Mentor Graphics and UMC Deliver Analog Mixed-Signal Reference Flow
(Interviews, 25 May 2007 )
Mentor Graphics Corp. and UMC have announced a new reference flow for analog mixed-signal (AMS) system-on-chip (SoC) designs. The flow includes an integrated environment for design capture, data management, and verification.
UMC and Mentor Graphics jointly developed this mixed-signal design flow to address the increasingly sophisticated requirements of today's AMS designers. The reference design flow demonstrates a methodology that allows system-level partitioning, high level trade-off, and system validation throughout the design flow. Mentor's ADVance MSTM with ADiT and Design Architect-IC products are included in the flow. Mentor and UMC verified this design flow with successful system simulation of an ultra-wide-band (UWB) transceiver design.
"Through our collaboration with Mentor Graphics, the full chip mixed-signal transceiver reference design was successfully developed using the flow on our 130nm mixed-signal process," said Ken Liou, director of the IP and Design Support Division at UMC. "The results prove that this reference flow is ready to help designers successfully produce other types of complex analog-mixed signal products in silicon."
"It is a challenge to handle an RF SoC design with increasing design content in multiple application domains," said Jue-Hsien Chern, senior vice president and general manager, Deep Submicron division at Mentor Graphics. "We worked very closely with UMC on the reference flow that can manage the complexity of RF system design and verification. Using the behavioral models with DA-IC and ADVance MS, this much improved efficiency on AMS SoC design will benefit our mutual customers."
UMC and Mentor Graphics will be showcasing the reference flow at the Design Automation Conference (DAC), taking place June 4-7 at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, CA.
