Cadence Design Systems has just announced that its digital and custom/analogue flows are certified on the Intel 16 FinFET process technology and its design IP supports this node from Intel Foundry Services (IFS). The companies also delivered the corresponding process design kits (PDKs) to accelerate the development of a wide variety of low-power consumer, high-performance computing (HPC) and secure U.S. Military, Aerospace and Government (USMAG) applications. Customers can begin using the production-ready Cadence design flows and design IP now to achieve design goals and speed time to market.

The complete Cadence RTL-to-GDS flow has been certified and optimised for use with Intel 16 technology, allowing customers to meet power, performance and area (PPA) targets. Some of the Cadence flow’s capabilities for Intel 16 process rules have been enhanced, including via insertion and antenna rule support, which ensure high-quality designs.

Cadence Virtuoso Studio has been certified for Intel 16 technology. The Virtuoso design platform provides a tight integration with the Innovus Implementation System, enhancing the implementation methodology of mixed-signal designs using a common database. In addition, the Virtuoso Layout Suite has been refreshed for efficient layout implementation on Intel 16, which leverages better performance and scalability throughout the layout environment; a non-uniform grid-based device place-and-route methodology with interactive, assisted features for placement, routing, fill and dummy insertion; width-based spacing pattern (WSP) support; integrated parasitic extraction and EM-IR checks; and integrated signoff-quality physical verification capabilities using Virtuoso InDesign DRC.

Intel 16 Design IP
Cadence Design IP has been ported and silicon-tested for Intel 16 technology and including the enterprise-class PCI Express (PCIe) 5.0 and 25G-KR Ethernet multi-protocol PHY; multi-protocol PHY for consumer applications supporting standards such as PCIe 3.0 and USB 3.2; multi-standard PHY for LPDDR5/4/4X to enable a diverse set of memory applications; MIPI D-PHY v1.2, enabling a broad range of MIPI consumer applications such as cameras and displays; and MIPI SoundWire® I/O for audio applications.

“Our mutual customers create designs for a wide range of vertical markets, and in particular, the USMAG market has really come to rely on us as their trusted foundry partner due to their unique security requirements,” said Rahul Goyal, vice president & general manager for Intel’s Product & Design Ecosystem Enablement group. “Through our ongoing collaboration with Cadence, we’re empowering customers in all markets to unlock the power-saving benefits that come with our Intel 16 technology and the advanced Cadence flows and IP.”