( DAC 09 Item 9 ) ----------------------------------------------- [12/11/09]
Subject: Tanner EDA
CHEAP CHIC: Tanner EDA eagerly fills the "Dollar Store" niche in EDA with a
whole suite of PD tools. Their analog tools are schematic capture (S-Edit),
DRC (HiPer Verify), extraction (HiPer PX), simulation (T-Spice & W-Edit),
and a router (SDL). L-Edit Pro's their analog/digital layout tool, complete
with built-in Calibre compatible LVS/DRC. And the kicker is that Tanner has
been doing this for 20 years, so they're all debugged tools!
What were the 1 or 2 or 3 or 4 INTERESTING specific tools that
you saw at DAC this year? WHY where they interesting to you?
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
I was recently introduced to Tanner tools. Tanner tools sure were a
significant downgrade from the Cadence tools I used to use costing
hundreds of thousands each year. The feeling was like giving up a
Porsche and picking up a Honda Civic instead. But after a bit I
realized that a Civic is a pretty good car after all.
I like Tanner's philosophy because they do drive the price down, at least
for custom layout. For a lot of old school analog designers, Tanner tools
offer all that is needed at an affordable price point. That is their
contribution to analog design and it should be congratulated.
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Tanner - because for our type of intensive layout and physical design is
powerful enough without going over to those overpriced design flows from
Cadence, Mentor, Magma and Synopsys. I say leave them to Intel and their
$400 based CPUs or to the NSA!!
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Tanner EDA
With analog design tools currently splitting into the IPL/OA-based camp
(Synopsys, Springsoft, Ciranova, Analog Rails) or Cadence, I was
interested to get the perspective of 20 year old Tanner, which has long
been the budget-minded alternative. In fact, Tanner emphasized how much
cheaper they are in their booth presentation of an "ROI calculator".
I met with Daniel Hamon, VP and General Manager, who began with a review
of Tanner's history as the EDA division of Tanner Research. Tanner EDA
has 25,000 installed seats, a significant number compared to what I
recall of Cadence's installed base. Their tools are primarily used on
Windows-based PCs.
Tanner has not joined the Open Access movement, but Hamon emphasized the
interoperability built into their toolset. Tanner's customer base of
analog/RF designers are generally doing much smaller high-performance
designs, which require dedicated analog processes rather than nanometer
CMOS. Tanner does support TSMC processes at 0.35um-0.18um, and also has
design kits for X-fab, Austria Microsystems, and MOSIS.
- Michael Demler of Digdia
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
Tanner Research
My focus is on the physical side; primarily tech file setups and Calibre
deck compatibility of L-Edit Pro.
1. Reading Cadence tech files. Tested a rather complex Cadence tech
file for a 90 nm technology. Worked well, saved some setup time.
2. Calibre Deck compatibility. Tested on a non-foundary 90 nm deck
of 700 checks and was rather complex. With a few exceptions it
functioned quite well. Congratulations to Tanner.
3. Tanner has also really improved how they work with databases.
(Referencing designs, etc).
If I had to point out one highlight, it's their Calibre SVRF rule deck
compatibility. Good work.
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
We've been using Tanner S-Edit and L-Edit Pro since 1996. The tools have
shown constant improvement and they have added more DRC/LVS capability to
make it Calibre compatible. Their ability to read Calibre decks is very
useful as it speeds up verification. We hope Tanner will continue to
work with the fabs and advance their Calibre-like DRC/LVS capability.
- Mahesh Tirupattur of Analog Bits, Inc.
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
We are an old user of Tanner Tools, but it is interesting that they have
brought out some very beneficial new features. Their auto routing is one
as well as the cross checking from the schematic to the layout and
visa-versa. This costs significantly more in the Big Budget EDA tools.
- [ An Anon Engineer ]
Subscribe to Newsletter
Send feedback to John... (He likes it!)
Index
Next->Item
|
|
