( ESNUG 458 Item 1 ) -------------------------------------------- [11/16/06]
From: Dean Ranger <dean.ranger=user domain=taec.toshiba got calm>
Subject: User enraged Synopsys using PrimeTime monopoly to force PT-SI use
Hi, John,
Starting in version 2005.12, Synopsys removed from its standard PrimeTime a
very valuable feature that we have been using for at least 3-4 years and
they now require that we buy a PT-SI license to use it! You can imagine
this is very upsetting because we have very many PrimeTime licenses and
very few PT-SI licenses. Here's a little background.
Our Signal Integrity (SI) flow involves using Cadence CeltIC to perform
cross-talk and noise analysis. CeltIC writes out the incremental SDF that
is read into PrimeTime. When we view the timing reports, the incremental
SDF values are lumped in with the delay values calculated from the SPEF.
From these reports we cannot determine if a path is violating due to
cross-talk. So we have some internal scripts that translate the SDF into
set_annotated_delay -delta_only
commands. We read these into plain vanilla PrimeTime and use
report_timing -crosstalk_delta
to be able to see the incremental SDF delays in a delta column. Then we can
see if a violating path is violating due to crosstalk, which is critical
information when you get to the point of making semi-manual fixes to close
timing.
This is the method we have used for at least 3-4 years and it has been
serving us well. However, Synopsys now requires us to use a PT-SI license
to use report_timing -crosstalk_delta.
Taking away this very valuable capability and forcing us to buy a much more
expensive PT-SI license is outrageous! We're not using any of the PT-SI
analysis features, we're simply using the reporting the annotated delays; so
how can Synopsys justify this?
Since PrimeTime is the de-facto standard, they've pretty much got a monopoly
for timing sign-off. It seems Synopsys is using this monopoly to try to
force everyone to use PT-SI.
I would think anyone using PrimeTime for sign-off and any other non-PT-SI
tool for SI would be "up in arms" over this. Where is the outrage?
- Dean Ranger
Toshiba San Jose, CA
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