Prolific improves standard cell generator

Prolific improves standard cell generator
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Prolific Inc. has upgraded its ProGenesis standard cell library-generation tool with a new hierarchical transistor-level synthesis engine, a dynamic router, and an improved graphical user interface.

Paul de Dood, president and chief executive officer of Prolific (Newark, Calif.), said the improvements to ProGenesis 2002 make it "vastly superior" to competitive tools on the market and to its previous version.

"With the new transistor-level synthesis engine, the tool can not only identify structures but transistors at the individual transistor level, which makes the tool very accurate," said de Dood. "And with the new router, we guarantee if there is a solution to a problem in a cell, the router can automatically fix it."

The previous version of the tool could only fix 70 percent of problem cells, de Dood said.

The tool's router can now generated double-height cells, which are required in many designs to save area, he said. "We also improved the GUI, so customers can now develop an entire library in a week's time."

Bleeding-edge customers are currently using the ProGenesis tool to generate libraries for 100- and 70-nanometer processes, he said.

Prices for a one-year license for the tool start at $125,000.