Press Release

Apache Announces RedHawk-EV, the Next Generation Physical Power Integrity Solution for Power Closure Sign-off

Mountain View, Calif. - February 21, 2005 - Apache Design Solutions, the technology leader in physical power integrity solutions for system-on-chip (SoC) designs, today announced RedHawk-EV, the next-generation dynamic power analysis and verification solution. RedHawk-EV provides: 1) increased coverage for design weakness identification and exploration, 2) automatic supply noise repair for power closure sign-off, and 3) higher capacity for transient simulation of SoC designs.

RedHawk-EV combines the new EV technology and Apache’s proven full-chip vectorless dynamic solution with network and timing analysis for extensive coverage of the power space and exploration of physical design weakness. By identifying the precise locations of design weaknesses and their impact on dynamic voltage drop and ground bounce, RedHawk-EV allows designers to not only verify potential power-related functional and timing behavior, but also avoid excessive over-design.

“We have used RedHawk-SDL for complex ASIC designs over the past year,” said Shinichi Kozu, senior engineering manager, broadband LSI technology strategic business unit, NEC Electronics America, Inc. “The new network-aware vectorless capability in RedHawk-EV enabled us to quickly identify several potential power structure issues in a current high-performance tapeout, which may have been more difficult to find with static-only analysis.”

The EV technology adds an optional capability that can automatically repair the cause of supply noise to eliminate dynamic and static “hot spots,” which can produce timing failures and low yield. The EV technology offers targeted wire fixing, including non-uniform grid re-sizing to meet the needs of high power regions. In combination with wire fixing, EV recommends decoupling capacitance placement with consideration for impact on total leakage current. From early in the design process through final validation, RedHawk-EV not only identifies and analyzes the causes of dynamic power issues but also quickly and effectively fixes the problem to ensure power closure sign-off.

With new database techniques embedded within the EV technology, designers are no longer constrained by the memory footprint of their available computing resources. RedHawk-EV has enabled customers to tape out production designs with more than 15 million placeable instances. In addition, the new database technique can natively handle 45-degree geometries, significantly reducing the memory required to handle such structures.

“Apache led the market 18 months ago by introducing the first vectorless dynamic power solution, and continues to lead with more than 30 worldwide customer adoptions and extensive silicon correlations. Today we are introducing the next generation technology targeting the challenges of upcoming low-power and high-performance designs,” said Andrew Yang, CEO of Apache. “As the market moves beyond 90nm, RedHawk-EV’s power closure flow will play a critical role in silicon success and increased yield.”

Availability

RedHawk-EV will be available in Q2 of this year. It is licensed on Linux, Sun Solaris, and HP-UX.

About Apache Design Solutions

Apache is an EDA software supplier of innovative next-generation silicon integrity platforms for low-power, high-performance system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. By considering all sources of noise that impacts the design, such as power, signal, package / system IO, substrate, and temperature, Apache’s silicon signoff platform enables designers of leading networking, wireless, communication, consumer, and semiconductor companies to detect, fix, and prevent design weaknesses that can result in reduced yield or failed silicon. Apache’s vendor neutral platform enables designers to adopt any industry’s standard physical design flow and is certified by TSMC’s 5.0 and 6.0 Reference Flow (NYSE: TSM). Apache has direct sales and support offices worldwide with over 40 customers, including 7 of the top 10 semiconductor companies.

Apache Design Solutions, NSPICE, RedHawk, PsiWinder, and Vectorless Dynamic are trademarks of Apache Design Solutions, Inc.

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