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Find the Mercury Computer Systems / Echotek ECAD-X-081500A-BASE at our website: Click HERE

tel:2173529330mailto:[email protected]://artisantg.comhttps://www.artisantg.com/TestMeasurement/75428-1/Mercury-Computer-Systems-Echotek-ECAD-X-081500A-BASE-Dual-Channel-Programmable-A-D-Converterhttps://www.artisantg.com/TestMeasurement/75428-1/Mercury-Computer-Systems-Echotek-ECAD-X-081500A-BASE-Dual-Channel-Programmable-A-D-Converter

www.edn.com March 20, 2003 | edn 13

analog-to-digital con-version along with pro-grammable gate arraysfor user-specific signal-processing algorithms.The Maxim (www.max-im. com) MAX108 8-bitADCs with 100-MHz to1.5-GHz sample ratesconvert the ECAD-X-081500’s analog inputs.

The A/D convertersdemonstrate spurious-freedynamic ranges greater than45 dB at full scale. In addi-

tion, the converters supportdirect digitization for IFs ashigh as 1.4 GHz. Front-panel

connectors capture analog-input, analog-to-digital-clock, synchronization, trig-ger, 128-bit-auxiliary-data,and LVDS-input signals. Thedevice outputs converteddata through dual Race++interfaces, the LVDS output

port, or the VME 64Xinterface. Each channelhas a 4M-sample FIFObuffer along with asmany as three dedicatedFPGAs for user-pro-grammable signal pro-cessing. Prices for theECAD-X-081500 start at$13,000 (one).��Echotek Corp, 1-256-721-1911, www.echotek.

com.��Enter No. 352 at www.edn.com/info.

So long, CD; hello, Kazaa“Five years from now,

you’ll see virtually no

CD stores...Demand is

shifting, and anyone

who thinks it isn’t

going to happen

hasn’t paid attention

to history.”—Mike Dreese, founder of

Newbury Comics, the Northeast’s largest

music retail chain, in The Boston Sunday

Globe, Feb 23, 2003

edgeleading

PCI EXPRESS SHIFTS INTO GEARSeveral companies have recently announced productsupport for PCI Express. Nurlogic (www.nurlogic.com)is developing OpalLink, a 0.13-micron PCI Express“hard”-IP (intellectual-property) core operating at 2.5Gbps/lane with a power consumption of less than 80mW per lane. OpalLink will be available for licensing inthe second quarter. PureSpec from Denali (www.denali.com) allows chip designers to model and verifypresilicon compliance and interoperability for PCIExpress designs. Two protocol analyzers are available:the PETracter from CATC (www.catc.com) and the BusDoctor PCI Express from Data Transit (www.datatransit.com).

In another PCI development, Intel has publishedIntroduction to PCI Express: A Hardware and SoftwareDeveloper’s Guide. The guide, by Intel engineers JustinSchade, Ron Thornburg, and Adam Wilen, is availableat various computer stores or online at Amazon andBarnes and Noble.—by Nicholas Cravotta

What’s hot in the design

community

Edited by Fran Granville

1.5-GHz ADC fits high-bandwidth VME applicationsBy Warren Webb

Targeting signal intelligence, laser rang-ing, and other high-bandwidth applications,Echotek’s new 6U, single-slot VME 64X board fea-

tures one or two channels of high-speed, 8-bit

Echotek’s dual-channel programmable A/Dconverter samples data at 1.5 GHz for high-speed, signal-processing tasks.

Switch RTOSs with no application-code changesMQX is ARC’s royalty-free real-time operating system for its series ofARCTangent configurable-processor cores and for other populararchitectures, including ARM. If you are using MQX, OS Changer letsyou reuse legacy code written for other operating systems, such aspSOS and VxWorks, without rewriting the application. OS Changercovers approximately 90% of the kernel APIs; the remaining 10% ofAPIs, ARC claims, are rarely used.

