Presenter: Jim Bruister

Why is Chip Design so hard ?

New approach to helping IoT Device Designers

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Internet of Things Drivers

Predicted 20 Billion devices

IoT is driven by Data and Subscription business models

IoT devices are enablers rather than money makers

Majority of devices will NOT be wearables

There will be tens of 1000’s of new IoT businesses

Therefore,

There will be >> 10,000’s new IoT device designers

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Where will all these new IoT designers come from?

Systems designers

Software designers

FPGA designers (large %)

PCB Board designers

Semiconductor designers (small %)

College graduates

Majority are non-experienced in SOC design

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Likely approach New IoT Designer will take?

Google search SOC, Chip or ASIC

Trade Magazines

EETimes, EDN, Manufacturing Today, Sports Illustrated, Field & Stream, etc…

Look for SOC experts, semiconductor consultants

Look at IP Portals

if they know about them

Contact Design Houses

if they can find them

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Typical SoC Design Flow

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Typical SoC Design Flow

Over 12k IP Cores from

over 400 IP Vendors

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Typical SoC Design Flow

$100k’s Front-end tools

Virtual Prototying

RTL Linting, Clock Tracing, Constraints

Digital Simulation

Formal Verification

Software Development Tools

Testbench Qualification

Debugging

Multi-voltage rule checker

Clock-Domain Crossing (CDC)

e-testbench

Regression Management

Logic Synthesis

Static Timing Analysis

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Typical SoC Design Flow

Many $100k’s of back-end tools

physical design and verification tools and

physical libraries

Expensive test generation and production

preparation tools.

Analog Simulation

Circuit Simulation

Place & Route

Extraction

DRC, ERC Verification

Clock Tree Generation and Balancing

Physical Verification

Power Analysis

Physical Design

Automatic test pattern generation

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SOC EDA Tools

Area Cadence Synopsys Mentor Graphics Others

Virtual Prototying Virtual System Platform[VSP] VaST CoMET and METeor, Virtualizer Vista –

RTL Linting, Clock Tracing, Constraints Incisive HAL Leda RTL Checker – Spyglass [Atrenta]

Digital Simulation Incisive – NcSim VCS Questasim Silos [Silvaco]

Analog Simulation Incisive – AMS CustomSim Questa ADMS Utmost [Silvaco]

Circuit Simulation Spectre Hspice(accurate), Hsim(Fast) Eldo Classic Utmost [Silvaco]

Formal Verification[Property Checking] IFV [Incisive Formal Verifier] Magellan OneSpin [OSS]

Formal Verification Conformal LEC Formality FormalPro OneSpin [OSS]

Testbench Qualification – – – Certitude

Debugging Incisive [SimVision] Verdi[SpringSoft] Questa –

Multi-voltage rule checker Conformal Low Power MVRC – –

Clock-Domain Crossing (CDC)

Verification

Conformal Constraint Designer – Questa CDC Spyglass[ Atrenta],

Meridian [Real Intent]

e-testbench Specman – – –

Regression Manager vManager CustomExplorer Ultra Questa Verification –

Logic Synthesis RTL Compiler [RC] Design Compiler Intuitive –

Place & Route Encounter (EDI) IC Compiler Olympus –

Static Timing Analysis Encounter Timing System[ETS] Prime Time [PT] – –

Extraction QRC StarRC XT Calibre xRC –

Automatic test pattern generation TrueTime ATPG TetraMax FastScan –

Physical Verification Assura Hercules Calibre –

Power Analysis EPS Prime Time – PX – –

Physical Design Virtuoso Custom IC CAD [Silvaco]

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IP Providers

ARM

Cadence

Catena

Dolphin Integration

eSilicon

HDL Design House

Imagination Technologies

Kilopass Technology

Mixel

NTLab

Rambus

Sidense

Synopsys

TekStart LLC

Tensilica

True Circuits

TSMC

Allegro DVT

ALMA Technologies

Avery Design Systems

Barco Silex

CAST

Cobham Gaisler

intoPIX

Mobile Semiconductor

Omni Design Technologies

Open-Silicon

Posedge Inc.

SilabTech

Silvaco

T2M

VeriSilicon

Adaptive Micro-Ware

Advanced RFIC

Aizyc Technology

aJile Systems

Albacores-IP

Algotronix

Aliathon Ltd.

