A Comprehensive Metrics Driven Methodology to Measure and Improve Soft-IP Quality

1. A Comprehensive Metrics Driven Methodology to Measure and ImproveSoft-IP Quality Anuj Kumar - Atrenta Andy Wu - TSMC

2. Background and Motivation • Standardize IP Handoff & Acceptance Quality Checks • To define a comprehensive set of quality checks to assess the implementation readiness for soft IPs to enable a smooth IP handoff / acceptance flow. • These quality checks are derived from Atrenta’s Reference GuideWare 2.0 Methodology for IP and SoC RTL Signoff and later renamed as “TSMC Soft IP Quality Golden Rules” • TSMC Soft IP Quality Checks should be equally applicable for different types of Soft IP e.g. internal, legacy, or 3rd party RTL IPs / Blocks • Enable Easy Adoption of the Flow to Benefit a Wide Variety of IP-SoC Ecosystem Partners • The IP Qualification flow should be easy to setup • Get to the meaningful (high coverage low noise) results with self guided and systematic approach • Provide Portable, Easy to Read / Correlate, and Quality Metrics Objective-based Handoff / Acceptance Reports • Flow Should be Scalable and Easy to Integrate in Existing Design Flow Environments

3. Overview of TSMC 9000 Soft IP Qualification Program TSMC Online IP Ecosystem Partners End Customers IP1 IP supplier 1 Chip project 1 Atrenta DashBoard IP 2 IP supplier 2 Chip project 2 TSMCIP Kit TSMCIP Kit IP 3 IP supplier 3 Chip project 3 Handoff IP n … Inspection / Acceptance … Atrenta DataSheet IP supplier n Chip project n

4. TSMC IP Handoff Kit TSMC IP Handoff Kit IP TSMC IP Handoff Kit GuideWare goals Doc, training, scripts Physical Lint CDC DFT Power Constr Scripts, setup Training module Quickstart Guide IP reports IP Design Intent …. UPF/CPF FSDB,… RTL waivers SDC SGDC Deliverables Atrenta DashBoard Atrenta DataSheet SpyGlass Clean IP

5. TSMC IP Handoff Kit – Inputs / Outputs RTL+TechLibs RTL TSMC IP Handoff Kit Std. Design Constraints Simulation Inputs (SDC, VCD/FSDB, UPF/CPF) TSMC IP Handoff Methodology Project file Tech Libs (.lib) SpyGlass SGDC file CDC Fault Covg Waiver file Power RTL (.v/.sv/.vhd) Other setup files SDC Coverage IP Handoff Deliverables Design Analysis/Quality Metrics Reports SpyGlass Setup Files DataSheet moresimple SpyGlass Project File (.prj) SDC Tech Libs DashBoard count UPF/CPF Waivers (.swl) Sign_off VCD/FSDB/SAIF SGDC

6. Key Soft IP-Kit Quality Checks IP • Best practices lint checks • IP readiness for simulation & synthesis analysis • Identification of deadcode, x-assignment, unreachable states • Multi mode/corner/design scenarios RTL Power Estimation • Power Intent(UPF/CPF) verification • Fault/Test Coverage Analysis (Stuck@ & Transition) • Clock/Reset Propagation (Glitch, convergence) Analysis • Asynchronous Clock Domain Crossing Path Verification • Timing constraints(SDC) checks for completeness & consistency • Verification of Timing Exceptions(FP,MCP) • Area, timing(negative slack paths) & congestion analysis TSMC IP Kit SG-Lint SG-AdvanceLint SG-Power SG-PowerVerify SG-DFT SG-Clocks SG-Constraints SG-Txv SG-Physical SpyGlass Clean IP

7. TSMC IP Kit Execution Flow • Auto-generation of SpyGlass setup files • (.prj, .sgdc, .swl, .dat ,etc.) • Generation of Design Read DashBoard report • Ensures that RTL is read in successfully • Identifies unconstrained clock/resets in the design • Ensures that design setup is complete & correct • Runs basic IP handoff checks (Lint, CDC-Structural, DFT, SDC, Power) • Generates quality report for basic design checks/goals • Runs advanced IP handoff checks (CDC functional, Lint functional & physical) • Generates overall quality report combining results for basic & advanced checks • Packages an IP with design intent, setup & analysis reports

8. Soft IP Quality Metrics DashBoard Report

9. IP Specification/Datasheet Report • TSMC IP Kit generates the SpyGlass DataSheet report capturing key design specifications and profile statistics, once all goals run are finished

10. Sample Results from TSMC IP Kit Analysis 30+ Soft IPs qualified from 20 different IP vendors enrolled in the TSMC Soft IP 9000 Program so far….

11. TSMC IP Kit – A Typical User Adoption Flow IP1 IP1 IP1 IP1 IP1 IP1 Legacy IP New RTL blocks 3rd party IP IP Suppliers TSMCIP Kit STANDARDIZED IP INSPECTION Atrenta DataSheet Atrenta DashBoard + IP design intent IP1 IP1 IP1 IP1 IP1 IP1 Legacy IP blocks New RTL blocks 3rd party IP HIGH QUALITY IP BLK 1 BLK 2 SoC Integrators BLK3 BLK n MINIMIZE ITERATIONS SoC SMOOTH SoC INTEGRATION

12. TSMC IP Kit – User Benefits Standardized inspection flow for all IPs including ones from internal sources (new, legacy, older designs)  Maximize internal IP re-use Propagate IP design intent – SDC/SGDC, waivers, *PF, … for chip integration  IP integrates efficiently Beyond functional verification… Verify IP for CDC, SDC, DFT, *PF, …  Fully verified IP Automated regression flow runs the IP kit nightly and generates DataSheet & DashBoard reports  Automatically track IP updates/ bug fixes Review DataSheet and DashBoard to select the correct IP  IP selection based on objective quality & spec metrics Create an IP repository with published reports  Streamline IP delivery and track usage

13. Summary / Conclusion • SpyGlass, TSMC Soft IP Quality Golden/GuideWare Rules and Atrenta Design analysis reports(DashBoard/DataSheet) together provide a comprehensive, detailed and design objective based Soft-IP quality assessment report. • TSMC and Atrenta have partnered to adapt these tools for TSMC’s soft IP 9000 Qualification Program. • A comprehensive set of quality checks, as included in TSMC IP Kit, has been defined and documented in Design Metric Reports. • TSMC IP Kit Flow successfully adopted by 20+ IP ecosystem partners, which was quite helpful in improving the implementation readiness for their various Soft-IPs. • Summary results of IPs for IP ecosystem partners are posted on TSMC Online