ARC calls this product a changer rather than a translator because itdoes more than provide a 1-to-1 mapping of system calls betweenoperating systems, which can leave the need to change the source codeof the application. The resulting code is always optimized for MQXbecause the mappings and changes occur at compilation. You cantherefore reuse a code base to more quickly perform development andto ease the transition to a different OS.—by Graham Prophet��ARC International, �44 208 236 2800, www.arc.com.��Enter No. 353at www.edn.com.info.

Artisan Technology Group - Quality Instrumentation ... Guaranteed | (888) 88-SOURCE | www.artisantg.com

14 edn | March 20, 2003 www.edn.com

RGB SENSOR IC PROVIDES SERIALOUTPUTFor color light-to-digital con-version, the TCS230 CMOSdevice from Texas AdvancedOptoelectronic Solutions pro-vides 10- to 12-bit resolutionper color channel. The sensortargets medical diagnosticproducts, color-calibrationunits, and process-controlapplications.

Though not a full-image-capture device, the IC featuresa grid of 64 photodiodes divid-ed by red, green, blue, andclear filters to assess primarycolor and overall intensity. Twoprogramming pins let youidentify which set of photodi-odes report via the output pin.Dynamic range for light sens-ing is 250,000 -to1, and typicaloutput range is 2 Hz to 500kHz. You can pin-programscale factors of 2, 20, or 100%.The eight-pin SOIC sells for$2.67 (1000).—by Bill Schweber��TTeexxaass AAddvvaanncceedd OOppttoo--eelleeccttrroonniicc SSoolluuttiioonnss,, 1-972-673-0759, www.taosinc.com.��Enter No. 355 at www.edn.com/info.

Low-noise amplifier tops 1.5-GHz gain bandwidth

The LMH6624 wideband am-plifier adds ultralow noise tothe product line’s list of at-tributes. When you configurethe device for a 10-dB gainwith �2.5V supplies, the 6624offers a 90-MHz, �3-dBbandwidth and 300V/�secslew rate. Its typical input-

noise voltage is 0.95 nV/�Hz,and the noise current is 2.3pA/�Hz, both measured in a1-MHz bandwidth. The com-bination of wide bandwidthand low noise is attractive forsense amplifiers; ultrasoundpreamps; tape-head ampli-fiers; and other high-speed,

smal l-ampl i tude signal-conditioningapplications in com-munications, med-ical, instrumenta-tion, and audio.

The amplifier’ssecond- and third-order harmonic dis-tortion products aretypically no greaterthan �60 and �78dBc, respectively,measured with a 1-Vp-p, 10-MHz carrierand a 100� load.The amplifier’s max-imum offset is less

than 0.95 mV over tempera-ture. The typical offset driftfalls within 0.2 �V. NationalSemiconductor specifies theLMH6624 with �2.5 and�6V supplies. The maximumidle current is 18 mA overtemperature in either case.The $1.67 (1000) amplifier isavailable in either SOT-23-5or SOIC-8 packages.

National Semiconductor isalso employing the VIP 10process in fabricating nineother recently released high-speed op amps, including the$2.87 (1000) LMH6732 witha resistor-programmable biasthat allows you to optimizethe bandwidth/quiescent-cur-rent trade-off. The SOT-23-6-packaged device also providesa shutdown mode in which itdraws 1 �A. You can get moreinformation about all 10 ofNational’s new high-speed opamps at www.national.com/appinfo/amps.

—by Joshua Israelsohn��National Semiconductor,

www.national.com.��EnterNo. 354 at www.edn.com/info.

National Semiconductor’s VIP-10 comple-mentary-bipolar trench-isolated silicon-on-insulator process produces high-speed circuits that

demand comparatively modest supply currents.

