MONROVIA, California – April 29, 2014 – In today’s ‘always on’, Internet of Things connected world, the demand for high-performance, mixed-signal ASICs continues to grow. Many thousands of mixed-signal devices are produced on mainstream process nodes in foundries worldwide. Designers working on these mainstream devices do not always need, nor can they afford, the EDA tools from the vendors focused on serving the most advanced process nodes. Tanner EDA, through its partnerships with Incentia Design Systems, Inc. and Aldec, Inc., provides a fully-integrated, complete analog/mixed-signal tool suite to address the mainstream with no compromise in performance.
Dresden-based ASIC design services company, Productivity Engineering (PE), a Tanner EDA customer since 2006, has relied on the full Tanner EDA tool suite, including front end design, layout, and verification. Stefan Schubert, PE’s Vice President of IC Design Services, remains impressed with Tanner EDA tools finding them intuitive, easy to use, and fully capable of meeting their design needs.
Early last year, PE adopted three new tools to its design flow, provided by Tanner EDA:
- Logic Synthesis by Incentia DesignCraft™
- Mixed –signal simulation by Aldec Riviera-PRO™ TE
- Physical Verification by Tanner EDA’s HiPer Verify™
PE found the DesignCraft tool to perform at least as well as more expensive equivalents, both in terms of speed and features. “It is the first time we have had DFT support in a tool. It is something we have always had to do separately before,” said Schubert.
Digital-heavy mixed-signal simulation was another task for which PE had been relying on older software. Now PE has invested in the Riviera-PRO TE and the Tanner-supplied AMS simulation suite was considerably lower cost than offerings from the mainstream rivals. But lower cost does not necessarily mean less functionality or performance, Schubert emphasized.
PE has also invested in Tanner EDA’s new HiPer Verify tool suite. PE has adopted a hybrid tool solution for their verification; maintaining a mix of Calibre® and HiPer Verify software licenses. “The critical factor with HiPer Verify is that it runs Calibre rules files,” Schubert confirmed. He pointed out that HiPer Verify exploits hierarchical and repetitive features, with an error navigator to locate violations and a one-time correction facility, in order to improve productivity and ensure optimal performance. “The mixed tool portfolio has allowed us to better align tool capability with the requirements of the design while lowering our overall cost,” said Schubert.
Tanner EDA tools not only represent a lower initial outlay than many tools of comparable performance, but they cost considerably less to maintain. “This gives us a competitive advantage as a design services company,” Schubert commented, “And we make no sacrifices in terms of design performance.”
To learn more, read the entire Productivity Engineering case study from Tanner EDA.
Pricing and Availability
HiPer Silicon™ Design Suite v16.1, including partner product solutions DesignCraft and Riviera-PRO TE, is available for the Windows® and Linux® operating systems directly from Tanner EDA. For additional information, visit the Tanner EDA website at www.tannereda.com, contact Tanner EDA Sales by phone (626-471-9701) or email salesw@tannereda.com.
About Tanner EDA
Tanner EDA provides a complete line of EDA software solutions that drive innovation for the design, layout and verification of analog and mixed-signal (A/MS) integrated circuits (ICs) and MEMS. Customers are creating breakthrough applications in areas such as power management, displays and imaging, automotive, consumer electronics, life sciences, and RF devices. Founded in 1988, Tanner EDA solutions deliver just the right mixture of features, functionality and usability. The company has shipped over 33,000 licenses of its software to more than 5,000 customers in 67 countries.
