A Web-based tool that allows chip designers to specify the requirements of their design and then select a silicon foundry to produce their custom IC was introduced Wednesday (Dec. 3) by eSilicon Corp.
The eSilicon IP MarketPlace debuts with pre-loaded memory compilers and I/O libraries, according to the company, which offers semiconductor intellectual property and services for turning out custom chip designs. "We're working on standard-cell libraries," said Lisa Minwell, eSilicon's senior director of IP product marketing. "This will grow over time."
Users of IP MarketPlace will be able to specify a process node, ranging from 16 nanometers up to 180 nanometers, and pick a foundry to make the part after entering other details. The Web tool currently provides access to Dongbu HiTek Co., Ltd.; Globalfoundries Inc.; LFoundry S.r.l.; and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd.
"The goal is to make our IP very transparent," Minwell said. "We're giving our customers the same system we use."
She added, "This goes much, much deeper than IP portals that serve as IP catalogs. Using the IP MarketPlace environment, users can download front-end views, run simulations in their own environments, then come back to purchase the back-end views of the IP and I/Os that best fit their design."
IP MarketPlace is hosted on eSilicon's servers at its corporate headquarters in San Jose, Calif., according to Minwell.
According to eSilicon, IP MarketPlace can generate graphical analyses of power, performance and area (PPA) data, and users can then view that data graphically or in table format, or download it to Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet program. Once an IC design is completed, users can continue to make changes and then pay for the IP when they're ready to tape out the design, the company says.
The online tool enables users to build and download a complete chip memory subsystem, eSilicon states. Memory compilers available include 28HPM ternary content-addressable memory. The TCAM is "eSilicon's flagship product," Minwell said. The company also offers four-port register files and two-port asynchronous register files.
General-purpose I/O libraries range from 16nm to 180nm, as do specialty I/O libraries, which include 1.8-volt or 3.3-volt low-voltage CMOS I/O libraries.
The eSilicon IP MarketPlace is available without cost or obligation on the eSilicon.com website, as is the rest of the company's Online Tool Suite. An online demonstration of IP MarketPlace is scheduled for next month, and eSilicon is taking signups for that event on its website.
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