Among National Semiconductor’s 10 new VIP-10 devices are the LMH7724 low-noise ampli-fier and the LMH6732 variable-bandwidth opamp.

edgeleading

DILBERT By Scott Adams

��Sony’s music group lost $132 million during the first six months of its current fiscal year, EMI has cut 1800 positions worldwide, and theWarner Music Group reduced its staff by 1000 over the past two years.—The Boston Sunday Globe, Feb 23, 2003

The TCS230 color sensor inte-grates a 64-photodiode arraywith red, green, blue, andclear filters and an intensity-to-frequency converter togive you a small, low-costcolor and intensity sensorwith resolution as high as 12 bits.



edgeleading

SINGLE-USE FUSESTILL HAS ROLE TO PLAYDespite the availability ofmore complex circuit-protec-tion devices, a basic single-usefuse is sometimes what anapplication or an industrystandard requires. The FT600

series of fuses from theRaychem unit of TycoElectronics is well-suited forcrowded, height- and space-constrained pc boards. To pre-vent any damage to yourunderlying pc-board traces orlayers, the fuses feature lowtemperature rise, and they arerated for 0.5, 1.25, or 2A.Meeting Telcordia and ULspecifications, these devicessell for 40 cents (100,000).

—by Bill Schweber��RRaayycchheemm CCiirrccuuiitt PPrrootteeccttiioonnUUnniitt, TTyyccoo EElleeccttrroonniiccss, 1-800-227-7040, www.tycopower-components.com.��Enter No.358 at www.edn.com/info.

Last fall, Nvidia assured methat the bulk of its 0.13-mi-cron-manufacturing woeswere over and that I shouldexpect a blizzard of GeForceFX proliferations in the com-ing months (see “Graphics titfor tat turns topsy-turvy,”EDN, Dec 12, 2002, pg 20).Coincident with this month’sGame Developer Forum inSan Jose, CA, the company isfollowing through on itspromises.

A higher yielding and,therefore, lower priced varianthas joined the 500-MHzGeForce FX, which nowsports a clarifying 5800 Ultramoniker. The non-Ultra Ge-Force FX 5800 runs on 400-MHz core and memoryclocks. Nvidia estimates that128-Mbyte boards based onthe non-Ultra GeForce FX5800 will cost $299.

With the GeForce FX 5600Ultra, Nvidia chops the num-ber of rendering pipelinesfrom eight in the GeForce FX5800 to four and the number

of pixel shaders from eight tosix. The chip integrates a TVencoder, a DVI transmitter,and dual 400-MHz RAM-DACs, and Nvidia estimatesthat 128-Mbyte boards willcost $199 when they appearearly next month. The in-creasingly comprehensiveMPEG-2 codec includes sev-eral features that its GeForce 4predecessors lacked, includingsupport for overlay gamma,adaptive deinterlacing, HDTVresolutions, video antialias-ing, and encoding assistance,and its hardware-centric char-acteristics lower energy con-sumption. This attribute isparticularly beneficial in theGeForce FX Go5600 mobile-PC variant, which replaces theDVI transmitter with anLVDS transmitter and targetssystems costing $2000 to$3000. Both the GeForce FX5600 Ultra and the GeForceFX Go5600 employ 350-MHzcore and memory clocks.

For the GeForce FX 5200,Nvidia has revisited the tried

and true, previous-genera-tion, 0.15-micron process,and the desktop Ultra versionof the chip runs at 350-MHzcore- and memory-clockrates. Nvidia has further re-duced the number of pixel-shader pipelines from six inthe 5600 to four in the 5200,and the company has alsoeliminated Z-buffer and col-or-compression support. As aresult, 128-Mbyte graphicsboards based on the GeForceFX 5200 Ultra will cost ap-proximately $149 when theyarrive in late April. The mo-bile-PC-targeted GeForce FXGo5200, intended for systemscosting approximately $1500,runs at 300-MHz core andmemory speeds. All GeForceFX proliferations include 128-bit memory interfaces andsupport DDR SDRAM andthe AGP 8� bus.