Altera

Amethyst

AnaCatum

ANAFOCUS

Analog Bits

Andes Technology

Andraka Consulting Group

Apical

Aplus Flash Technology

Aragio Solutions

Arasan Chip Systems

Archband Labs

Arteris

asicNorth

ASICS World Services

Athena

Atmel

Aurora VLSI

Beyond Semiconductor

BitSim

Boeing

Broadcom

Cambridge Consultants

Canova Tech

Certicom

CEVA

Chips&Media

CologneChip

Commsonic

Cortus

CRFTech

Cypress Semiconductor

D Crypt

Digital Blocks

Digital Core Design

Digital Solutions

Discretix

Dolphin Technology

Duolog

DXCorr Design Inc.

eASIC

EC-Chip

eInfochips

eMemory

EnSilica

Eureka

Everspin Technologies

Faraday

Fraunhofer IIS

Gallery Systems

GDA Technologies

Go2Silicon

GUC

Helion Technology

Highland Communications Technologies

Hitachi ULSI Systems

Hyperstone

IC Nexus

ICDREC

iCODING Technology

ICsense

IMEC

INICORE

InnoSilicon Technology Ltd.

Innovative Logic

Innovative Semiconductors

INSIDE Secure Corporation

Intec Systems

IntelliProp

Intilop

INVIA

IP-Maker

IPClock

IPGoal Microelectronics (Sichuan) Co., Ltd.

IQ-Analog

Jacobs Pineda

Kaben Wireless

LDIC

Mentor

Meta Video

Microproject

Microsemi Corporation

Millogic

MindTree Consulting

Mobiveil

Moortec Semiconductor

MorethanIP

MOSCAD Design & Automation

MoSys

MOXSYN

Myson Century

Nano Silicon (Australia) Pty Ltd

National Semiconductor

Noesis Technologies

Northwest Logic

Novelics Business Unit of Mentor

NSCore

nSilition

Nuvation

NXP Semiconductors

Ocean Logic

Omniphy

Patriot Scientific

Pentek

PLDA

Pultronics

R-Interface

RC Module

Realtek Semiconductor

Renesas Electronics Corporation

RF Micro Devices

Ridgetop Group

S3 Group

Sankalp Semiconductor

SeaSolve Software

Semtech Snowbush IP

Shikino High-Tech

Sibridge Technologies

Silansys

Silicon Creations

Silicon Image

Silicon Interfaces

Silicon Library

Silicon Storage Technology, Inc.

SiliconCore Technology

SiliconGate

Small World Communications

SMIC

SoC Solutions

Socle

SOFICS - Solutions for ICs

Soft Mixed Signal

Sonics

Stellamar

Synova

Systemyde

Tamba Networks

Tanner CES

TaraCom Integrated Products

The Western Design Center, Inc.

Thin Multimedia

Think Silicon

Tiempo

Tokyo Electron Device Ltd.

Toshiba America Electronic Components

Trenz Electronic

Trilinear Technologies

Truechip Solutions

Uleadtek

Uniquify

Vidatronic

Videantis

Video-Cores

VinChip Systems

Vivante

VLSI Concepts

VLSI Plus, Ltd.

VLSI Solution Oy

WebM

Xilinx

Xylon

YFL Elite

TMI (information overload)

Too many IP choices

Tools sticker shock

Design Flow complications

Development Cycle elongation

NRE fever

Where can I get help ?

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New IoT Designer Anxiety Disorder

New IDeA Disorder

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What’s missing ?From the scope of the New IoT Designer

Practical education

“How to” guides, IoT SOC design for Dummies

Where to find pertinent information

Not the overwhelming info from Google searches, etc.

Enough SOC consultants or industry experts

Not enough to go around.

Easy, Fast, Inexpensive, process from Concept to Silicon

Not enough “One stop shops” with streamlined design processes

Easy platforms or reference designs to start from

External Flash

Controller

Direct Memory Access

SRAM

APB Bridge

APB PeripheralsIe I2C, SPI, Timers, GPIO

User Slaves

User Masters

Power Management

Unit

Internal Mem Ctrl

CPU

AHB or AXI Interconnect

APB Channel Sensor Interface

Radio BasebandInterface

Digital Subsystem Analog Mixed SignalSubsystem

Pressure

Temp

Motion

RF

AFE

DAC;s, ADC s, Analog

Muxes, Op-Amps

Radio

SensorsSecurity

Typical IoT SOC Architecture

Differentiator Interchangable

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Design Abstraction

Raise the bar on design abstraction by providing:

Modular Architectures

Specific to IoT Devices

Class Libraries for hardware

Analog Models

Digital Subsystems

Software Abstractions

Standard API’s and HAL’s

Think Arduino and Raspberry Pi

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Most of the pieces are in place

Large Selection of Quality IP Suppliers

Experienced Design Houses with Solutions

Silicon Aggregators

Foundries looking to fill Fabs

Need to pull these altogether…

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How do we improve?

Proactive – Ecosystems More IP provider, Design House and Foundry collaboration

Best way for the small IP providers to compete with Cadence, Synopsys

SoC Reference Designs with easy configuration Think Arduino and Raspberry Pi

Easy to use Hardware Class Libraries and APIs

“Information Marketing” to the IoT business channels

General Contractors Experienced professional SOC project managers or management companies

One Stop Shopping IP Clearing houses to simplify licensing

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In short…

Simplify the whole IoT SOC design experience.

Thank you