Artisan and Cadence Collaborate to Optimize Low-Power Chip Design; New Library Views Support Next-Generation Low Power Devices

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 4, 2004 -- Artisan Components (Nasdaq:ARTI) and Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (NYSE:CDN)(Nasdaq:CDN) today announced their collaboration to provide library views that enable designers to more effectively optimize low-power chip designs. The companies have partnered to create and qualify Artisan library views based on the Cadence(R) effective current source model (ECSM) format. These views provide customers with accurate delay prediction across a wide range of voltage levels and operating conditions using the Cadence Encounter(TM) digital IC design platform.

To meet the increased challenges of lower-power designs, customers are adopting methodologies that vary the supply voltage to enable a more effective trade-off between performance and power. These methods require additional timing views to predict chip performance at different voltage levels. The different voltage levels may be intentional variations for power savings or the result of IR drop and ground bounce. ECSM is a revolutionary new modeling format that enables designers to accurately predict timing under any combination of voltage conditions.

"We were able to model IR drop impact on delay using the Cadence Encounter delay calculator with Artisan's ECSM (lib_ecsm) library views for extended voltage range on our recent 130-nanometer production design," said Li-Siang Lee, Physical Design Manager, Cortina Design Systems. "This allows us to model, prior to tape-out, effects that previously were observed only in silicon."

To achieve and verify the necessary accuracy levels for the ECSM (lib_ecsm) delay models at different voltage levels, Artisan and Cadence performed qualifications using Artisan's SAGE-X(TM) standard cell library and measured delays against SPICE while varying voltage, slew and load. The average difference in measured delays between SPICE and ECSM was 0.5%.

"Artisan realizes that a single company cannot address today's power consumption challenges alone and it takes collaboration among leading companies to help customers achieve faster time to market with first-pass silicon," said Neal Carney, vice president of marketing at Artisan. "Our collaboration with Cadence allows us to provide library views that enable balancing power reduction techniques with high-performance design specifications to meet customers' nanometer requirements."

"With the growth of today's semiconductor industry being driven primarily by the wireless and digital consumer markets, the impact of power consumption in these devices is a significant issue for designers," said Jan Willis, senior vice president of industry marketing at Cadence. "Our collaboration with Artisan provides critical low power design chain capabilities to uniquely address the challenges of next-generation semiconductor technology."

Availability

ECSM models (lib_ecsm) that support extended voltage range for Artisan's SAGE-X, SAGE-HS and Metro standard cell libraries at 130nm and 90nm processes are available upon request.

About Artisan Components

Artisan Components, Inc. is a leading provider of physical intellectual property (IP) components for the design and manufacture of complex system-on-a-chip integrated circuits. Artisan's products include embedded memory, standard cell, input/output, analog and mixed-signal components, which are designed to achieve the best combination of performance, density, power and yield. Artisan has licensed its IP components to over 2,000 companies involved in integrated circuit design. Artisan is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. More information about Artisan Components, including free library access, can be found at www.artisan.com.

About Cadence

Cadence is the world's largest supplier of electronic design technologies and engineering services. Cadence products and services are used to accelerate and manage the design of semiconductors, computer systems, networking equipment, telecommunications equipment, consumer electronics, and other electronics based products. With approximately 4,850 employees and 2003 revenues of approximately $1.1 billion, Cadence has sales offices, design centers, and research facilities around the world. The company is headquartered in San Jose, Calif., and trades on both the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq under the symbol CDN. More information is available at www.cadence.com.

Cadence and the Cadence logo are registered trademarks of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. Encounter is a trademark of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. Artisan Components and Artisan are registered trademarks and SAGE-X, SAGE-HS and Metro are trademarks of Artisan Components, Inc. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: Artisan Components, Inc.