—by Brian Dipert��Nvidia, 1-408-486-2000,www.nvidia.com.��Enter No.356 at www.edn.com/info.

Graphics flurry may leave you blurry

Put a fuse in it and get sin-gle-use protection for space-limited circuit layouts withthe FT600 series.

��Consumers spent about 4% less on recorded music in 2001 than they did in 2000, according to the Recording Industry of America.

Database structure targets nanometer-scale chip designFollowing the acquisition of Avanti, Synopsys has announced the Galaxy platform foradvanced system-on-chip designs, which combines tools from the Synopsys offering, suchas Design Compiler and PrimeTime, with back-end tools from the Avanti stable. Thecompany has also unified its tool chain around the Milkyway database and made thatdatabase an open-software offering. Use of the Milkyway database allows consistent tim-ing descriptions, common libraries, delay calculations, and constraints throughout the de-sign cycle to reside in a single format.

A pressing need exists in nanometer-scale design for all data to be available to the entiretool chain in a consistent form. However, Synopsys claims significant gains result by sim-ply avoiding constant translation among data formats. Different levels of access to thedatabase structure depend on the agreement in place between users and Synopsys. Theselevels range from industry-standard formats, such as EDIF and LEF/DEF; through accessby scripting language, such as Scheme and TCL; to the most direct interface via a C-basedAPI. The access program will be available to all Synopsys partners and other EDA ven-dors.—by Graham Prophet��Synopsys, www synopsys.com.��Enter No. 357 at www.edn.com/info.



edgeleading

phones: not a one-for-allpanacea,” EDN, Oct 31, 2002,pg 67). The e-mail and Web-browsing capabilities in mylatest Samsung SPH-N400CDMA phone are more ro-bust than those of its EricssonGSM predecessors, but I stillfind them to be incomplete.They don’t let me view graph-ical and richly formattedHTML-encoded e-mail, forexample, or deal with MIME(multipurpose-Internet-mail-extensions)-encoded file at-tachments. And, after becom-ing used to viewing HTML-encoded Web pages, WAP(Wireless Application Proto-col)-encoded counterparts area constrained substitute.

Third-party-software pro-vider Reqwireless bridgesthese functional gaps with itsMobile Java J2ME (Java 2 Mi-cro Edition)-powered Email-Viewer and WebViewer, each$16.99. The company also of-fers the ReqwirelessWeb de-velopment-tool kit, enablingMobile Java applications tofetch, post, manipulate, anddisplay HTML content; Re-qwirelessEmail, which enablesMobile Java applications tosend, receive, and display e-mail content; and Reqwire-lessDB, a JDBC (Java Data-base Connectivity) driver anddriver manager, enabling Mo-bile Java applications to ex-change real-time informationwith any back-end database

using the java.sql.* interface.EmailViewer and Web-

Viewer do an impressive job ofrendering even complexHTML, as long as it doesn’trequire support for JavaScript,Java applets, Macromediaflash, or CSS (cascading stylesheets). At 56 and 47 kbytes,respectively, the programs alsohave impressively small mem-ory footprints. Reqwirelessplays some interesting tricks toboost apparent performance,such as displaying the first fewlines of text before renderingthe remainder, as well as dis-playing all of the text beforerendering embedded images.But, being Java-based, andrunning on a low-power-con-suming—that is, slow—pro-cessor, the programs are stillmore sluggish than e-mail andWeb-browser clients runningon a notebook PC.

NanoAmp Solutions, acompany to date best knownfor its ultra-low-powerSRAMs, tackles the Java-per-formance problem with its lessthan-$5 MOCA-J (MemoryOriented Coprocessor Accel-erator-Java). Intended to ac-company a flash memory, andan SRAM or PSRAM (pseudoSRAM), in a multidie, stackedpackage, MOCA-J accelerates206 of the 227 byte codes thatthe Java-virtual-machine spe-cification defines, executingmany of them within a singleclock (see “Silicon contends

with stuffed and shrinkingpackages,”EDN, June 13, 2002,pg 49). Estimated boosts inperformance range from 20times, measured on an overallgeometric mean of ECM (Em-bedded CaffeineMark) bench-mark scores as well as acrossvarious J2ME and MIDP(Mobile Information DeviceProfile) applications, to 100times on individual ECMtests, algorithms, and codeloops.

