IC-Catalyst

Reliability and Predictability Through Automation

A new solution is needed to bring predictability, reliability and cost-effectiveness back to the SoC product cycle. IC-Catalyst™ is an integrated platform technology that Open-Silicon has developed to address the entire scope of silicon engineering activity: from IC design all the way to end-of-life. The ability of IC-Catalyst to handle all phases of IC design and manufacturing directly translates to significant advantages for Open-Silicon's.

  • Provides a consistent design methodology across multiple projects.
  • Supports flexibility for the designer to introduce variations into the process depending on the design.
  • Captures the learning from every design and propagates it to future designs.
  • Manages the machine and tool-license resources based on a centralized customizable policy.
  • Ensures data dependency to make sure that there is no out-of-sync data.
  • Generates reports and statistics on the quality of the design, efficiency of the implementation, economy of the resources, and adherence to the predicted design schedule.

Using IC-Catalyst as the backbone for ASIC design Open-Silicon achieves:

  • Knowledge sharing. Useful knowledge learned from one project can be immediately be integrated into the system for automatic propagation into all other projects, thereby getting the best of every project and improving overall design execution.
  • Resource and data sharing.
  • Predictability of design data and results.
  • Deduction of a metric for productivity and performance improvements.
  • Scalability as the number of simultaneous design projects increases.

There is commonality in the design implementation which can be used to turn around faster, more predictable and more reliable chips. IC-Catalyst exploits this commonality by dividing the project implementation into four components:

  • Configuration Management
  • Flow Management
  • Resource Management
  • Program Management

IC-Catalyst generates reports and statistics on the quality of each design, efficiency of the implementation, economy of the resources and adherence to the predicted design schedule - data that ASIC customers rarely receive from their ASIC vendor.

The following table describes how IC-Catalyst addresses today's challenges in project implementation:

Configuration Management Issues Today:

  • Ad-hoc design specification and constraint management.
    - Inefficient ECO tracking.
  • No standardized procedure for creating a project and tool environment.
  • Manual data management and revision control.

IC-Catalyst Solutions:

  • Helps in consistent execution across multiple projects.

  • Automatic tool environment setup.

  • Latest and qualified tools are used.

  • Manages technology and IP collateral.

  • Disciplined management of design specification.

  • All ECOs are tracked.

  • Integrity and security of customer data and IP.

  • Revision control management.

Flow Management Issues Today:

  • Manual process for. dependency checks.
  • Ability to compare data for different parameters.
  • Consistency in design execution process.
  • Focus shifts away from solving design related problems.
  • Predictability of design data and results are questionable.  

IC-Catalyst Solutions:

  • Automates Open-Silicon Design Methodology.
    - Brings consistency in design practices
    - Always "ON" QoR.
    - Any override is tracked and approved by design manager.
    - Provides functionality to recreate / retrace.
  • Intelligent Design Optimization (IDO).
    - Captures and measure results.
    - Compares and contrasts quality of results.
    - Provides feedback for improvement.
    - Suggests corrective actions.
  • Brings Predictability and Quality.

Resource Management

Issues Today:

  • Hardware resource management.
    - Non-optimal usage of machine resources.
  • License management.
    - Ad-hoc method of allocating license resources for projects and tracking them.

IC-Catalyst Solutions:

  • Hardware Resource Management.
    - Pooling of computer resources and job queuing.
    - Task based machine allocation.
    - Provides platform to optimize H/W resources.
  • License Management.
    - Project-based policy definitions for license mgmt.
    - Task-based license usage.
    - Enables efficient utilization and tracking of license usage.
  • Supported by scalable I/T infrastructure.

Program Management
Issues Today:

  • Tracking of design schedules.
  • Efficient project-based costing.
  • Visibility at different abstraction levels for different management levels.

IC-Catalyst Solutions:

  • Powerful and efficient project management.
    - Central communication platform for design, management and customers.
    - Completely Real-Time data driven.
  • Automated web-based real time project status report generation.
  • Highlights problems and forces resolution.
  • Increases ASIC Program Manager and Design Manager productivity.
  • Enables project-based accounting.