( ESNUG 476 Item 4 ) -------------------------------------------- [10/29/08]
Subject: ( ESNUG 475 #6 ) Magma Titan (Sabio) analog migration ain't 1 day
> Magma is entering this space and deserves honorable mention with the
> Titan Electrical Analog Migration tool. (Sabio) Where the previous two
> are focused on DFM/DFY, Magma is poised to enable rapid migration of
> tedious analog designs to new process nodes. Historically averaging
> 12 weeks per design, Magma claims to be able to migrate a fully
> parameterized circuit in 1 day.
From: [ The Great Pumpkin ]
Hi, John,
Please keep me anon.
This year at DAC, there were many companies with tools to allow limited
analog circuit migration or synthesis into new technology nodes. The catch
is that you must first convince an analog designer to enter all of the
knowledge in his/her head as parameters into the migration engine.
With Magma's Titan Analog Circuit migration tool (which they bought from
Sabio) analog designers enter these parameters, then Titan "automatically"
migrates their analog circuit design (not the layout) to be sized at a new
technology node. As long as the user has the patience to define parameters
for every aspect of the design, Titan's analysis will then show optimum
device sizing to satisfy all (if possible) or most of the parameters.
Magma claimed that the initial migration from a particular node can take
several weeks, but that later migration -- e.g. from 65 nm to 45 nm -- will
go much faster, on the order of 1 day, instead of the average 12 weeks.
If you believe the migration will only take 1 day, I have a section of ocean
50 miles off the coast of Florida I'd like to sell you. Analog designers
just cannot know what new issues they will uncover at 65 nm and 45 nm prior
to the existence of a SPICE model or a set of design rules, so turnaround
is simply is not possible to predict.
In reality, each new technology node will have new concerns that were not
built into the original design. For example:
- At 65 nm, WPE and STI are primary, in your face, concerns where at
250 nm they did not exist. Building in the new parameterizations
based on the new concerns takes more than 1 day but still definitely
less than 12 weeks.
- The new parameters for the "layout effects" at 45 nm and 40 nm will
need to be built into the migration tool, taking more than one day
but again most likely less than 12 weeks.
- Even though the entire known world is trying to reliably produce analog
circuits at the smallest possible technology node, there are process
die-to-die and intra-die variations exponentially increasing with each
smaller process node. Where digital circuits have a somewhat built-in
immunity to variation (you can build margin into your library of cells
to reduce the variation penalties) this is not true for "edgy" analog
circuits. Variation could define a window of operation between 500 MHz
and a 5 GHz peak oscillation frequency when your target was 3 GHz. The
key is going to be identifying the yield limiting variation at each
technology node right down to the smallest contributor, quickly, and
then being able to correct the problem without re-building the model.
Magma-Titan is a strong entry in this field and will allow faster, more
reliable migration to smaller technology nodes by identifying the new
problems (as you have already told it to look for them). What about the
problems that you did not tell the tool to look for? Each new process
node hungers for more effort by the circuit designer. This effort can be
minimized with Magma Titan and most likely cut in half -- but not down to
1 day. Just because all of the circuit parameters are entered into their
migration tool, that in itself does not make it a great design. Careful
manipulation by a senior, knowledgeable analog circuit designer is required
and will ALWAYS be required for success.
Magma does have competition:
- MunEDA is most definitely the most elaborate (dare I say complete) entry
in that it seems that they have thought of everything. However, with
everything considered, we now must contemplate how long it takes to
fully comprehend everything about a design and enter it into a tool.
- SolidoSTAT is another competitor that is simply going after the rapid
identification of problems, enabling the circuit designer to be more
productive, while not attempting to solve the circuit migration holy
grail. In my opinion, analog designers need productivity enhancements
that they are willing to use and they see as beneficial. SolidoSTAT
fits this requirement while both Magma and MunEDA are aggressively
pursuing circuit migration.
As always, Magma wins the integration award. There are no vendors today
offering the integration, blurring the boundaries between custom and digital
to the extent that Magma offers.
Adding Titan to an already expansive mixture of design solutions most
definitely puts Magma on top.
- [ The Great Pumpkin ]
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