Tom Guzowski / Bert Bradley
A Smarter Design Environment
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Author/Speaker Information
 Name – Tom Guzowski
 Affiliation/Company – IBM
 Phone number – 802-769-7784
 Email – guzowski@us.ibm.com
 Name – Bert Bradley
 Affiliation/Company – IBM
 Phone number – 512-286-9012
 Email – blbradle@us.ibm.com
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Abstract
The chip design environment needs to grow smarter and more intuitive in order to leverage the
evolving capabilities of design automation tools / flows and the increasing complexity of
technologies beyond 32 nm. This infrastructure intelligence embodies the creation of
symbiotic relationships between the software developers applications and the designers
exploitation of them. In these relationships, design teams are integral to the development and
optimization of the infrastructure.
This presentation outlines a set of infrastructure applications / processes that our Design and
Technology infrastructure group, working in collaboration with chip design teams, has
developed to address these demands for internal and customer projects. These include a
cognitive designer interface, an intuitive methodology language/parser, a predictive, “on the
fly” and historical analytics system, and an elastic model/tool suite environment. A high level
overview of each item, use cases, and benefits is presented as well as how the design
engineers were incorporated into their development.
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design – Designer – Infrastructure
Increased
design
complexity
More hierarchical
Higher performance
Higher circuit count
Increased function
Reduced schedule
More robust
designer
environment
Larger, distributed design
teams
Integrated applications
Longer tool run times
More complex flows
Design dependent
methodologies
Reliance on empirical
methods
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Smarter
Infrastructur
e
Common cockpit for all
tool and methodology
launching
Adaptive and dynamic
methodology management
Predictive and real time
feedback
Design tune-able
technology models and
tools
A smart infrastructure is the key to enhancing synergy
between design and development teams.
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Smarter Infrastructure Solutions
TheGuide – common design workflow/application manager
–
–
–
–
Designer level views of key tool/flow controls and collateral
Comprehensive cockpit and dashboard (auto/manual execution)
Socket-ed interfaces to applications reduces design and model loading overhead
User adaptable and extendable
Methscript Language / Parser - Adaptable and dynamic methodology
– Designer friendly flow syntax
– Dynamic flow update/reload
– Fully transportable environment
Design Profiling Analytics - Predictive and real time feedback
–
–
–
–
On-the-fly estimation of tool IT requirements and longer term resource planning
Automated design progress report
Design health check (wip)
Trend analysis to TAT estimation (wip)
Design Specific Installs - Design tune-able technology model and tool kits
– tools individually selectable to a specific version or revision
– technology IP individually selectable to a specific version or revision
User oriented languages, comprehensive analytics, and customizable
libraries built into a standard cockpit all contribute to a smarter design
environment.
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
TheGuide Infrastructure – an overview
UpdateView
Configuration
Manager
Tool View
Tool
Launcher
Data
Methodology
Advisor
Process
TheGuide
Organizer
Methodology
View
Data View
Supervisor
Upgrade
Assistant
Tools, Models, Methodologies,
Scripts, IT, Data, Documentation
Process
View
Design
designers
Profiler
Analytics View
Meta-data
View
TheGuide re-factors data into user oriented views to allow users to focus on design level challenges.
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
TheGuide Infrastructure – common workflow environment
Project Data Access
IT Steering Control
Design Data
Organization
Tool and
Methodology
Selection and
Version Control
Behind the scenes
analytics
Methodology
Display,
Status, and
Control
Data capture
Methodology Step
Functions
Command
Line Access
The workflow manager’s visual integration of methodology, status, and process control.
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Methscript Language – bridging the gap between tool developers and designers
Pre-released
methodology
XML
Hidden
methodology
XML
Methscript
parser
XML
parser
TheGuide
Methodology
display
Methodology
watch
User developed
or altered
methscript with
contained parms
Designers
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The methscript language has transformed the methodology development process. Floor-planning and
physical implementation flows now have the design teams actively engaged in developing release-able
methodologies.
