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 | |  | | | | | Interview: Turbo Technology Speeds Analog Simulation, Preserves Accuracy
Michael Tian
Cadence Design Systems | |
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Interview with Michael Tian on the Cadence® Virtuoso® Multi-Mode Simulation 7.0 release
The new Cadence® Virtuoso® Multi-Mode Simulation 7.0 release was released on April 10, 2008. To get a preview of the new software, cdnusers talked to Michael Tian, engineering director of the Virtuoso Spectre R&D team. Virtuoso MMSIM provides a complete suite of simulation products for analog, RF, memory and mixed-signal SoC designs.
cdnusers: What’s new in MMSIM 7.0?
Michael: The main capability is the addition of turbo technology to the Spectre® Circuit Simulator. It was developed to provide significant speedup for analog and mixed-signal circuit verification.
cdnusers: What is the speedup?
Michael: With MMSIM 7.0, IC designers typically realize a 5X to 10X increase in simulation speed for both pre- and post-layout designs. For parasitic-dominant circuits, we have seen up to 50X speedup.
cdnusers: How does this performance speedup address the challenges engineers have with custom IC simulation today?
Michael: First, it has a tremendous impact on improving designers’ productivity. Imagine a simulation session that used to take 35 hours—three working days. Given a 5X speedup, the same simulation would today take 7 hours—only one working day. This directly helps IC designers meet their time-to-market schedules.
Second, it enables IC designers to do more analysis than they could before because of resource and schedule constraints, ensuring a higher level of confidence for silicon tapeout. Some of our early access customers have reported simulation sessions that normally took two months to complete now only take a few days.
One question we often get is: with this type of performance gain, are there issues with accuracy? The answer is no. Accuracy is always our number-one priority.
cdnusers: What type of designs benefit the most from the new turbo technology?
Michael: We started development by targeting tough analog circuits with the greatest performance challenges—phase locked loops, data converters, and power management circuits. However, we pushed technology development and learned through benchmarking that the new turbo technology delivers performance benefits for a broad class of analog and mixed-signal circuits.
cdnusers: How easy is it to start using Spectre with turbo technology?
Michael: It is very easy and simple to use. For example, in the old days you bought a PC, pushed a turbo button, and the PC ran faster. It is very similar with turbo technology. You turn on the turbo switch, either from command line or from graphical user interface, and your simulation runs faster. It offers the exact same use model Spectre users are familiar with.
cdnusers: How well is MMSIM 7.0 integrated with the Custom IC development flow?
Michael: MMSIM 7.0 works seamlessly with the existing Custom IC development flow. It does not require any changes in the design flow—the only difference is the addition of the turbo button in the graphical user interface. And, Spectre with turbo technology is only the first phase of our simulation roadmap. We are working on some exciting projects.
cdnusers: History shows that breakthrough ideas and technologies come from various ways of thinking. Where do you do your best creative thinking?
Michael: In R&D, we have a lot of creative thinkers and great teamwork. Intensive brainstorming meetings—sometimes on daily basis—were the main platform for new idea generation.
cdnusers: With all the daily interruptions and customer issues you have to resolve, how do you go about focusing on projects. Any tips you can offer?
Michael: There was clear and strong management support for our team to focus on delivering the turbo technology. To make it work, we assembled a dedicated tiger team to focus solely on the project.
cdnusers: What is a tiger team?
Michael: A tiger team is one made up of the best talent we have. We have engineers from around the world—Asia, Europe, and North America—enabling us to work around the clock.
cdnusers: On a personal note, how do you relax after a long week of working on simulation design projects?
Michael: I swim two miles a week, not to relax but to keep my energy level high. Over the weekends, I do some yard work, which is like a meditation for me.
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About the author
Michael Tian Biography
Michael Tian, Engineering Director of the Virtuoso Spectre R&D team, has a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Fudan University, Shanghai, China. He joined Cadence in 1998 through the BLDA acquisition. Previously, he worked at Lucent Technologies Bell Laboratories and the University of Iowa. |
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