Altos, Berkeley team to speed complex I/O characterization

Altos Design Automation Inc. announced it has added the support of Berkeley Design Automation Analog FastSPICE Platform in its Liberate product to accelerate the characterization of complex I/O cells, including the effects of device noise and parasitics, with nanometer SPICE accuracy for their mutual customers.

Altos and Berkeley Design Automation said the integration of FastSPICE with Liberate has delivered 5x-10x faster I/O cell characterization, including the effects of device noise and parasitics, with nanometer SPICE accuracy.

"As high-speed interfaces become pervasive in nanometer designs, accurate complex I/O cell characterization becomes critical for IC designers," commented Ravi Subramanian, president and CEO of Berkeley Design Automation. "The combination of the AFS Platform with Altos' IP characterization tools brings our mutual customers substantial benefits - nanometer SPICE accurate results, a significant boost in performance, and breakthrough analysis of physical effects unmatched by any other solution.”


Berkeley noted that its Analog FastSPICE Platform is a unified verification platform for nanometer analog, RF, mixed-signal and custom digital circuits. The AFS Platform is claimed to combine foundry-certified nm SPICE accuracy, 5x-10x faster single-core performance than other SPICE circuit simulator, >10M-element capacity, and the industry’s only comprehensive silicon-accurate device noise analysis.



Liberate is an ultra-fast standard cell and I/O library creator. It generates electrical cell views for timing, power and signal integrity including advanced current source models (CCS and ECSM). To access Altos' Liberate datasheet, click here.

In parallel, Altos announced the availability of new versions of its IP characterization products, namely Liberate and Variety, which improve throughput by a factor of 2-3X.