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Methscript – a designer oriented language
Features
Coding
 Syntax-lite, compact language (positional
parameters and simple delimiters)
 Simple defaults (e.g. methodology step
name used as default applications script)
 Short cuts (e.g., one methscript line can
generate N-way parallel flow for all
modules)
 Many single line scope commands 
“continue on error” parsing
 Legacy XML methodology interface
 File validity checking at parse time
 All subflows could be contained in one
methscript file, resulting in multiple XML
files
 Back annotation of scripts integrated into
Guide user interface
 Historical runtime data retained in Guide
session for use in next run
PROCEDURE DEFINITION
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STEP GROUPING
START_PROC proc_name
START_SEQUENTIAL
START_DEFAULTS tool_name
script_variable value …
script_variable value
END_DEFAULTS
step_name[ ::script_name] tool_name
[ script_variable=value ... script_variable=value]
[ // tcl_variable=value ... tcl_variable=value ]
…
END
START_PARALLEL
START ALTERNATIVE
step
…
END
step
…
END
END_PROC
USE proc_name “macro1 macro2 … macroN”
TOOL DEFAULTS
STEP
PROCEDURE CALL LOOP
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Methscript – display for methscript and XML input
methscript
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XML
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design Profiling - an overview
design methodologies
…
…
…
…
TheGuide (internal and external)
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timing
project
temporal
comput
er result
clocking
physical
wiring
images
(wip)
User access to database
checking
design
…
Standardized Web
and Unix based
Analysis and Reports
database
Design Profiling
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design Profiling – smart feedback
Execution
and Result
Data
TheGuide
IT and
run
time
data
Design
Profiling
Analysis and Reports
Business
Analysis
and
Reports
Design Health Check
Project Management
Technical
Analysis
and
Reports
Management
Team
Tool and Technology
Usage Monitoring
Milestone Prediction
IT Forecasting
…
Tool/Flow
controls
Design
Team
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© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design Profiling - smart feedback - design health check example
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Automatic collection, analysis, and reporting saves each designer ~ 4 hours per week
managing their results and summarizing for team lead/management. © 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design Profiling - smart feedback – milestone prediction example
Design teams use design profiling to extrapolate how fast a design will close for next milestone.
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Visualization reports can help identify the spots where designers are iterating.
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design Profiling - smart feedback – IT forecasting example
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Historical project analysis in Design Profiling helps plan for future workload.
(host data, cpu time, requested/actual memory usage tracked for process tree by watcher process)
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design Specific Installs – Guide project data to tool/tech interface
M2.P4
M2.P3
M2.P0
M1.P7
M1.P6
…
…
Tools
links
M1.P0
Toolkit Release / Version – Maintenance – Patch
Tool kits
Rel 18.1
TheGuide (project data)
IP
Rel 4
…
Model kits
Library Release – IP Version – IP Revision
…
Rel 1
…
Tools and models evolve frequently to keep pace with technology enhancements and design
requirements. Smart installs make all updates available to designers – links are exploited to save space.
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Every tool and model kit IP update is uniquely selectable from TheGuide
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Design Specific Installs – typical usage models : latest, frozen, pliable
M2.P4
M2.P3
M2.P0
M1.P7
M1.P6
…
…
Tools
links
M1.P0
Toolkit Release / Version – Maintenance – Patch
Rel 18.1
Tool kits
TheGuide (project data)
Latest
Frozen
Pliable
IP
Rel 4
17
…
Model kits
Library Release – IP Version – IP Revision
…
Rel 1
…
Most designers select most recent updates in construction phases - TheGuide
defaults to this model.
© 2013 IBM Corporation
A Smarter Design Environment
Summary / Conclusions / Challenges
TheGuide
Workflow
Manager
Complexity drives new
capabilities in design tools
and methodologies
New tool functionality and
methodology
enhancements require
more effective collaboration
between developers and
designers.
.
Designs and technologies
continue to grow in
complexity.
Increased
design
complexity
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More robust
designer
environment
Challenges:
Designer inertia / acceptance
Enhancement requests
Conventions and standards
Methscript
Language
Design
Profiling
Analytics
Smarter
Infrastructur
e
Design
Specific
Tool/Model
Kits
Increased designer /
developer collaboration
promotes a smarter
infrastructure through
more adaptable
environments, intuitive
interfaces, focused
feedback, and expedient
delivery
© 2013 IBM Corporation