Faster execution throughhardware acceleration alsolikely leads to much lower en-ergy consumption than thesoftware-centric alternative.NanoAmp Solutions is ship-

ping samples to potentialpackaging partners to supporthigh-volume designs, andproduction is scheduled forthe end of the second quarter.The company is also consid-ering offering MOCA-J in itsown multidie, stacked prod-ucts to serve lower volume ap-plications.—by Brian Dipert��NanoAmp Solutions,1-408-573-8878, www.nanoamp.com.��Enter No.359 at www.edn.com/info.��Reqwireless, 1-519-743-8549, www.reqwireless.com.��Enter No. 360 at www.edn.com/info.

Although I recently decided that an ad-vanced cell phone couldn’t replace my com-puter, I’m still experimenting to see if I can dis-

prove my past conclusions (see “All-in-one cell

Software, silicon acceleration brew a stronger Java

��By 2007, Internet users will daily access, download, and share more than 64,000 times the information equivalent of the entire Library ofCongress, according to an IDC estimate.

MEMORY-ORIENTED-COPROCESSOR ACCELERATOR

FOR THE JAVAPLATFORM

SRAM/PSRAM

FLASHMEMORY

MEMORYBUS

HOST CPU

(a)

(b)

MOCA-J DIE

SRAM/PSRAM DIE

FLASH-MEMORY DIE

MOCA-J’s memorylike, 16-bit asynchronous interface (a) enables itsinclusion, along with nonvolatile and volatile memories, in a multidiepackage (b).



edgeleading

Judging from the JPEGencoder built into the Me-diaQ MQ2100, the compa-ny buys into market-analystpredictions that lots of folkswill soon replace their cellphones with units containingbuilt-in digital still camerasand videocameras. The chip isan upgrade of the MQ2074,and it includes a 2-D-graphicsaccelerator functionally iden-tical to the one in the MQ1188and handy for handheld gam-ing, mapping, and other visu-al applications (see “Power-stingy peripheral chips pro-

vide partitioning options,”EDN, Nov 28, 2002, pg 14). Italso incorporates a CCIR656-compliant camera interfacewith support for YUV422-to-RGB565 conversion, horizon-tal decimation with pixel av-eraging and programmablelowpass filtering, and verticaldecimation. Reflecting itsphone, not PDA, focus, theMQ2100 embeds a smaller,160-kbyte SRAM buffer thanthe one in the MQ1188. Thisbuffer provides 176�220-pix-el resolution at 16-bit-per-pixel color depth (double-

buffered) or 240�320-pix-el—that is, QVGA—resolu-tion at 16 bit-per-pixel colordepth (single-buffered).

MediaQ estimates that, intypical operating modes at re-fresh rates as fast as 15frames/sec, the MQ2100 willdraw less than 5 mW of pow-er; various chip subsystemsoperate at 1.5, 1.8, and 2.5V.The hardware JPEG-baseline-encoder core employs fixedHuffman tables, can operateas fast as 30 frames/sec, andsupports resolutions as highas VGA: 640�480 pixels. Italso includes a 4:2:2-to-4:2:0input chroma filter and sup-ports black-level and contrastcorrection, input scaling, ascaled preview image, andfloating-point quantization.The MQ2100 supports arange of STN (supertwist-ne-matic) and TFT (thin-film-transistor) color LCDs, in-cluding LTPS (low-temper-ature-polysilicon) and Sharp’sULC (ultra-low-power-con-sumption) variants, and itcomprehends NEC’s Mobilecurrent-mode-advanced-dif-ferential-signaling serial in-terface. It offers 16-levelframe-rate control and asmuch as 4-bit spatial dither-ing on STNs, with error diffu-sion. Partial display-updatemode, power-sequencingsupport in hardware, andPWM outputs for brightnessand contrast control completethe picture. The MQ2100costs $5.75 (10,000) in a 144-bump BGA package and is inproduction.—by Brian Dipert��MediaQ, 1-408-733-0088,www.mediaq.com.��EnterNo. 361 at www.edn.com/info.

