Cadence ENCOUNTER CONFORMAL ECO DESIGNER Datasheet - page 2
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ENCOUNTER CONFORMAL ECO DESIGNER
Encounter
Conformal
ECO Designer
Encounter
Conformal ECO
Designer GXL
Modified Gate
Netlist
Logic Equivalence Checking
Extended Functional Checks
Clock Domain Crossing Checks
Semantic Checks
Structural Checks
Equivalence Checking Support
for Complex Datapath
Automatic ECO Analysis and
Design Netlist Modification
Physically-Aware Spare Gate
Mapping for Post-Mask ECO
Logic Synthesis (Area,
Power, Timing, Yield)
Datapath and
Test Synthesis
Floorplanning and
Physical Synthesis
RTL
ECOs
Place and Route
Final Layout
Encounter Conformal
ECO Designer
Old Gate/DEF
New RTL w/ECO
Figure 1: Encounter Conformal ECO Designer offers automatic ECO analysis and design netlist modification
BENEFITS
• Providesfasterturnaroundtimeby
minimizing manual intervention and
eliminating time-consuming iterations
• Generatesearlyestimateson
ECO feasibility
• Provideshighvalueinthedesigncycle
when schedule delays are highly visible
• Improvesdesignerproductivityand
offers flexibility to do ECO with
metal-only layers, thus reducing
manufacturing costs
• Reducesverificationtimesignificantly
by verifying multimillion-gate designs
much faster than traditional gate-level
simulation
• Decreasestheriskofmissingcritical
bugs through independent verification
technology
FEATURES
Encounter Conformal ECO Designer com-
bines logic equivalence checking (for the
most complex SoC and datapath-intensive
designs) with functional ECO analysis,
design netlist modification, clock domain
synchronization, and semantics checks.
EQUIVALENCE CHECKING FOR ECO
During development, a design undergoes
numerous iterations prior to final layout,
and each step in this process has the
potential to introduce logical bugs.
Encounter Conformal ECO Designer
checks the functional equivalence of
different versions of a design at these
various stages and enables designers to
identify and correct errors as soon as they
are introduced. Equivalence checking also
plays an important role in the ECO
implementation process. It helps the ECO
analysis tool identify which modules and
logic cones in the design require change
to implement the ECO. For instance in
Figure 2, the original netlist (G1) is com-
pared against the new netlist (G2) to
determine what has changed. Equivalence
checking is also used at the tail end of the
process to make sure the ECO implemen-
tation was successful both for front-end
and back-end signoff.
FUNCTIONAL ECO ANALYSIS
Encounter Conformal ECO Designer has a
built-in ECO analysis engine that can
identify the differences between the origi-
nal design netlist (G1) and the new design
netlist (G2). Users can perform ECO analy-
sis on the entire design or on specific
modules within the design hierarchy,
which is typically more efficient. Once the
ECO analysis step is completed and the
logic change optimized, Encounter
Conformal ECO Designer performs the
necessary netlist modifications to achieve
the new function in the original design
netlist (G1). The output is the ECO netlist
(G3). Alternately, Encounter Conformal