Keeping Pace with Innovations: Midyear 2025 Engineering Design Aids (Part 1)
In the rapidly evolving world of electronic design automation (EDA), several leading tools are making a significant impact. These tools, primarily from established vendors such as Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens, Ansys, and Keysight Technologies, are distinguished by their emphasis on AI integration, cloud-native architectures, and advanced capabilities for complex chip design.
Synopsys Synopsys.ai™
Synopsys' full-stack AI-driven EDA suite, Synopsys.ai™, is designed to streamline the design, verification, testing, and manufacturing of advanced chips, including multi-die and AI-specific architectures. The suite offers predictive analysis and anomaly detection, and it supports cloud-based workflows for scalability and team collaboration.
Cadence AI-based Layout Automation Tool
Cadence's AI-based layout automation tool reduces floorplanning time by 35%, enhancing the efficiency of physical design processes.
Cadence Cloud-Native Verification Platform
Cadence's cloud-native verification platform boosts simulation throughput by 45%, reflecting advances in verification speed and scalability in cloud environments.
Siemens 3D IC Design Verification Tool
Siemens' 3D IC design verification tool handles complex 3D integrated circuit verification, managing over 15,000 connectivity checks which is vital for next-gen multi-die chips.
Ansys Multiphysics Simulation Platform
Ansys' multiphysics simulation platform supports thermal simulations from -100°C to 300°C, enabling robust modeling of chip behavior under extreme conditions.
Keysight High-Frequency Circuit Simulation Tool
Keysight's high-frequency circuit simulation tool supports frequencies up to 110 GHz, critical for cutting-edge RF and mmWave semiconductor design.
Industry Trends
AI and ML Capabilities
Extensive incorporation of AI and ML capabilities in EDA tools is a notable trend, with 22% of new tool launches in 2023 featuring AI. These advancements enhance design prediction, automation, and error detection.
Cloud-Based EDA Platforms
Cloud-based EDA platforms are growing in popularity, offering on-demand compute resources, facilitating faster design cycles, real-time collaboration for distributed teams, and better support for automotive-grade and high-complexity chips.
Low-Power Design Tools and Quantum Computing Chip Design
The expansion of low-power design tools and emerging support for quantum computing chip design reflect new frontiers in semiconductor innovation.
Specialised EDA Tools
Ansys RedHawk-SC
Ansys RedHawk-SC is an EDA tool that performs power-integrity, thermal, and reliability analysis on complex SoCs, utilizing advanced power analytics (APA) and SigmaDVD technology to detect and correct dynamic voltage drop.
proteanTecs Proteus
proteanTecs Proteus is a featured EDA tool used throughout product lifecycles. It collects real-time data on critical parameters, including voltage, temperature, timing margins, and interconnect quality, and processes it using advanced machine-learning algorithms and data-fusion techniques.
Cadence Verisium Debug
Cadence Verisium Debug integrates all of Cadence's verification engines and comes equipped with apps for automated regression failure classification, identifying likely root cause signals, linking code changes to introduced bugs, AI-assisted multi-run debugging, and AI-driven test suite optimization and verification planning.
Cadence Cerebrus Intelligent Chip Explorer
Cadence's Cerebrus Intelligent Chip Explorer is an AI-driven platform for digital full-flow implementation, designed to optimize chip design automatically for improved power, performance, and area (PPA) metrics.
In summary, these top EDA tools are redefining how silicon gets designed and verified today, going beyond just simulation speed or timing closure. They are equipped to handle bigger chips, tighter nodes, and shorter schedules without compromising on quality. Tools like Siemens' mPower Digital, Ansys RedHawk-SC, proteanTecs Proteus, Synopsys.ai Copilot for EDA, Cadence Cerebrus, and Cadence Verisium Debug are leading the industry, offering AI-driven automation and analysis, cloud-native infrastructures for scalability and collaboration, superior verification techniques for complex designs, and advanced simulation capabilities covering thermal, frequency, and quantum domains. This positions these tools to handle the increasing complexity and performance demands of modern semiconductor chips, including AI accelerators, automotive applications, and emerging quantum devices.
- In the field of education-and-self-development, Synopsys.ai™, an AI-driven suite from Synopsys, is a valuable resource for students and professionals interested in electronic design automation (EDA), offering predictive analysis and anomaly detection, and supporting cloud-based workflows for scalability and team collaboration.
- The entertainment industry can benefit from advancements in EDA technology, with tools like Cadence Verisium Debug, equipped with AI-assisted multi-run debugging and AI-driven test suite optimization, providing streamlined and efficient processes for game and app developers working on visually complex and CPU-intensive projects.
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