Cadence ENCOUNTER CONFORMAL ECO DESIGNER Datasheet

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Cadence

®

 Encounter

®

 Conformal

®

 ECO Designer enables 

designers to implement RTL engineering change orders 

(ECOs) for pre- and post-mask layout. It combines automatic 

ECO analysis and design netlist modification with world-class 

equivalence checking to provide superior performance,  

productivity, capacity, and ease-of-use.

management recognize ECOs as a time of 

high stress, long work hours, and uncer-

tainty. Even if the logic change is imple-

mented in the netlist, there might not be 

enough spare gates on the mask to imple-

ment the change. 

A better method is needed for implement-

ing ECOs. Available flows for processing 

ECOs may remove some of the uncer-

tainty of whether the product will work, 

but they are still a manual process that 

typically requires many cycles to achieve 

correct implementation. And once the 

ECO is logically implemented in the 

netlist, there is no guarantee if the change 

can be implemented in the physical 

netlist. If the ECO were implemented with 

only metal-layer changes, the cost would 

be greatly reduced. Having this early 

knowledge of implementability, a design 

team can change plans and target work-

able solutions rather than wasting time in 

failed attempts and extended schedules.

ENCOUNTER 

CONFORMAL  

ECO DESIGNER

Cadence offers a complete ECO solution 

that spans different parts of the RTL-to-

GDS flow to achieve the highest quality 

ECOs. This solution consists of Encounter 

Conformal ECO Designer coupled with 

the Cadence SoC Encounter™ RTL-to-

GDSII System. This combined solution 

brings automation and predictability to 

the ECO process. 

Encounter Conformal ECO Designer is a 

unique technology that offers functional 

ECO analysis, optimization, and genera-

tion capability. It combines proven equiva-

lence checking and functional checks, and 

uses formal techniques to analyze and 

implement the functional ECO. Encounter 

Conformal ECO Designer is available in 

two configurations: an XL package, which 

targets primarily the pre-mask ECO flow; 

and a GXL package, which additionally 

targets the post-mask ECO flow using 

metal-only layers and spare gates.

ENCOUNTER CONFORMAL

ECO DESIGNER

ENCOUNTER 

CONFORMAL 

TECHNOLOGY 

To shorten overall design-cycle times and 

minimize silicon re-spins, designers need 

production-proven validation. Encounter 

Conformal verification technologies  

offer the most comprehensive solutions 

for equivalence checking, design con-

straint management, functional ECO 

analysis and generation, and low-power 

design verification.

ENGINEERING  

CHANGE ORDERS

Engineering change orders (ECOs) have a 

wide variety of implementations that range 

from adding or removing logic in a design 

to more subtle changes such as cleaning 

up routing for signal integrity. A logical 

change to a design netlist is referred to as 

functional ECO while all other changes are 

classified as non-functional. All ECOs are 

focused on delivering products to market 

as fast as possible with minimal risk to 

correctness and schedule. Engineering and