonstrate SPICE-Level Accuracy for Silicon Predictability Hitachi develops state-of-the-art chips operating at very high frequencies with very low power consumption. Timing and power models must correctly predict the true electrical behavior of silicon to meet high performance and accuracy demands. To account for the intricate behavior of complex circuits, Hitachi design engineers performed numerous conformance tests on timing and power models generated by SiliconSmart CR. The Hitachi-developed test structures focused on accurate measurements for power, and timing constraints such as setup and hold. The results showed correlation to within 3% of SPICE across all test circuits. In-Depth Evaluation Reveals Dramatic Throughput Advantage Hitachi conducted extensive performance benchmarking to confirm SiliconSmart CR's distributed processing The first term used to describe the distribution of multiple computers throughout an organization in contrast to a centralized system. It started with the first minicomputers. Today, distributed processing is called "distributed computing." See also client/server. capability. Hitachi measured total turn around time for characterizing a library by gradually increasing the hardware resources to tens of processors on PC Linux. Hitachi reported nearly linear improvement in the overall throughput with each additional processor. When all the tests were complete, the throughput provided by SiliconSmart CR was more than one order of magnitude A change in quantity or volume as measured by the decimal point. For example, from tens to hundreds is one order of magnitude. Tens to thousands is two orders of magnitude; tens to millions is three orders of magnitude, etc. greater than Hitachi's previous characterization solution. The increased throughput provided by SiliconSmart CR has reduced Hitachi's characterization and modeling time from several weeks to one day. Based on these successful results, Silicon Metrics and Hitachi agreed to expand into a collaborative relationship to integrate Hitachi's proprietary circuit simulator with SiliconSmart CR. SiliconSmart CR's open architecture enables rapid integration of third-party and proprietary simulators. This integration allows Hitachi to fully leverage their existing and thoroughly-validated process models and analysis algorithms used by its own simulator. "Our new environment, using SiliconSmart CR, has dramatically changed the users' mindset mind·set or mind-set n. 1. A fixed mental attitude or disposition that predetermines a person's responses to and interpretations of situations. 2. An inclination or a habit. regarding conventional cell library characterization," said Mr. Yoshio Okamura, Department Manager of Design Technology Development Department, Semiconductor & Integrated Circuits at Hitachi, Ltd. "In addition, we are confident that it's possible to develop individual cell libraries, which consist of 500 cells, for various application domains based on one-day characterization technology. The availability of an early library release is one of the key points for our continuing success in the marketplace. We are enthusiastic about working closely with Silicon Metrics and look forward to a long-standing, good relationship." "Silicon Metrics is committed to the Japanese market, and Hitachi is a strategic customer and technology partner for us moving forward," said Callan Carpenter, president and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of Silicon Metrics. "Both companies will benefit greatly from our expanded collaboration on standard cell and I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output modeling, including the new equation-based, scalable polynomial polynomial, mathematical expression which is a finite sum, each term being a constant times a product of one or more variables raised to powers. With only one variable the general form of a polynomial is a0xn+a delay models." About SiliconSmart CR SiliconSmart CR(TM) is Silicon Metrics' standard cell solution for addressing the cell characterization needs of library development teams. SiliconSmart CR provides break-through levels in ease-of-use, performance, accuracy, quality, and extensibility in the characterization of nanometer libraries for timing, power, and signal integrity. With features such as interdependent constraints, delay degradation, oversampling Creating a more accurate digital representation of an analog signal. In order to work with real-world signals in the computer, analog signals are sampled some number of times per second (frequency) and converted into digital code. , correct power measurement, and built-in QA, SiliconSmart CR produces models that allow a gate-level design flow to produce SPICE accurate results. The use of these accurate, high-quality models during synthesis, static timing analysis, and place and route results in fewer design iterations. SiliconSmart CR's power option (SiliconSmart CR PCX (1) A bitmapped graphics file format that handles monochrome, 2-bit, 4-bit, 8-bit and 24-bit color and uses RLE to achieve compression ratios of approximately 1.1:1 to 1.5:1. Images with large blocks of solid colors compress best under the RLE method. See PC Paintbrush. (TM)) augments the sophisticated algorithms used in timing characterization to produce precise and compact power models. It accurately acquires the leakage power and internal, hidden, and switching energy that have a substantial impact on overall power accuracy. Verification test benches validate the accuracy of the timing and power models in real-use conditions. About Silicon Metrics Corporation Silicon Metrics' characterization and modeling products allow customers to shorten design cycles and improve chip performance by creating best-in-class models that combine silicon predictability with designer productivity. Silicon Metrics is a privately held company privately held company A firm whose shares are held within a relatively small circle of owners and are not traded publicly. with offices in Austin, Texas, and San Jose, California San Jose (IPA: /ˌsænhoʊˈzeɪ/) is the third-largest city in California, and the tenth-largest in the United States. It is the county seat of Santa Clara County. . Marubeni Solutions represents Silicon Metrics in Japan. Company investors include Austin Ventures, Needham Capital Partners, Current Ventures, Cadence Design Systems (company) Cadence Design Systems - A company that sells electronic design automation software and services. http://cadence.com/. See also Verilog. , Inc. (NYSE:CDN (Content Delivery Network) A system of distributed content on a large intranet or the public Internet in which copies of content are replicated and cached throughout the network. ), and Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS SNPS Space Nuclear Power System ). For more information, call 888/828-3736, or visit Silicon Metrics online at http://www.siliconmetrics.com. Silicon Metrics, Silicon Metrics (logo), SiliconSmart, and PCX are trademarks or registered trademarks of Silicon Metrics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners. |
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