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EUROCHIP-EUROPRACTICE: 20 Years of Design Support for European Universities

Learn about the history and evolution of EUROCHIP-EUROPRACTICE, a project aimed at providing European universities with affordable CAD tools, IC prototyping, and access to advanced IC technologies. Explore the current services, customer base, and future plans.

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EUROCHIP-EUROPRACTICE: 20 Years of Design Support for European Universities

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  1. EUROCHIP-EUROPRACTICE20 Years of Design Support for European UniversitiesDr Carl Das Dr John McLeanIMEC STFC Rutherford Appleton Laboratory On behalf of the EUROPRACTICE IC Partners: 10th May 2010 Darmstadt, Germany

  2. Apologies Carl Das, IMEC John McLean, RAL/STFC

  3. Overview • Short history • Eurochip • EUROPRACTICE • Ongoing evolution of EUROPRACTICE services • The future • Summary

  4. History (1) : EUROCHIP • 1989 : VLSI Design Training Action • European Action funded by EC (European Commission) • Goal : to help European universities train students in VLSI design by providing : • selected universities (50) with lecturer post, modern IC CAD tools, IC prototyping, IC tester • other universities (68 initially) had access to IC prototyping, and other services on a pay basis • Service Centre (EUROCHIP) was established to select, negotiate, coordinate and provide the services • IMEC, RAL, DTU, GMD, CMP + CNM • About 4 CAD packages - about 3 technologies • 1995 : Action ended : about 400 universities had taken up IC design

  5. EUROCHIP Executive Board 1989-1995

  6. History (2) : EUROPRACTICE • 1995 : EUROPRACTICE IC project was started as a follow-on to EUROCHIP and ChipShop • European Service funded by EC • Goal : • to provide European universities and research institutes with affordable advanced CAD tools for IC, MCM and Microsystems • to offer European universities, research institutes and industry access to modern and advanced IC technologies at low cost • to offer industry a service for low volume IC fabrication • Non-European universities and industry can make use of the fabrication service on a pay-as-you-use basis • Partners : IMEC, RAL, + Fraunhofer IIS, Nordic VLSI, Delta

  7. History (3) : EUROPRACTICE • Since 2000 • Partners : IMEC, RAL, Fraunhofer IIS • Funding model has evolved • EC funding only for European Universities and Research Institutes • Contribution to technical support • Provides prototype price reduction • However European institutes pay ~85% of their total costs • Companies pay full costs • Customer base • ~530 European Universities and ~100 European Research Institutes • ~ 500 others : Companies and non-European Institutes

  8. Europractice IC Service Structure Software Service - Design tools for European Academics and Research Laboratories (Microelectronics / Microsystems based System Design - not just ASICs) STFC/RAL MPW and small volume IC/MEMs fabrication service (open to academics and industry world-wide) IMEC, Fraunhofer IIS EUROPRACTICE IC Service Maintain 2 separate web sites to ensure that the high volume of customer transactions for Design Tools and MPW activities do not get mixed up! In operation for ~20 years! 1989 – 1995 Eurochip 1995 onwards EUROPRACTICE www.europractice.stfc.ac.uk www.europractice-ic.com

  9. Ethos • Complete flows Design Tools Design Kits IC Fabrication Now FTP

  10. Multi Project Wafer (MPW) RunsReduce the Cost of IC Prototyping Design B . . . Design A Design n YOUR Design Packaged samples • Mask cost is shared between customers • Wafer fabrication cost is shared between customers • You pay as you use • Many MPW runs scheduled in each technology • Europractice performs extensive DRC, ERC, special substrate checks on all submitted designs

  11. Original Offering

  12. Foundries and Technologies Currently Available AMIS (Belgium) 0.7µ CMOS A/D 2M (B) 0.5µ CMOS A/D 3M (B) 0.35µ CMOS A/D 5M (B) 0.7µ CMOS A/D I2T 100V (B) 0.7µ CMOS A/D I2T 30V (B) 0.35µ CMOS A/D I3T80 80 V (B) 0.5µ CMOS C5 EEPROM (US) ARM/Artisan (USA) Cell libraries and design kits for TSMC and UMC technologies Faraday (Taiwan) Cell libraries and design kits for UMC 0.25, 0.18, 0.13µ and 90nm CMOS IHP (Germany) TSMC (Taiwan) 0.25µ SCG25B SiGe:C 120GHz 0.25µ SCG25C SiGe:C 200GHz 0.25µ SCG25VD SiGe:C 30GHz, BVCEO>7V 0.25µ SG25H1 SiGe:C 200GHz 0.13µ SG13C SiGe:C 300GHz 0.25µ CMOS D 0.25µ CMOS MMC/RF 0.25µ CMOS Flash 0.18µ CMOS D 0.18µ CMOS MMC/RF 0.18µ CMOS Flash 0.13µ CMOS D 0.13µ CMOS MMC/RF 90nm CMOS 65nm CMOS 45/40nm CMOS (industry only) UMC (Taiwan) austriamicrosystems (Austria) 0.25µ CMOS D 0.25µ CMOS MMC/RF 0.18µ CMOS D 0.18µ CMOS MMC/RF 0.13µ CMOS D 0.13µ CMOS MMC/RF 90nm CMOS D CIS : 0.35µ, 0.18µ 0.8µ CMOS A/D 0.6µ CMOS A/D 3M 0.35µ CMOS A/D 4M 0.8µ CMOS 50V 0.35µ SiGe BiCMOS 4M 0.35µ CMOS 50V 0.35µ CMOS OPTO 0.18µ CMOS + HV LFoundry (Germany) 0.15µ CMOS A/D

