MOUNTAIN VIEW, USA: Synopsys Inc. announced that Entropic Communications Inc., a provider of silicon solutions to enable connected home entertainment, has successfully taped out its latest home networking chip using Zroute, Synopsys' new routing technology in IC Compiler.

Zroute's unique architecture with state-of-the-art routing algorithms and native multi-threading support enabled Entropic to improve routing runtimes, while still delivering high quality of results in timing, area and manufacturability. Compared to traditional routers, Zroute delivered higher quality of results, a zero-DRC (design rule check) layout with fewer wires and total vias, improved redundant via rate for better manufacturability and a significantly smaller die size.

"As a pioneer in connected home entertainment technologies, Entropic is always looking to take advantage of the latest advances in design tools," said Bill Lind, director of Engineering at Entropic.  "As a Zroute early adopter, we saw significant improvements in runtime and manufacturability, particularly in via optimization.  Based on these results, we decided to deploy Zroute for the tapeout of our latest home networking chip.  Zroute was a key factor in further reducing the die size while still meeting timing and manufacturability goals."

Zroute was architected from the ground up to take advantage of best-in-class routing technologies and meet the demands of companies like Entropic that are developing complex, high-performance chips. Utilizing concurrent design-for-manufacturability (DFM) optimization techniques, including soft rules, via redundancy, and wire spreading and widening, Zroute makes an efficient trade-off between manufacturability and the traditional design goals of timing, area, power and signal integrity.

In addition, Zroute's native multi-threading support takes advantage of the latest multi-core microprocessor architectures to deliver near-linear scalability of runtimes as the number of threads increases.

"Synopsys continues to invest in new technologies to meet customers' evolving needs," said Antun Domic, senior vice president and general manager of Synopsys' Implementation Group.  "Zroute technology in IC Compiler is already driving customer success, and Entropic's tapeout is an excellent example of the differentiated performance and productivity enabled by the innovative Zroute architecture."

Zroute was announced in May 2008 and is targeted for general production availability as a standard feature in the September 2008 release of IC Compiler.