Free layout viewer serves trillion transistors

Micro Magic is an IC design company that was sold to Juniper Networks for $260 million in 2000. In 2004 Mark Santoro, Micro Magic's original chief executive and its CEO once again, joined with other Micro Magic team members to relaunch the company and improve its software. In May 2006 Micro Magic announced that it's open for business again, and is offering four tools — a layout editor, a design capture tool, a data path compiler and a megacell memory compiler.

The Max-View layout viewer is a new offering from Micro Magic. "It's a new space for us, so to attract folks we are giving it away for free for the first year," said Santoro. The viewer will be free until the Design Automation Conference in June 2008. It's not beta code, Santoro noted — it's a "production tested" product.

"It's faster than anything out there," Santoro said. "It can load any chip and redisplay it in real time. We have tested it on some of the world's biggest chips, and the redisplay was instant."

According to Micro Magic, the viewer lets users see an entire chip design and zoom, pan, push, and pop; control layer visibility; use a cell hierarchy browser; debug after placement and routing; check design rule errors with an interface to Mentor Graphics' Calibre product; select and check net connections; and view a 3D representation of the layout.

The free Max-View licenses are available to U.S. based engineers at organizations actively working in IC design or research. Multiple licenses per company are allowed. Engineers can register on line for a free license.