Signal Integrity Software, Inc. (SiSoft), a developer of EDA simulation software, announced the release of more than 20 variations of its Quantum Channel Designer (QCD) Design Kits, available for delivery from IP and semiconductor vendors including Xilinx, IBM, LSI Logic and Synopsys. The kits allow designers to optimize serial link designs for cost and performance by simulating how their high-speed interconnect will interact with specific semiconductor vendors' SerDes transceivers.
According to SiSoft, the QCD Design Kits combine validated, compliant IBIS-AMI SerDes simulation models with a use model that allows designers to drop-in their channel topologies and run simulations to determine their proposed design's operating voltage and timing margins. The kits are currently available for devices running at speeds up to 15 Gbps, with kits supporting speeds up to 25 Gbps in development.
SiSoft demonstrated correlation with IC vendors' internal simulation tools and measured lab data at this month's DesignCon 2010, where it also co-presented a paper with IBM detailing the process of developing and correlating IBM's IBIS-AMI models. Developed by a consortium of EDA, semiconductor and systems companies, this modeling standard for SerDes transceivers enables simulation of multi-Gigabit serial links. IBIS-AMI was approved as part of the IBIS 5.0 Specification in August 2008.
"We have worked closely with SiSoft to develop and correlate our IBIS-AMI models to reference simulations and hardware," says Anthony Torza, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Xilinx. "These IBIS-AMI models provide customers with accurate simulation results at speeds more than 100 to 1,000 times faster than traditional simulation methodologies."
A QCD Design Kit is currently in development for Synopsys' DesignWare PHY IP for PCI Express 3.0 (Gen. 3).
"We've worked with SiSoft to create IBIS-AMI models across our SerDes based PHY's in IBM technologies," comments Navraj Nandra, Director of Marketing, Analog/Mixed Signal IP for Synopsys. "SiSoft has demonstrated continued leadership in SerDes modeling by driving the development of the IBIS-AMI standard, and then becoming a provider of IBIS-AMI model development, correlation and validation services."
