NanGate Unveils Next Generation Library Creator Platform

Innovative Cell Compaction and Routing Technology Enables Rapid Exploration, Creation and Process Migration of Digital Standard Cell Libraries

SUNNYVALE, Calif.-- May 22, 2012 --NanGate, the leading supplier of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) solutions for digital cell library development and design optimization, today announced the release of its V5 Library Creator Platform for advanced process node SoC design, including support for 20/22nm process technology. Library Creator will be demonstrated at Booth #1214 with Si2 at the Design Automation Conference which will be held June 4-7 at the Moscone Center in San Francisco, CA. This release, built on production-proven technology, adds new patent-pending cell compaction and cell routing technology that significantly reduces manual effort for new cell creation and process migration, resulting in faster turn-around times and substantial productivity gains, cementing NanGate’s position as the industry leader in standard cell library creation products.

Key technologies enable automation

NanGate’s Library Creator platform enables designers of digital CMOS ICs to custom-tailor cell libraries and explore the impact of alternate device models, design rules and cell architectures. Over numerous semiconductor process generations, Library Creator platform has demonstrated accurate and reliable library development, migration, and optimization capability for companies that design the most complex and high performance digital standard cell libraries. The V5 platform adds support for advanced 20nm process node layout requirements from early adopters, and improves cell creation efficiency by 2.5~7X over previous methodologies, as measured by average cells-per-day.

Library Creator’s advanced layout migration flow enables efficient library IP reuse by using proprietary migration technology that facilitates converting layouts in the same process node from one architecture to another or from one process node to another node. For process migration, layouts may change quite significantly. To enable migration automation, Library Creator formulates an abstract representation stripped of process dependent information, which can then be converted to the target process technology with compliance to the latest foundry design rules. The new routing and compaction technology, together with other major enhancements made, enabled the V5 platform’s support of 20/22nm requirements. These include: transistor ordering to minimize cell area and congestion, context sensitive spacing and enclosure rules, port rule analysis for enhanced routability, preferred shape pattern selection, multiple patterning(coloring) and use of local interconnect, resulting in a sign-off quality and DFM-friendly cell migration. In addition, the designer can configure layout-dependent effects (LDE) minimization weights to reduce the impact of well proximity, shallow-trench isolation stress, and other layout dependent effects that negatively impact device reliability and performance.

Reiterating NanGate’s long standing commitment to efficient integration with industry standard databases and design flows, V5 Library Creator continue its support of Si2 OpenAccess database integration module to streamline the export of digital library data to external layout tools.

“The value of NanGate’s Library Creator lies in automating the complex custom design process of cell library creation or process migration, while non-disruptively integrating with existing ASIC EDA environments via standard interfaces such as Si2’s OpenAccess database. By automating the time consuming process, designers can more rapidly adopt advanced process technologies, “said George Kuo, Vice President of Marketing and Product Enablement at NanGate. “ We have heard great feedback from our tier-1 customers on the effectiveness of our existing platform. We are confident that the V5 Library Creator platform will deliver dramatically improved design team productivity.”

About NanGate

NanGate, a provider of physical intellectual property (IP) and a leader in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software, offers tools and services for creation and validation of physical library IP and analysis and optimization of digital design. NanGate’s suite of solutions includes Library Creation Platform, Nangate Design Optimizer, and professional services. NanGate's solution enables IC design to optimize in performance and power, while significantly reducing area and cost. The solution, as a complement to existing design flows, delivers results that previously could only be achieved with resource intensive custom design techniques.

NanGate is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and has offices in Denmark and Russia. Visit NanGate online at http://www.nangate.com