Accelerator makes cell phones snappy

��According to a study from Ipsos-Reid, 38% of US adults are familiar with Wi-Fi, and 3% have a Wi-Fi installed at home.

THERMAL-INTER-FACE MATERIALCHANGES PHASE TO SMOOTH HEAT FLOWBergquist’s new compliantmaterial ensures low thermalimpedance between hot ICsand their heat sinks andavoids messy “bleeding” ofthe adhesive. The Hi-Flow

225UF comprises a 3-mil(0.076-mm)-thick adhesivephase-change material with a1-mil (0.025-mm)-thick foilcoating to ease all-too-com-mon rework. Overall thermalimpedance of 0.69W/m-K. Thematerial is available in kiss-cutsheet form and standardsquares and rectangles; thevendor also offers customsizes and shapes. Hi-Flow225UF costs 15 cents/sq in.(2.3 cents/sq cm).

—by Bill Schweber��BBeerrggqquuiisstt CCoo, 1-800-347-4572, www.bergquistcompany.com.��Enter No. 362 at www.edn.com/info.

Minimize the thermal imped-ance between your hot IC andits lifesaving heat sink andfacilitate removal and reworkwith the Hi-Flow 225UF phase-change adhesive and foil backing.

HOST-BUSINTERFACE

VIDEOINTERFACE

MEMORY-INTERFACE

UNIT

LCDINTERFACE

CPU

LCD

RELAXATIONOSCILLATOR

GE COMMANDGE SOURCE

FIFOs

EMBEDDEDSRAM

GRAPHICSENGINE

GRAPHICSCONTROLLER

CLOCKMULTIPLIERFOR JPEGENCODER

12- TO 27-MHzCRYSTAL

OSCILLATOR

JPEGENCODER

CAMERA

(a)5

4

3

2

1

00 5 10 15 15 WITH JPEG

REFRESH RATE (Hz)

TOTALPOWER

CONSUMPTION (mW)

NOTE: DATA TAKEN ON 130�130-PIXEL C-STN WITH VGA CAMERA INPUT AT 15 FRAMES/SEC.

REFRESH RATE (Hz)STANDBY

51015

15 WITH JPEG

TOTAL POWERCONSUMPTION (mW)

0.0111.451.92.44.6(b)

The MQ2100 embeds a JPEG encoder, a camera input, and a flexible dis-play output (a), and its power-stinginess extends battery life (b).



edgeleading

Cypress’ EZ-Host CY-7C67300 and EZ-OTGCY7C67200 are dual-role USB devices that complywith the USB 2.0 specification,support both full- and low-speed traffic, and are fullycompatible with the USB-OTG (On-the-Go) Supple-ment. The 16-bit RISC micro-controller devices include 16kbytes of RAM; BIOS to han-dle a portion of the USB-pro-cessing, enabling them to op-erate as hosts or peripherals;and a configurable I/O blocksupporting HSS (high-speed-serial) interfaces, SPIs (sys-tem-packet interfaces), andHPIs (host-port interfaces).

The EZ-Host targets non-

handheld USB applicationsand can operate as a stand-alone processor, such as for ahost storage device, or it canoperate as a USB coprocessorthat can perform some inde-pendent functions. It includes

two USB serial-interface en-gines each with two ports sup-porting as many as four down-stream ports in host mode,

one or two upstream ports inperipheral mode, or one up-stream and two downstreamports for dual mode. EZ-OTGis a subset of the EZ-Host andtargets mobile devices thatneed USB-OTG support witha power-boost circuit that op-erates as low as 2.7V. It also in-cludes two USB serial-inter-face engines but with one porteach supporting a total of oneor two downstream or up-stream ports.

