PrimeTime add-on promises chip performance boost

PrimeTime add-on promises chip performance boost
SAN MATEO, Calif. — Expanding beyond liquid-library technology, Prolific Inc. will release an add-on to Synopsys Inc.'s PrimeTime static timing tool April 7 that the company said will improve a design's performance by up to 15 percent.

Developed in concert with Synopsys, the ProTiming add-on will break down into cells a critical path identified by PrimeTime and analyze which cells could be substituted or made larger to up the performance, said Dan Nenni, vice president of marketing for Prolific (Newark, Calif.). Designers can then hand-tweak those cells to meet performance goals, or use Prolific's ProGenesis cell optimizer or a third-party cell optimizer to strengthen the cells, Nenni said.

A detailed review of ProTiming appears in the ESNUG 410 bulletin, which was e-mailed to members Friday (April 4). In it, Dan Parker of LSI Logic said he was generally pleased with the tool's results, but he noted that it doesn't provide a significant benefit in all situations.

Timing tools have come under criticism of late for being overly conservative in their estimates, preventing automated flows from implementing a layout with maximum performance. Some academics are seeking alternatives to timing analysis such as static timing tools.

"We are bringing some of the optimizations done in full-custom, handcrafted designs to those that use automated flows," Nenni said. ProTiming reads standard formats, STA script, Verilog, SPEF and .lib, and outputs an engineering change order for place-and-route tool implementation. The tool must be used with Synopsys' popular PrimeTime tool.

ProTiming has already yielded a 5 percent performance improvement on a handcrafted design and a 10 to 15 percent improvement on designs created with an automated ASIC flow, Nenni said. The tool is scalable, so users can determine the precise number of cells they'd like to optimize, he said. "It's simply a matter of how many cells a user is willing to adjust."

ProTiming will first look for problems by searching combinatorial cells. To further improve performance, users can direct the tool to analyze complex cells such as flip-flops.

Prolific is beta-testing a power optimization product that will downsize transistors to create a low-power design, Nenni said. That tool is still months away from release, but it and ProTiming will expand Prolific's scope, he said.

The company has heretofore targeted library developers working with third-party library design companies and fabrication facilities.

ProTiming could provide a huge boost for the small startup. Recent data from research firm Gartner Dataquest Inc. showed that Synopsys' PrimeTime held a 71 percent share of its competitive market in 2001. To ready itself for the potential new market opportunity, Prolific has added two salespeople, raising its total staff to 12.

Prolific is licensing ProTiming for $125,000 per year.