Cadence® Virtuoso® ADE Explorer provides an entry-level design cockpit that is designed to test the circuit during early development, providing support for schematic and specification-driven GUI modes, as well as basic variation analysis such as corners and Monte Carlo statistics. Part of the Virtuoso ADE Suite, Virtuoso ADE Explorer is designed to work independently and with the Virtuoso ADE Assembler to provide a cohesive and complete design solution for analog, custom, RF, and mixed-signal ICs.
Overview of Virtuoso ADE Suite
Cadence® Virtuoso® ADE Explorer provides an entry-level design cockpit that is designed to test the circuit during early development, providing support for schematic and specification-driven GUI modes, as well as basic variation analysis such as corners and Monte Carlo statistics. Part of the Virtuoso ADE Suite, Virtuoso ADE Explorer is designed to work independently and with the Virtuoso ADE Assembler to provide a cohesive and complete design solution for analog, custom, RF, and mixed-signal ICs.
The Virtuoso ADE Suite enables designers to fully explore, analyze, and verify a design against design goals so that they can maintain design intent throughout the design cycle. As the industry’s leading solution for analog simulation control and management, the Virtuoso ADE Suite allows users to flexibly select the product(s) that best support their design goals as they move through the design flow.
The Virtuoso ADE Explorer provides a quick entry into the analysis process with easy execution of simulations, including support for running Monte Carlo statistics, corner sweeps, pass/fail analysis, and real-time tuning with the Cadence Spectre® Simulation Platform.
The Virtuoso ADE Assembler extends the Virtuoso ADE Explorer’s capabilities across multiple testbenches simultaneously, allowing the user to monitor all aspects of the larger analog block they are creating by enabling easy and direct review of all results and generating specification-comparison sheets and datasheets as needed. The Virtuoso ADE Assembler also contains targeted features for parasitic analysis, design migration with parameter re-centering, and worst-case corner development to simplify variation analysis tasks.
To handle the key challenges of advanced-node or high-sigma designs, the Virtuoso Variation Option enables fast Monte Carlo analysis for FinFETs, high-yield estimation, mismatch contribution, sensitivity, and advanced optimization flows.
Finally, the Virtuoso ADE Assembler supplies information to the Virtuoso ADE Verifier, which is designed to match the highest level circuit specifications with individual analysis tests being developed by different users or design sites. Because status is managed in one location, as shown in Figure 1, circuit architects know the complete status of the design at all times.
Virtuoso ADE Explorer Overview
Virtuoso ADE Explorer—the entry point to the totally reimagined analog design suite of tools—is more than just a base system, as it is designed to fully test the circuit at the beginning stages of development. Exploration can occur in two modes:
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Schematic mode, with docked waveform probes that allow the engineer to stay focused on the task. This mode integrates seamlessly with the Spectre Simulation Platform to support real-time tuning. - GUI mode, a specification-driven environment that allows designers to set measurements and develop datasheets showing the pass/fail status of those measurements during the simulation.
Additionally, the Virtuoso ADE Explorer has a complete set of tools for examining circuit variation, including built-in corners analysis and Monte Carlo statistical analysis. It shares a common data view with the other tools in the suite, so designs naturally progress from single tests to multiple tests to significant regression testing, greatly simplifying testing. See Figure 2.
Benefits
- Easy-to-use and complete cockpit for circuit analysis in a single testbench mode
- Maximum efficiency in the script-driven mode using OCEAN scripting
- Close integration with Virtuoso Schematic Editor for interactive analysis, including real-time tuning using Spectre Simulation Platform
- Easy design and test parameterization for fast circuit exploration
- Extensive corners analysis built into the cockpit for testing process corners across specifications
- Monte Carlo statistics built into the cockpit to test statistical variance
- Ability to create a corner from a statistical corner
- Configurable window for optimum display of relevant data
- Extensive waveform data analysis techniques available for exploration of simulation results to maintain design intent
- Extract quantifiable results with built-in calculator and extensive list of functions
Features
Specification-driven design
Virtuoso ADE Explorer is designed to allow the creation of measurements that can be monitored for a single test configuration. The results are visible in the datasheet-centric display in the GUI, making it clear which specifications are passing and which are failing. During the earliest stages of design, the schematic mode enables Virtuoso ADE Explorer to easily use real-time tuning and waveform “balloons” that act as probes of your design. By simply changing variables and monitoring the waveform balloons, an engineer can hone into solid values quickly with a minimum of visual intrusion. See Figure 3.
The balloons can also be configured to show operating point information, DC node voltages, transient current values, etc. When small, they show the engineer the shape of the curve. Any probe can be stretched into a full Virtuoso Visualization and Analysis waveform window when further detailed exploration of the curve is needed. No need to re-plot, the information is already in the window.
Variation design built-in
The Virtuoso ADE Explorer supports both corners analysis and Monte Carlo statistical analysis, as well as sensitivity and reliability analysis, to allow engineers to use these advanced techniques at the beginning of their design work. When these types of analyses are engaged, the GUI is able to display the information in a coherent way, allowing the engineer to get a complete sense of the circuit status under various operating conditions or over process corners.
Specifications
Interactive simulation control
- Specification-driven environment
- Schematic-based environment with live waveform balloons for easy waveform probing
- Support for Spectre Simulation Platform checks and asserts capability
- Design exploration with sweeps, corners, and Monte Carlo analysis across a single test
- Real-time tuning for Spectre Simulation Platform to facilitate centering operation and S-parameter analysis
- Set-up pane easily shows a state of the test parameters in an easy-to-read tree structure
- Integration with Spectre Simulation Platform
- Datasheet filtering assists in finding troublespots
- Quick overview window of test results against target specification
- Cross-probing and annotation to schematics and layout
- Shared data repository with Virtuoso ADE Assembler
Built-in variation analyses
- Monte Carlo analysis
- Corner analysis
- Corner creation from statistical samples
- Sensitivity analysis
- Reliability analysis
Waveform display
- Supports multiple y-axes, strip plots, and Smith charts
- Built-in waveform calculator
- Independent sub-window displays
- Horizontal and vertical measurement markers
- Independent pan and zoom capability
- User-defined labels and titles
- Color and line style controls
- Signal browser
- Color-coordinated cross-probing to schematics
Distributed processing
- Distribution of multiple simulations
- Efficient use of computer farms
- Built-in basic load balancing and interface to other load-balancing tools
- Job monitoring and controlling functions
- Graphical user interfaces for set-up and viewing status