SMIC, Magma offering RTL-to-GDSII flow for 130nm SoCs

Magma Design Automation Inc. and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC) have made available a validated reference flow based on Magma's Blast Create, Blast Plan Pro, Blast Fusion and Blast Power for system-on-chips (SoCs) targeted at SMIC's 130nm process.

The companies said Thursday (Nov. 17) that the creation of the reference flow stemmed from a partnership forged earlier this year. Magma (Santa Clara, Calif.) and SMIC (Shanghai, China) have worked together to refine the flow and ensure the successful tape out of a design by Legend Silicon Design Inc., they said.

According to the companies, using Magma software, SMIC's design service team can tape out an SoC in a matter of weeks.

In a statement issued jointly by SMIC and Magma, Dinesh Venkatachalam, vice president of engineering at Legend Silicon (Santa Clara, Calif.), said the reference flow enabled his company to tape out the design on time while meeting cost and performance goals.

"The flow has been simplified to dramatically shorten the time from initial concept to market," Venkatachalam said. "We look forward to implementing Magma and SMIC flows for 90nm, 65nm and smaller process nodes."