( ESNUG 257 Item 3 ) -------------------------------------------- [12/12/96]
Subject: ( ESNUG 254 #6 ) Great DC 3.5 "-scan", But Its Licencing Sucks!
> Some of your ESNUG readers might be as happy as I was to learn about
> the "-scan" option to the "compile" in rev. 3.5 of Design Compiler.
> This is a relatively 'painless' way to map scan test devices into a
> design. ... Now the 'gotcha'. The "-scan" option checks out a Test
> Compiler license. In the version 3.4 compile scenario the Test Compiler
> license was only needed during the 5 minute "insert_scan" operation.
> In 3.5, the Test-Compiler license is 'held' for the entire duration of
> the rather long "compile"! ... Thus, I must shell out additional $$$ to
> buy enough Test-Compiler licenses to equal my Design Compiler licenses or
> I cannot use the "-scan" option. ... My opinion is that the "-scan"
> option should not need a Test Compiler license.
>
> - Charles F. Shelor
> Efficient Networks, Inc
From: [ The Synopsys TC Tech Marketing Manager ]
Hi John,
We released 1-pass scan synthesis in v3.5a, which as Charles noted,
includes the ability for Design Compiler to directly synthesize
to an optimized, mapped implementation using scannable sequential
elements. I (and the R&D people here!) respectfully disagree that
the "'-scan' option only affects library element selection".
While 1-pass does not require any explicit invocation of Test Compiler,
"compile -scan" does invoke TC under the hood to perform a variety
of actions, including the following:
- Synthesize and optimize scan logic, including techniques
only relevant to test logic.
- Annotate scan routing delay model elements into the
design, and control test mode signals to inactive states.
These steps ensure that gate-level simulation will
accurately reflect both the timing impact from scan routing
(the scan chains are not actually routed during 1-pass), and
mission-mode behavior.
- Manage the design database during possible multiple optimization
iterations through Design Compiler to maintain the required
scan logic and mapping.
Test Compiler does need to be explicitly invoked to run
test DRC checks, route scan chains, and run ATPG. (Scan chain
routing is NOT performed by compile -scan for two reasons:
- We did not want to overconstrain synthesis in its exploration of
the optimization search space
- Scan chain stitching tends to be chip-level task, with likely
input from manufacturing requirements or from physical design).
It is true that 1-pass scan synthesis does use the Test Compiler license
longer than the five minutes he was seeing in his old flow, but 1-pass is
a new, high-value feature in v3.5a that all current TC customers received
*in addition to* existing capabilities. We haven't taken anything away,
Charles "...must shell out additional $$$ to buy enough Test-Compiler
licenses to equal my Design Compiler licenses..." only if he sees that
1-pass and the new design flows it enables are valuable in their own right.
The 1 TC license per DC license is a new user model, compared to earlier
releases, and we've made some product configuration changes to help make
the adopting 1-pass easy:
1. Starting in January, there will be a new Design Compiler
configuration called DC Expert Plus, which is DC Expert
and all of the module-level DFT capabilities in Test Compiler
(including 1-pass scan synthesis, hierarchical scan DFT,
test DRC, statistical fault coverage reporting).
2. The current TC DFT package will go away, and will be replaced
by a DC Expert to DC Expert Plus upgrade.
3. We recognize that designers will need much more access to
DFT licenses, and we are pricing the the DC Expert Plus
configuration, and the DC Expert to DC Expert Plus upgrade
to better enable this user model.
Finally, during a promotional period in December, DC Expert Plus and DC
Expert to DC Expert Plus upgrades will be priced very attractively.
- [ The Synopsys TC Tech Marketing Manager ]
[ Editor's Note: We have "DC Expert", we have "DC Professional", and *now*
you've added a "DC Expert Plus" ?! Oh, great. I wonder which Marketing
wunderkind got the bonus for thinking *this one* up??? :^) - John ]
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