Automated schematic porting tool reduces problems of manual migration

The electronic design automation specialist announced the latest addition to its advanced tool suite WiCkeD. According to MunEDA, WiCkeD SPT executes 10 – 100 times faster than manual schematic porting and supports migration paths in major TSMC process technologies – such as from tsmcN65 (65nm) to tsmcN40 (40nm). WiCkeD SPT's design migration path automatically replaces cells in the source PDK with corresponding cells for the target PDK. It provides flexible property mapping and automated shrinking and handles devices such as MOS transistors, resistors and capacitors. Michael Pronath, MunEDA vice president of Products & Solutions, said that SPT addresses the growing challenge of migrating many design blocks – and even entire SoCs – from one process to another in a short time. "Migrating analogue/mixed signal designs, rf designs, IP libraries and high speed interfaces is particularly challenging," he said, "because there is no simple rule for shrinking them. Most blocks need individual adjustment of topology, geometries, biasing, etc, even if the specifications don't change. It is therefore necessary to migrate and port the schematics individually to conform to the technology constraints and to meet performance specifications. Manual migration is effort intensive, and threatens to be a bottleneck. SPT solves these problems." MunEDA WiCkeD SPT will begin shipping in April 2011.