SpringSoft releases new version of Laker system to provide OA database standard

SpringSoft releases new version of Laker system to provide OA database standard support

SpringSoft, Inc., a global provider of professional IC design software, today announced the availability of the latest version of its Laker™ Custom Layout Automation System, which provides support for the industry's most comprehensive and superior OpenAccess (OA) database standard. This version builds on SpringSoft's years of collaboration with other industry leaders to develop the infrastructure and technology needed to deliver on the promise of OA.

The latest version of the Laker system is fully compatible with OA databases and APIs, and can serve as the core of interoperable IC design environments from different suppliers; it supports all necessary interfaces, link libraries and design kits - including TSMC's interoperable process design kits (iPDKs) - to work in heterogeneous tool environments; it can also be used with other custom IC tools, such as Cadence's Virtuoso®. Interoperability means that the layout generated by Cadence's Virtuoso can be used in the Laker system, and vice versa.

“SpringSoft has invested heavily in making OpenAccess a practical standard for IC designers,” said Duncan McDonald, associate product marketing for SpringSoft’s custom IC design solutions. “We are pleased that this release of Laker fully supports OA, delivering on the promise of a truly interoperable standard and strengthening the overall automation benefits of our solutions.”

The promise of OA

The OA standardization effort starts with the goal of significantly reducing the number of data conversion steps in the typical EDA flow by using a single standard database built specifically for IC design. This also prevents data loss during communication between tools because there is no need for database conversion.

OA is built on standard databases and APIs to avoid conflicts and ambiguities during data conversion, and has various functions to support name correspondence, data integrity, import, export and other routine database chores.

The latest version of Laker system supports all the above standardized functions, ensuring a truly interoperable platform suitable for different tool flows. The most important part of SpringSoft's OpenAccess approach is to ensure the interoperability of different vendors in three OA application interfaces: file exchange, data exchange and common execution model. Although most EDA vendor scripts use data exchange interfaces (for example, the application software uses the OpenAccess API to access the design data, and then reformats it into a unique execution model used by the application software), SpringSoft advocates a more tightly coupled execution model interface. Using the execution model, the application software can work together in the same memory on the shared OpenAccess execution model.

SpringSoft works closely with major OA support vendors, including Synopsys, Magma Design Automation, Mentor Graphics, and TSMC, to test and build OA standards in a complete environment. It has proven interoperability with various tool vendors and extensively tested the latest version of OA to ensure its reliability and smooth integrity.

Laker system support for OA extends to TSMC's industry-first interoperable process design kits IPL PDKs (iPDKs). iPDK supports a rich set of features designed for TSMC's 65-nm process, with blueprints supporting from 40nm to 28nm.