Virtual Silicon eSi-Route Libraries Now Available For PrimeTime SI

Synopsys Collaborates with Virtual Silicon and Silicon Metrics to Bring Crosstalk Analysis to the Fabless Market

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--February 26, 2002--Synopsys Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS - news), in collaboration with Virtual Silicon Technology and Silicon Metrics Corporation, today announced that Virtual Silicon eSi-Route(TM) standard cell libraries are now available for PrimeTime® SI. These libraries -- characterized with the Silicon Metrics SiliconSmart CR(TM) tool and qualified to support the patented delay calculation capabilities in PrimeTime SI -- target 0.18-micron and 0.13-micron designs in the fabless flow. With PrimeTime SI in the flow, customers are able to pinpoint crosstalk-induced timing problems quickly and reduce the risk of chip failure.

PrimeTime® SI is a full-chip, static crosstalk analysis tool that extends the proven static timing techniques of the industry-leading PrimeTime tool to include crosstalk analysis, delivering a fully integrated solution that is easy to adopt.

"PrimeTime is the timing backbone of the SoC design flow, and our customers rely on our static timing models to correlate with the actual silicon performance of our testchips," said Taylor Scanlon, CEO of Virtual Silicon. "With Silicon Metrics' SiliconSmart CR, we can now offer proven support for PrimeTime SI, enabling our foundry and fabless customers to detect potential silicon failures using the premiere solution for static crosstalk analysis at 0.18 micron and below."

To qualify the eSi-Route libraries for PrimeTime SI, Synopsys first collaborated with Silicon Metrics to extend the capabilities of SiliconSmart CR for crosstalk characterization and modeling. Virtual Silicon then used the extended SiliconSmart CR to generate the Liberty(TM) (.lib) eSi-Route libraries for PrimeTime SI. Working together, the companies then verified that the Virtual Silicon libraries generated with SiliconSmart CR -- when tested with PrimeTime SI -- met all characterization guidelines and provided SPICE-level accuracy.

"The industry migration to 0.13 micron processes drives the need for a new level of cooperation between EDA vendors, semiconductor intellectual property providers, and foundries to ensure production-ready design flows that result in first-pass silicon success," said Callan Carpenter, president and CEO of Silicon Metrics. "By working proactively with Synopsys and Silicon Metrics, Virtual Silicon demonstrates its leadership when it comes to delivering a complete solution for its customers."

"With PrimeTime SI, Synopsys continues to build on its accurate gate-level static timing tools and design flow to handle the signal integrity effects associated with nanometer design," said Antun Domic, senior vice president and general manager of Synopsys' Nanometer Analysis and Test Group. "Synopsys solutions providers -- Silicon Metrics and Virtual Silicon Technology -- have now aligned to support PrimeTime SI for static crosstalk analysis, enabling our mutual customers to tape out designs with higher confidence."

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS - news), headquartered in Mountain View, Calif., creates leading electronic design automation (EDA) tools for the global electronics market. The company delivers advanced design technologies and solutions to developers of complex integrated circuits, electronic systems, and systems-on-a-chip. Synopsys also provides consulting and support services to simplify the overall IC design process and accelerate time to market for its customers. Visit Synopsys at http://www.synopsys.com.

About Silicon Metrics Corporation

Silicon Metrics' characterization and modeling products allow customers to shorten design cycles and improve chip performance by creating best-in-class models that combine silicon predictability with designer productivity. Silicon Metrics is a privately held company with offices in Austin, Texas, and San Jose, California. Marubeni Solutions represents Silicon Metrics in Japan. Company investors include Austin Ventures, Needham Capital Partners, Current Ventures, Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN - news), and Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq:SNPS - news). For more information, call (888) 828-3736, or visit Silicon Metrics online at http://www.siliconmetrics.com.

About Virtual Silicon Technology

Virtual Silicon is a leading supplier of semiconductor intellectual property and process technology to manufacturers and designers of complex systems-on-chip (SoC). Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., the company provides process-specific embedded components that serve the wireless, networking, graphics, communication and computing markets. Customers include leading fabless semiconductor companies, integrated semiconductor manufacturers, foundries and SoC developers who demand leading edge technology for their semiconductor innovations. For more information, call (408) 548-2700 or visit Virtual Silicon online at http://www.virtual-silicon.com.

Note to Editors: Synopsys, the Synopsys logo, PrimeTime are registered trademarks or trademarks of Synopsys, Inc. Virtual Silicon, eSi-Route, and the Virtual Silicon logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of Virtual Silicon Technology. Silicon Metrics, the Silicon Metrics logo, and SiliconSmart are registered trademarks or trademarks of Silicon Metrics Corporation. All other company or product names are the registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:
     Synopsys, Inc.
     Nancy Renzullo, 650/584-1669
     renzullo@synopsys.com
           or
     Edelman Public Relations
     Sarah Seifert, 650/429-2776
     sarah.seifert@edelman.com
           or
     Silicon Metrics Corporation
     Karen Caropepe, 512/651-1461
     karen.caropepe@siliconmetrics.com
           or
     Virtual Silicon Technology
     Ken Brock, 408/548-2756
     kenb@virtual-silicon.com
           or
     VitalCom
     Lou Covey, 650/637-8212 x.202
     lou@vitalcompr.com