  13. Design Flows – from Leading Design Tool and IP Vendors Plus associate partnership agreements with:

  14. Staying on the technology curve • The EUROPRACTICE offering is constantly improving • Microelectronics is one of fastest moving areas of study • Keeping up with Moore’s Law • New design tools, flows and areas of interest emerge • University behaviour also changes rapidly • Constantly watch university trends • Improve offering to match university requirements • When possible anticipate requirements

  15. EUROPRACTICE IC fabrication trends

  16. Stimulating IC design • Minimum silicon area at low geometries was a barrier for many • ~€45k • Solution was mini@sic • EUROPRACTICE buys a block and sub divides it • 3x3 @130nm and 180nm • 2x2 @ 90nm • mini@sic pricing • ~€5k

  17. Further Stimulation Tune Design tools, kits and processes • Best Design Tools • Foundry Design Kits • mini@sic Design Tools TRAINING Design Kits IC Fabrication

  18. IDESA • An EC project to promote Deep Sub Micron IC design • Closely coupled to EUROPRACTICE • A series of advanced practical courses on • Digital IC Design • Analogue IC Design • RF IC Design • Design for Manufacture • Uses EUROPRACTICE tools and processes • Course materials are reproducible • A full talk will appear later in the programme

  19. Results of stimulation activities

  20. Three of the world’s largest EDA vendors • The three most popular design tool vendors within EUROPRACTICE • The ‘400’ club

  21. Popular DK and SC Compiler C based design tools • Ceased Trading in 2009

  22. EUROPRACTICE negotiates with Mentor Graphics • Products added to portfolio as C-Synthesis bundle • EUAs signed where required • Continuity of licenses maintained • Bundle enhanced with Catapult C

  23. HSPICE • Meta Software • Avant! • Synopsys • ASM Bundle • HSPICE • HSPICE RF • Saber Simulator • SaberSketch Interactive • SaberScope • Saber Libraries • Saber Analysis • Custom Designer LE • Custom Designer SDL • Custom Designer SE • CustomSimFastspice simulator • Cadabra • Spice Explorer • WaveView Analyzer

  24. Tools for System Design • Processor Designer very popular • C-Compiler Designer required third party content

  25. 23rd March 2010 Synopsys formally acquires CoWare • EUROPRACTICE will ensure that university licenses are not ‘lost in the shuffle’

  26. Select tools to complement and enhance existing flows • MEMs+ from Coventor works with Cadence for Integrated MEMs

  27. All Packages are constantly evolving • Many sites have ‘Cadence IC’ • The package now is unrecognisable from the original • The package now is substantially different from two releases ago • Choice of packages and options reflecting different interests C-to-Silicon Compiler* TLM Package* IC Package InCyte Chip Estimator Sip Design Combined IC and Systems Package Systems Package PCB Studio

  28. Supporting multiple flows Design Tools Design Tool 1 Design Tool 2 Tool 3 Tool 4 Design Tool 5 Design Kits Multi Vendor Design Kit PCB’s, Systems ... OTHER MPW IC Fabrication EUROPRACTICE MPW Direct to foundry FPGA

  29. High Level Design • Many alternatives now exist for C based design • Many users are perfecting algorithms or seeking high speed algorithm implementations • C language is more familiar to that community • Structural information is added either inline or using tool

  30. Device and Process Design • Semiconductor Technology CAD • Covers a wide range of applications including CMOS, bipolar, hetero, power, memory, image sensors, solar cells and analog/RF devices • Applicable to a wide number or study areas • Device physicists • Material scientists

