Date: 22/04/2012

Analog prototyping tool from Springsoft for 28nm and 20nm chip designs

SpringSoft has made available of its Laker3 custom IC design platform and new Laker Analog Prototyping tool for analog, mixed-signal, and custom digital IC design and layout that is optimized for performance and interoperability in 28 and 20-nanometer (nm) flows.

The Laker platform fully supports multi-vendor design flows with Interoperable process design kits (iPDK) and third-party tool integrations.

SpringSoft says the new Laker Analog Prototyping tool provides early feedback on the impact of layout parasitics and other layout dependent effects (LDE), which can be particularly challenging to manage at the 20nm node. Its unique capabilities enable automated constraint generation, layout exploration, and rapid implementation in a single flow, according to SpringSoft .

The Laker3 platform is 2-10X faster read/write operations compared the Si2 OpenAccess reference implementation, as per Springsoft. It features an updated graphical user interface (GUI) with modern conventions, such as window tabbing, dockable windows and Qt-based look and feel.

A new DRC engine that addresses 20nm design rules is used by Laker automation tools and for rule-driven editing during layout. For layout editing with 'sign-off' rule decks, which is critical for 20nm designs, Laker uses the Mentor Calibre RealTime interactive DRC tool.

"We have used Laker as our standard custom IC layout tool for many years resulting in successful tape-outs and turnaround time reduction," said Satoru Washida, chief specialist of Group2 of Solutions Department 2, LSI Solutions Division at Toshiba Information Systems (Japan) Corporation. "With the enriched second-generation OpenAccess interoperability, sophisticated new GUI and greatly improved performance of Laker³, we expect to provide even more productivity to our customers."

The Laker3 software platform is list priced starting at US$80,000 per year for a three-year subscription license. For more information about the Laker3 software, visit: www.springsoft.com/laker3.