Simulator provides first silicon success

Silicon Access Networks has used Nassda's HSIM full-chip circuit simulator to achieve fully functioning first silicon of 10Gbit/s mixed-signal ICs for its iFlow data path processing platform.

Silicon Access Networks has used Nassda's HSIM full-chip hierarchical circuit simulator to achieve fully functioning first silicon of 10Gbit/s mixed-signal ICs for its iFlow data path processing platform.

iFlow is used in networking routers and switches.

Silicon Access Networks replaced older "fast-Spice" simulators with HSIM for all detailed timing verification of its entire iFlow IC family.

"Our iFlow data path processing platform enables networking equipment manufacturers to develop more powerful systems with fewer components", said Perry Constantine, president and CEO of Silicon Access Networks.

"Our iFlow ICs offer manufacturers unmatched performance and flexibility for meeting the evolving needs of carrier-class applications.

Nassda's tools and support helped our designers ensure that these sophisticated ICs worked right the first time, avoiding the delays that can be so costly in this competitive marketplace".

The Silicon Access Networks iFlow family includes ICs for packet processing, traffic classification and other functions that are essential for high-end internetworking applications such as high-density enterprise and metro Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) line cards, 10GbE uplinks, OC192c packet-over-Sonet interfaces and edge routing.

By integrating processor cores, very large memory arrays and analogue/mixed-signal elements, the multi-million-transistor iFlow IC designs exceeded the capacity of older "fast-Spice" simulators.

However, the Silicon Access Networks development team was able to perform full-chip transistor-level simulations needed to verify detailed timing performance in these designs by using HSIM.

As a result, Silicon Access Networks achieved first-silicon success for its iFlow ICs, which were fabricated in a 0.13-micron process at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC).

"For innovative designs such as Silicon Access Networks' iFlow ICs, comprehensive verification is vital for avoiding silicon respins and for achieving quick time-to-market", said Sang Wang, CEO of Nassda.

"We believe HSIM offers the capacity, speed and precision needed to verify correct performance of today's highly integrated leading-edge designs.

We're delighted to work with Silicon Access Networks to meet their needs for full-chip transistor-level timing verification".

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