( ESNUG 470 Item 11 ) ------------------------------------------- [10/31/07]
From: Paul Estrada <paul.estrada=user domain=berkeley-da not calm>
Subject: Cooley berated for mistake on rate-Synopsys-as-a-company census
Hello, John,
Ah, it's time to take you to task (again!).
In your rate-Synopsys-as-a-company census you asked:
> 14. Synopsys NanoSim/HSIM, Cadence UltraSim, Magma FineSim, Mentor
> Mach TA/ADiT, Nascentric AuSim? And Synopsys HSPICE, Cadence
> Spectre, Mentor Eldo, Silvaco SmartSpice? Which do you use?
I won't even go into your obvious digital bias (the real world is analog
you know -- you may want to try it some time), but how could you leave my
Berkeley Design Automation (BDA) off your SPICE/fastSPICE list?
I joined BDA because the technology is so much better than traditional
SPICE and fastSPICE that will inevitably take over all big analog/RF
verification. We run HSPICE and Spectre netlists without any changes and
*guarantee* identical waveforms down to the SPICE noise floor and we
deliver them 5x-10x faster with 5x-10x higher capacity.
We target circuits that really need *true* SPICE accuracy. Big digital
circuits where "digital fastSPICE" simulators like HSIM, NanoSim, UltraSim,
and FineSim provide enough accuracy need not apply. We guarantee our
accuracy (generally 0.1% at default settings and we like it when customers
push that down) because we solve the full matrix with the original device
equations. Our performance and capacity come from clean architecture that
uses new applied mathematics and a ton of numerical optimization -- not
from taking accuracy shortcuts. We consistently deliver >5x without any
simulator tuning versus any simulator that delivers true SPICE accurate
waveforms for circuits with >1K elements and >1-hour runtime.
We already have over 25 customers including Qualcomm, Broadcom, Silicon
Labs, Atheros, Spansion, Fujitsu, Panasonic (MEI), Toshiba, LG Electronics,
NEC, and many hot startups. With our accuracy, speed, and capacity our
customers can thoroughly characterize complex blocks (ADCs, PLLs, Tx & Rx
chains, DC:DC...) and run full-circuit performance simulations (wireless
transceivers, wireline transceivers, power converters, microcontrollers,
memories...) Our simulator, Analog FastSPICE, literally does what is
otherwise impractical or impossible.
All of that said, our seat counts are not high yet (they will be) and some
of our customers are still rather secretive about using us, but that's
changing fast. Hopefully a few of them will jump in here and educate you
personally, John, on the future of SPICE/fastSPICE.
- Paul Estrada
Berkeley DA Santa Clara, CA
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