IMEC, Altos Design collaborate

PARIS: IMEC, headquartered in Leuven, Belgium, and Altos Design Automation Incorporated, based in San Jose, California, the United States, are collaborating to provide re-characterisation of standard foundry or library vendor libraries, including core and IO cells at different process, temperatures and/or voltages. 

In a joint statement, IMEC and Altos Design Automation said that the library re-characterisation service is based on Altos Design Automation’s ‘Liberate’ cell characterisation product.

The validation of the re-characterisation is done using Altos Design Automation’s ‘Liberate LV’ library validation system. 

The companies explained that, when designing in 65-nm and 40-nm nodes, re-characterisation of standard cell libraries is increasingly necessary in order to get the delay, timing constraints, switching power, leakage and noise for all the corners needed for accurate design signoff.

IMEC said that it has, through the collaboration with Altos Design Automation, extended its ASIC prototyping and volume fabrication service with library re-characterisation, adding that it can use ‘Liberate’ and ‘Liberate LV’ to qualify rapidly library views for electrical signoff of timing, noise and power.