Virtuoso Studio: Design, Planning, and Analysis - The 3 Sides of a Coin, Episode 1

Our new AI-powered custom design solution, Virtuoso Studio, leverages our 30 years of industry knowledge and leadership, providing innovative features, reimagined infrastructure for unrivalled productivity, and new levels of integration that stretch beyond classic design boundaries. In this blog series, learn how the best analog design tools just got better to help you keep pace with your challenging design issues.

Design Planning and Analysis is the default floorplanning solution that brings together Design Planning, Congestion Analysis, and Virtuoso Floorplanner under a consolidated Plan menu in Virtuoso Layout Suite EXL and higher tiers. This is the latest step in our journey to improve the implementation and integration of all our planning functionality. The Design Planning and Analysis tool provides you maximum flexibility with planning and analyzing analog and mixed-signal chips, IPs, and blocks, whether you are working at mature or advanced nodes.

Enhancements in Virtuoso Design Planning and Analysis

In the Virtuoso Studio IC23.1 base release, Virtuoso Design Planning and Analysis came up with several enhancements to improve the user experience, increase productivity, and provide advanced features for complex designs.

Add Pins on Different Purposes in the Pin Tool

You can now add any existing pin on specific purposes in the Add Pin On Different Purposes form of the Pin Tool. This lets you select multiple purposes at the same time.

Enhanced Analyze Connectivity Form

The updated, modern and intuitive user interface of the Analyze Connectivity form now makes it easier for users to navigate and perform tasks. You can view the change in net count and line width in Block mode when you switch between All, Common, and Exclusive options in the Net count and length field of the Analyze Connectivity form. This lets you view the net count and length at the center of the larger block when multiple blocks are selected in the Block mode.

In the following example, the net count between three selected blocks is 2 and the average net length between all the blocks is 646.

Modify the Site Definition Width During IO Row Creation

You can now change the width of the site definitions to abut rows during IO row creation. This lets you have some overlapped rows to ensure that pad placements are abutted. In case of IO placement for two rows, if the cells are of the exact height as the rows, adjusting the site definitions allows abutted placement.

Enhanced Promote Pins Form

In the Promote Pins form, all the pin promotion fields have been reorganized into a separate progressive disclosure for improved usability.

The enhancements in the Virtuoso Design Planning and Analysis tool are a significant step forward for designers and engineers. With the latest features and capabilities, you can create advanced and complex designs with greater precision and efficiency. Whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out, the Design Planning and Analysis tool in Virtuoso Studio is an essential tool for creating and optimizing integrated circuits.

Related Resources

Video	Introducing Design Planning and Analysis
Product Manual	Virtuoso Design Planning and Analysis User Guide
Rapid Adoption Kits	Introducing Virtuoso Design Planner
Blogs	Virtuosity: Design, Plan, and Analysis - The 3 Sides Of A Coin, Episode 1 Virtuosity: Design, Plan, and Analysis - The 3 Sides Of A Coin, Episode 2

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By Swaleha Parvin