TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES Products and services for system design

SRAM The CY7C1021 is a 1-Mbit asynchronous SRAM organized as 64,000 X 16 bits to interface with 16-bit DSPs and microcontrollers. The chip provides a 10-ns access time and standby power usage as low as 300 µA. It comes in industry-standard 44-lead SOJ and TSOP II packages as well as in Cypress's first chip-scale package, a 48-ball mini-BGA that is only 7.25 mm on a side. Offered in both 5- and 3.3-V versions, it is available in production volumes in SOJ and TSOP II packages. Samples are available in mini-BGA packages, with production volumes slated for the first quarter of 1998. Pricing starts at $5.45 in 10,000-unit quantities. Cypress Semiconductor Corp., San Jose, Calif. Contact (408) 943-2600 or www.cypress.com.

FPGA family The newest member of the 3.3-V Flex 10KA family, the 100,000-gate EPF10K100A CPLD, is as much as 50 percent faster than its five counterparts over a broad range of benchmarks. It's built with a 0.35-µm, four-layer-metal SRAM process and contains 4,992 logic elements and 24,576 bits of RAM. The device provides simple pin migration and is supported by Altera's Max+Plus II development system for PCs and workstations. Available now in a 240-pin QFP, it is initially priced at $199 each, in quantities of 100. A 356-pin BGA version is to be available by the end of 1997. Altera Corp., San Jose, Calif. Contact (800) 925-8372 or www.altera.com.

Interconnect parasitic extraction A 3-D parasitic RC extraction tool for chip- and block-level interconnects incorporates Ultima's 3-D field solver, a proprietary smart cutting algorithm, and a 3-D interconnect library. Ultima-PE accepts LEF/DEF, Mentor Graphics' FDB (Filtered DataBase), or GDSII as input and outputs RC parasitics in DSPF, SPEF, or Spice format. It can also be integrated with other layout extractors (both commercial and in-house) using an API developed under the Sematech CHDS project. Unix versions for Sun and HP workstations are now shipping. Prices start at $65,000. Ultima Interconnect Technology, Inc., Sunnyvale, Calif. Contact (408) 733-3380 or info@ultimatech.com or www.ultimatech.com.

Analog component library Two thousand high-precision digital/analog circuit design models have been added to the Component Library of Electronics Workbench, a Spice-based design and simulation tool for Windows-based PCs. The new models will be marketed in Model Expansion Packages (MEPs), which will be available as an add-on option to Electronics Workbench Professional Edition. They are available now and can be purchased directly in two 1,000-model MEPs priced at $199 each or at $349 for both packages. Overseas, they can be purchased through the company's network of international distributors. Interactive Image Technologies Ltd., Toronto, Ont. Contact (416) 977-5550 or www.interactiv.com.

Multidomain verification Sysmatrix, a multidomain verification product, supports nonelectrical multisimulation by including four domain-specific simulation matrices to integrate electromechanical, RF, and hardware/software domains with the Simmatrix electrical simulator backplane. The tool can verify systems composed of digital logic, RF transponders, reconfigurable firmware, and electromechanical controllers in a single simulation session. Multidomain designs can be captured in either schematic or HDL form. The Simprism multisource partitioning software parses the native design sources from each domain and partitions subrepresentations for each of the appropriate simulators. Available now, it can be bought directly for $8,000. A preconfigured Simmatrix and Simprism package can also be purchased from any of Precedence's channel partners as part of their OEM offerings. The tools run on Solaris and HP-UX platforms. Precedence, Inc., Campbell, Calif. Contact (408) 345-4880 or www.precedence.com.

integrated system design  January 1998