Summary of Front-end Design Tools.

Summary

FE chip designers enter use design capture tools to enter their logic design ideas into the computer. These tools support block diagrams, schematic diagrams, or hardware description languages. The output is a netlist of logic gates and interconnecting wires.

Simulator tools verify the design using the netlist and test patterns developed by the design engineer. Test bench tools assist the test generation work. There are several kinds of simulators and simulation accelerators. As chips grow more complex, it takes more compute power to simulate them in a reasonable time.

Formal verification can catch some design errors by checking for the design intent. Static timing analyzer tools can check for timing errors more quickly than simulation.

Digital systems use high-speed clock pulses to synchronize the logic functions. Timing faults can occur if signals arrive at flip-flops or registers after the clock has occurred. Timing closure is the critical process of fixing all the timing errors. Hopefully, the chip performance goals can be met as well.

Manufacturing tests supplant the engineering tests after a first chip is proven to work. Automatic test pattern generation creates optimized test patterns to check all stuck-at faults. Boundary scan and built-in self-test can speed up the chip testing.

Low-power design tools and techniques are used in portable applications. Power estimation tools ensure that the chip will not get too hot or exceed the power budget.

Synthesis is the bridge from FE to BE design. It maps the FE netlist to a process-specific netlist with physical views.

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