Mixed-signal IC design is difficult, choosing the right tool is a good start

The appearance of mixed-signal IC can be traced back to the 1980s, and the starting point of this technology is of course the goal pursued by the semiconductor industry in the past few decades, that is, small. Mixing analog and digital circuits together can naturally achieve the effect of reducing board space. With the continuous advancement of mixed-signal technology, the complexity of such IC design is simply incomparable with that of the past, but the requirements for time to market are even more stringent, and excellent EDA design tools are enough to accelerate the design process and provide the required accuracy.

Compared to digital ICs, it is much more difficult to cultivate talents in mixed-signal IC design. "Mixed-signal IC design is very different from other IC designs. The biggest difference is that it takes a long time to accumulate a solid foundation. In addition, excellent talents must also have cross-domain knowledge and understanding. Dr. Du Sen, general manager of Richnex Electronics, mentioned the difficulty of mixed-signal IC design. "The most challenging part is the mastery of system-level know-how, because to design mixed-signal products, you cannot only focus on analog or digital, but must start from the overall architecture. Richnex Electronics (Richnex) is a related company of Richtek Technology. At this stage, its main products are mixed-signal IC designs in video and USB.

Mixed-signal ICs have made rapid progress in recent years. However, since EDA tool manufacturers have focused more on the needs of digital IC design in the past, their response to the needs of mixed-signal IC design has been slow. This is Duson's view on the EDA tool industry. However, this situation has improved as the mixed-signal IC market has expanded.

Good EDA tools are absolutely crucial to the success of mixed-signal IC design. After using MAGMA's FineSim simulation tool in the design process, I have a deeper understanding of this. As mentioned above, mixed-signal and analog IC design are different. Analog ICs have only a few hundred transistors, so traditional SPICE tools are sufficient. However, mixed-signal ICs have many more transistors, and the simulation speed of traditional SPICE can no longer meet the requirements. It was not until the emergence of FineSim that a solution was proposed to this problem.

FineSim simulation analysis tools include various transistor-level mixed-signal and analog design simulation analysis functions, which can help customers simulate large-scale transistor-level mixed-signal system chips. In this regard, Dr. Dusen said that the combination of FineSim tools and server hardware platforms can even increase the simulation speed by 10 to 20 times, and it will no longer take two weeks to wait for the completion of simulation results as in the past.

Speed ​​is everything for the IC design industry, where every second counts and falling behind can lead to elimination. In addition, the consistency provided by FineSim is also highly recognized by the industry. In addition to FineSim, the Titan platform that MAGMA is promoting this year provides all-round integration functions for mixed-signal IC simulation design, which can provide greater support for the mixed-signal IC design industry.