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FAST SPICE SIMULATOR TARGETS DIGITAL, MIXED-SIGNAL, AND ANALOG DESIGNS

EDA start-up Nascentric has introduced a Fast Spice simulation tool for analog, mixed-signal, and custom digital designs that claims true Spice accuracy and higher speeds than other commercial Fast Spice simulators.

The OmegaSim tool uses a patented currentbased SPICE model and engine. It quickly classifies elements in a design, groups them, and then assigns each group to a simulation engine that the company optimized for a particular operation. “Each of the engines focuses on what it does best,” says Rahm Shastry, Nascentric’s president and chief executive officer. “The transistor engine is complex, but you don’t need the same complexity for interconnect because interconnect is only RLC [resistance/inductance/ capacitance]. Thus, the interconnect engine can be much simpler, and interconnect can simulate fast and accurately. The same goes for SRAM-bit cells, which go to an SRAM engine.”

OmegaSim also has multithreaded engines, further speeding simulation. Users can run the tool in digital or analog mode. The digital mode has a submode for verification or analysis. In digital mode operating on one thread, the tool typically runs 10 times faster than other commercial Fast Spice simulators, Shastry claims.

On a multithread platform, such as an Intel (www.intel.com) CoreDuo, the tool can run two times faster. In digital-verification mode, the tool provides 2 to 4% the accuracy of Spice, and, in digitalanalysis mode, the tool provides 1 to 2% its accuracy.

Nascentric licenses the tools under a threadbased licensing model. It costs $1200/thread/ month or $12,000/thread/ year for the digital-only version. The company offers the mixed-signal tool for $500 more per thread/ month or $5000 more per thread/year.

Nascentric, www.nascentric.com.