  31. Embedded Systems and links to software • Most large scale digital systems now contain a processor • EUROPRACTICE users have access to: • ARM • PowerPC • Microblaze • NIOS • To make best use of these processors, programming and debugging tools are available from • Mentor Graphics • ARM • Some scheme users are purely programmers

  32. Custom Processor Design • Using tools in the portfolio, you can: • Design a processor in a language based description • Automatically derive RTL code • Automatically derive assembler • Automatically derive C compiler • Useful for traditional IC design • Very useful for teaching and researchingComputer Architectures

  33. Economic feasability • Understand the cost • Prototype • Production • Fixed costs • Unit Cost • Uses actual data • Can be overridden • E.g. Europractice C-to-Silicon Compiler TLM Package IC Package InCyte Chip Estimator Sip Design Combined IC and Systems Package Systems Package PCB Studio

  34. Europractice Design Tool Portfolio • Photonics layout & verification • PCB design • Package analysis • Thermal analysis • DFM and yield optimisation • Interconnect analysis • SiP • Sensors - image, pressure, fluidic, … • RF design • Design for testability • Design verification • Synchronous / asynchronous • Application specific processors • Hardware software co-design • Embedded processors • Design reuse – IP blocks • Mixed-signal design • Digital synthesis from HDL • Transistors • Layout • Process and device modelling • European Universities and Research Institutes have diverse training and research needs • This needs to be reflected in the breadth of the design tool portfolio • Choice of Vendors for each functionality offered where possible • Tools are not restricted to EUROPRACTICE processes or geometries

  35. Evolution of MEMs in EUROPRACTICE • EUROPRACTICE has had a well established MEMs design tool offering since 1995 • The MEMs industry was also evolving • The goal was to facilitate “Fabless” MEMs design in universities • Further Stimulation wasneeded.

  36. STIMESI • STIMESI was an EC sponsored project that ran from 2006-2009 • Aimed to stimulate the adoption of MEMs technology • Short courses offered across Europe on a variety of MEMs processes • STIMESI 2 begins September 2010

  37. Extending EUROPRACTICE MPW to MEMs • Following the successful example of IC MPW, EUROPRACTICE now offers a MEMs MPW service • MEMSCAP • PolyMUMPs • MetalMUMPs • SOIMUMPs • TRONICS • MEMSOI • 13 MEMs runs are scheduled for 2010 • Well placed to introduce Integrated MEMs

  38. Examples of MEMs Designs

  39. Photonics • Integrated circuit photonics is an important growth area for the European communications sector • EUROPRACTICE has photonics software for: • P-Cell Layout • DRC • Simulation • What about manufacture?

  40. EUROPRACTICE Collaborations • ePIXfab is a well established EC project • MPW service for large-scale photonic IC’s • Discounted access for EU • Framework 7 PhotonFAB project. • EUROPRACTICE is cooperating with ePIXfab • Photonics tools are being enhanced • EUROPRACTICE will provide the interface to Photonics MPW for European academics • Further example of the close coupling of EUROPRACTICE with other EC training and service projects

  41. Future Trends Discrete MEMS More Than Moore 1989 2010 40…28nm and below EUROCHIP Future EUROPRACTICE EUROPRACTICE IC - integration 3µ TSV Scaling MoreMoore Integrated MEMS Initially for universities Extension to Companies Extension to small volumes Photonics 65nm 1989 1995

  42. Industrial Impact • Microelectronics is very important to the European economy • Universities are vital in the supply of: • Highly Skilled graduates for the future needs of industry • University research output • EUROPRACTICE supports universities by providing • Access to latest design methodologies and flows • Access to processes from the world’s leading foundries • Closely coupled training actions • The same versions and technologies currently used by industry • Only available to the leading multinational companies • Europe has an internationally recognised world leading infrastructure for microelectronics education

  43. Celebration : 20 years MPW Service in Europe • Celebrating 20 years of microelectronics educational support to European universities : Eurochip + Europractice • 17 September 2009 • Key speakers Eurochip /Europractice : Lowering the barriers ! Prof. G. Metakides (Patras) More thanever, EUROPRACTICE plays a central role for keepingeducationatitshighestlevel in IC Design Prof. M. Declercq (EPFL) An Invaluable Service to Educational, Research and SME communities; creating affordable access to the electronic technology behind today's ICT revolution ... A Foundation for Europe’s Economic Future Sir Robin Saxby (ex-CEO ARM) Europracticeis an outstandingvaluableinstrumenttokeepupandtoenhanceAustria`sposition in themicroelectroniccommunity Prof. R. Hagelauer (Linz)

  44. The Community • More than 650 members • Universities • Research Institutes • Common Design Tools • Common Processes • A common infrastructure forcooperation • Between universities • With industry

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