Automatic setup creation in version 3.1
Anyone who once started with Crossfire completely from scratch will remember the tedious clicking and file-selection necessary to tell Crossfire where to find the data.
Not a very inspiring way to get started, moreover it's easy to forget a database so it never checked.
Automatic setup-creation in Crossfire 3.1 resolves this problem. Users simply need to point out the name and the root directory of the library. Within minutes all databases and files are found and automatically recognized as formats to be checked in Crossfire. Without missing any library definition files!
This feature is in itself an excellent check for redundant library definition files, as we found out when alpha-testing it on our collection of customer-libraries. It appeared that one of them had an entire Cadence database nested as a subdirectory of that same database! Automatic setup creation goes a long way towards pressing the "Run" button. For all tests, relevant formats are selected and correct settings are defined where ever possible. All that is required as user-input is cell/library specific definitions like pin-names or routability exceptions. With auto-setup users are only minutes away from the core purpose of Crossfire: analyzing any sign-off issues found by Crossfire on a new library.
Using Crossfire to validate IO libraries
Although Crossfire was originally developed with standard-cell libraries in mind, we now find that many customers are using it successfully on IO libraries as well.Where standard-cell libraries often come out of well-defined production-factories, this is far-less the case for IO libraries, the content of which is often regarded as black magic. However magic the internals, interfaces to IO-cells and the models provided for them in the various databases still need to be consistent for this magic to work out for any designer.
- Crossfire in particular checks IO libraries for:
- Pin definitions
- Functional equivalence, e.g. SPICE vs. Verilog
- LEF-vs-GDSII
- Liberty timing arc definition vs. Verilog
- Consistency of Liberty timing and power data
Work in progress: NLDM, CCS and ECSM characterization checks
 Users that regularly download releases from our ftp-site will have noticed that almost every new version contains additional checks in the characterization section. With the introduction of Crossfire version 3.0 a new framework was introduced for flexible definition of checks on characterization data as defined in the multitude of Liberty files that come with a deep submicron library. The figure underneath shows the current state when for instance the tab "NLDM timing checks" is expanded in Crossfire.
All checks currently available are black, those scheduled but not yet implemented are drawn in grey. Each is effectively a small script coded using the Fenix API. This makes modification and extension very easy, users can even extend the GUI with their own proprietary checks.
The introduction of these characterization data checks also brought along data visualization using gnuplot. Gnuplot is now integrated and released with the Fenix tools. The need for visualization of characterization issues is nicely illustrated with this example, which shows the CCS peak-current value plotted against slew and capacitance. Clearly this cell exhibits extremely high peak-currents for small load and slew values.
Support for Open Acces Datamodel 4
Starting with release 3.1, Crossfire also supports databases that use Open Access data model 4. Users creating databases using Cadence IC 6.1.2 will be producing DM4 databases once they convert from CDB to OA. Data model 4 is upwards compatible with data model 3, which allows Crossfire to cross-check DM3 and DM4 versions of a particular library. Note that in order to perform such a check an OA DM4 database implementation (such as the one that comes with IC6.1.2) must be used with Crossfire.
About Crossfire
View mismatches or modeling errors for Libraries or IP can seriously delay an IC design project. Because of the still increasing number of different views required to support a state of the art deep submicron design flow, as well as the complexity of the views themselves, Library and IP integrity checking has become a mandatory step before the actual design can start.
Crossfire helps CAD teams and IC designers in performing integrity validation for Libraries and IP. Crossfire makes sure that the information represented in the various views is consistent across the views and does not contain anomalies originating from e.g. failing characterization scripts.
About Fenix
Fenix-DA is a privately held company with offices in Eindhoven, the Netherlands and Sunnyvale, Ca. The company was founded in 2006 by a small group of highly recognized EDA professionals.
Fenix-DA has embarked upon developing an all-encompassing QA environment which ensures consistency across the entire design flow including libraries, IP and EDA tools. By reducing the time to bug-detection, the cost of maintenance and repair in both dollars and time is greatly reduced. This allows our customers to use a robust and reliable IC design flow, which can turn around complex SoC designs without schedule disrupting issues from tools, libraries or IP.
Contact Fenix
The Netherlands
United States
Japan
- Keirex Technology Inc
- tel: +81-3-3537-1925
India
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