Virtuosity: Accelerate Your EM-IR Closure with Voltus-XFi Custom Power Integrity Solution

Would you like to sign off Electromigration and IR-drop on analog and custom blocks 3X or even faster?

Yes, you heard it right! This is what some of our customers say about the productivity gain after upgrading to Cadence Voltus-XFi Custom Power Integrity Solution from Cadence Voltus-Fi.

Electromigration and IR-drop (EM-IR) analysis is not a tool – in fact, it is an intricate flow that encompasses parasitic extraction, post-layout simulation, and in-depth analysis of the results. You need to make careful decisions at every stage of the flow. During extraction, the process and temperature must be chosen correctly. Additionally, the extractor should be set up such that a good quality DSPF with all necessary physical information is produced. During simulation, you need to tune the EM-IR engine for accuracy and performance--this is especially true for large blocks where the DSPF contains millions of parasitic Rs and Cs. If you are an advanced node user, then capturing the self-heating effect (SHE) of devices on the interconnects is recommended. But, setting this up through Reliability Analysis coupled with the enablement of the SHE options can be an arduous task! Finally, we must bear in mind that the goal of EM-IR analysis is to ensure that the layout is robust, and that might easily require a few iterations. Once you have modified the layout, you need to go fishing for the last saved setups for all the flow steps to keep the results consistent. This has been a real challenge for our Voltus-Fi users.

Voltus-XFi aims to solve these issues by providing you with a single cockpit to drive the EM-IR flow. It is the next-generation solution for signoff EM-IR analysis of analog or custom blocks and is certified by most leading foundries. The heart of the Voltus-XFi flow is a new view type in Virtuoso - this is where the setup for extraction, simulation, and analysis of the device under test (DUT) is stored, allowing you to re-run the flow at the click of a button! This cockpit will automatically apply all the foundry and process-specific settings for your design, ensuring accurate results from the start.

Now, you must be wondering where does the measurable productivity boost come from? There are two main factors behind this:

• Faster Analysis - The default simulator setup in the Voltus-XFi flow is based on a patented two-stage method in Spectre X. Keeping the same level of accuracy, Voltus-XFi gives you a much faster simulation as compared to the Voltus-Fi flow. Also, in Voltus-Fi, tuning the accuracy and performance involves umpteen options to be tweaked. But in Voltus-XFi, we have made this as straightforward as choosing a preset for Spectre X. You choose the EM-IR preset, and the engine takes care of the rest.
• Result Loading time in Layout Editor - In Voltus-XFi, we have created a new results database optimized for loading in the GUI. This leads to faster visualization of results and a much shorter turnaround time.

A Case in Point

The table below compares the simulation time and EM-IR result loading time for a 3nm PLL design. The data corroborates the performance boost discussed earlier in this article.

There’s More

Let’s also talk about the non-quantifiable but pertinent benefits of the Voltus-XFi solution. A salient feature is the setup organization that stores all flow settings in one DFII view. This view can be managed using your chosen version management software, so the setup always accompanies the DUT. Furthermore, the new Voltus-XFi Results Browser presents the results through a docked assistant, allowing you to quickly identify the nets of interest. The in-canvas debugging assisted by information balloons and comprehensive information provided for electromigration checks simplifies signing off the layout.

The following diagram draws a comparison between Voltus-Fi and Voltus-XFi across different user experience parameters:

Are you now ready to upgrade your EM-IR solution to Voltus-XFi Custom Power Integrity Solution?

Related Resources

Rapid Adoption Kits	Voltus-XFi Rapid Adoption Kit
User Guides​	Voltus-XFi User Guide
Blogs	Introducing Spectre X EMIR Voltus-XFi

For more information on Cadence Voltus-XFi Custom Power Integrity Solution, visit www.cadence.com/voltus-xfi.

Contact Us

For any questions or general feedback, please write to custom_ic_blogs@cadence.com.

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