Cypress’ development sup-port includes programmingtools, Linux operating systemand drivers, host/peripheralstacks, functional examples,and framework firmware. Thefunctional examples illustrate

USB-OTG, SPI and HPI, mul-tiport hosting, and simultane-ous host and peripheral oper-ation. The framework firm-ware accommodates host, pe-ripheral, and OTG support forstand-alone and coprocessorconfigurations. General sam-pling of the EZ-Host and EZ-OTG begins in April. The ear-ly-release version of thedevelopment kit will be avail-able in May. The EZ-Host isavailable in a 100-pin TQFPfor $4.99 (10,000), and the EZ-OTG comes in a 48-ball FBGAfor $3.99 (10,000).

—by Robert Cravotta��Cypress, 1-408-943-2600,www.cypress.com.��Enter No.363 at www.edn.com/info.

Integrate dual-role USB with 16-bit processing

Most design teams currently rely on static-timinganalysis to ensure timing closure for their designs. Yet, manyof the effects that impact signal propagation are dynamic orresult from dynamic behavior. To ensure that a circuitworks, static-timing models must be pessimistic, so that thestatic-timing-analysis tools cover the dynamic behavior.This approach often results in safe and conservative but notoptimal implementations. Once designers use 130-nm orsmaller process technologies, such approximations becomeunacceptable. You instead have to use some form of dynam-ic analysis. Although transistor-level tools, such as Spice andits fast-Spice variants, have been around for years, the newdesigns’ sizes exceed the computing capabilities of thesetools.

To address this problem Nassda has released Critic, a full-chip critical timing analyzer for postlayout verification ofcell-based digital ICs, including their associated clock net-works. The product complements static-timing-analysis-verification methods. For analysis of the system clock, Crit-ic automatically identifies the clock net from the devicepins, back-annotates the clock net with interconnect RCparasitics, and sets control signals to sensitize the clockpaths. The tool then simulates the clock nets with the Spicemodel for each cell, including precise fan-out loading. Fi-nally, it compares the clock-pin delays with those that astatic-analysis tool reports. Critic also automatically ana-lyzes critical paths that the chip designer chooses, usually

from a report that the static-timing tool generates.After a designer invokes analysis, Critic automatically

handles the subsequent steps, including back-annotation ofpostlayout parasitics, which can dramatically affect the tim-ing of critical paths in nanometer designs. Additionally,Critic can automatically include secondary loads to thesepaths to account for capacitance and other loading effects.After analyzing the design, Critic tests the side-branch val-ues to enable or sensitize the critical paths and creates inputpatterns for dynamic simulation of the paths.

Unlike approaches that require a Spice simulation runfor each path to be analyzed, Critic simultaneously simu-lates all paths, reducing the number of simulation licensesyou need for analysis. During this simulation, Critic usesthe Spice model for each cell in each simulated path. Final-ly, Critic compares the path delays with those reported by astatic-analysis tool and provides the designer with a de-tailed report on timing differences between those resultsand Critic’s results. Using this data, designers can fix timingproblems and selectively optimize signal or clock nets formaximum performance.

The tool runs on Sun Solaris, HP-UX, WindowsXP/NT/2000, and Linux platforms. The price for a time-based license starts at $65,000.—by Gabe Moretti��Nassda Corp, 1-408-562-9168, www.nassda.com.��EnterNo. 364 at www.edn.com/info.

Timing analyzer is always a critic

��China led the world in the purchase of pirated CDs in 2001, having purchased 90% of all such disks, representing $400 million, accordingto the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry.

Two new USB devices fromCypress are fully OTG-compliant.


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