Standards in Design Automation: Influencing Design and Verification Methodologies

1. Standards in Design Automation: Influencing Design and Verification Methodologies Yatin Trivedi Standards Education Committee, IEEE-SA Director of Standards, Synopsys February 11, 2011

2. Contents

3. EDA: Where Electronics Begins • Software “tools” for chip design • Architecture design • Functional design and verification • Physical design and verification • Various electrical analyses • Standards improve productivity • Tool interoperability • Data exchange, sharing, and consistency

4. A Generic Design Flow … Source: Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SoCDesignFlow.svg

5. Specification System Analysis Technology Process Module Compiler System Studio Saber Select Architecture Scripts Initial constraints Testbench VERA Library Compiler DesignWare IP RTL Gates Models / IP Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Blah blah blah yada yada Blah blah blah yidie yadie So on and so forth on and on Jibber jabber jibber just jawing Yackety yack Ya'll com back Design Compiler Power Compiler DFT Compiler RTL Verification VCS-MX JupiterXT Links-to- Layout Design Planning VCS-MX Magellan Formality PrimeTime Design Constraints Synthesis Gate-level netlist ATPG TetraMAX Gate-level verification IC Compiler Physical Compiler Mask Writer Place & Route Post-Route Verification CATS Proteus PrimeTime NanoSim HSPICE Physical Data Creation GDSII Physical Design Checks STAR-RCXT Hercules Synopsys Example Design Flow

6. EDA Standards Under IEEE * Test standards are under TTTC, others under DASC

7. Contents

8. Benefits to EDA Tool Developers • Don’t have to address entire design flow • Too complex for small EDA companies • Focus on core strengths • Standards help partition the problem • Integrate tools in design team’s flow • Interoperability means new business opportunities • Ability to promote own technology for widespread usage as a standard

9. Benefits to EDA Tool Users • Portability of design data across multiple tools • Users’ in-house special-purpose tools integrate easily with commercial tools • Reuse of design data • Among different projects • Among different design teams • Faster learning curve • Build customized design flow to suit specific requirements • Better management over tool purchases

10. EDA Standards Collaboration with Industry • Availability of the standard is synchronized with many marketing/promotional activities • Several product rollouts • Launching of web site • (e.g., www.systemverilog.org) • Consultants doing tutorials • Seminar series by vendors • User groups • Papers, articles, blogs, … • Wide adoption by user community • When the standard solves REAL problems, it is quickly adopted • Marketing the standard helps to accelerate its adoption rate • Wider community adoption accelerates tool maturity, use models, and entirely new methodologies • Leads to continued enhancement of the standard

11. EDA Standards Collaboration with Industry (cont.) • EDA standards-setting organizations bridge to IEEE • Accellera, SPIRIT, OSCI/SystemC • Incubate standards, then transfer to IEEE • EDA’s IEEE standards are sponsored by • Design Automation Standards Committee (DASC) • Test Technology Council (TTTC)

12. Case Study: SystemVerilog – A Success from Concept to Standard • Computer language for IC design • An industry-wide collaborative effort that started in 2001 • Co-Design, Inc. “invented” Superlog, a derivative/enhancement of Verilog HDL (IEEE 1364) • Company acquired by Synopsys in 2001 • Superlog, with many other internal technologies, proposed as extensions to Verilog for system-level modeling, design, and verification • Called “SystemVerilog”, created by Accellera • Six technology donations and many enhancements • New entity-based IEEE WG (P1800) formed after Accellera approved its SystemVerilog standard

13. SystemVerilog Journey • Ratified as IEEE Std. 1800-2005 • Started with SystemVerilog 3.1a from Accellera • Less than one year from transfer to ratification • More than 200 products support the standard • Rapid adoption across design and verification community • Ratified as IEEE Std. 1800-2009 • Verilog IEEE 1364 completely integrated • Large user community looking for design and verification productivity improvement • Free tutorial on IEEE Standards Education website

14. SystemVerilog Spawned an Entirely New Business Segment • Enabled/accelerated IP (design blocks) market segment • One language to write complex design blocks • Same language to verify design blocks • Make IP once, sell many times • Many IP providers for design and verification reuse • Networking, wireless, and consumer applications • Verification IPs as much in demand as design IPs • New methodologies invented • Assertion based verification, testbench automation • Clear inflection point in the industry to deal with large System-on-Chips

15. Contents

16. Case Study: IEEE 1801/UPF A Low-Power IC Standard • Ever-growing need for low-power ICs in mobile/portable devices and data centers • Industry recognized need for low-power IC standard • Common way for design and verification engineers to describe IC’s low-power properties • EDA users and vendors came together to develop a format and methodology • Effort started in 2006 under Accellera • Merged 6 technology donations for multi-faceted requirements • Unified Power Format (UPF) created in 6 months • Ratified as IEEE Std. 1801-2009 • Less than 18 months under entity process

17. Case Study: IEEE 1685 IP-XACT • Meta-data about semiconductor IP • Composing systems using/reusing IP – consistent, complete • Originally developed under The SPIRIT Consortium • Ratified as SPIRIT standard in 2007 (version 1.0, 1.5) • XML Schemas published • IP-XACT 1.5 donated to IEEE P1685 • Ratified as IEEE Std. 1685-2010

18. Why Standards Education Is Important • Standards education recognizes the key role standards play within the engineering, technology and computing fields. • Knowledge of standards can help facilitate the transition from classroom to professional practice by aligning educational concepts with real-world applications. • Incorporating standards into the curriculum … • Benefits students and faculty mentors as they face challenging design processes • Provides tools for use in learning about standards and their impact on design and development

19. IEEE Board of Directors Educational Activities Standards Education Committee Standards Association Standards Education within IEEE Board Structure Member & GeographicActivities IEEE-USA Technical Activities Publication Activities

20. Mission of the Standards Education Committee • Promote the importance of standards in meeting technical, economic, environmental, and societal challenges. • Secure and disseminate learning materials on the application of standards in the design and development aspects of educational programs. • Secure and provide short courses about standards needed in the design and development phases of professional practice. • Actively promote the integration of standards into academic programs. • Lead other education initiatives planned jointly by the IEEE Educational Activities Board and the Standards Association.

21. Who Benefits?

22. Ten Commandments of Effective Standards

23. Conclusion • EDA users and vendors have embraced IEEE standards for three decades • Large user community active in development of standards along with vendors • Standards help broaden infrastructure for the entire industry and academia

24. Thank you!