For nanometer designs to remain innovative and practical, the industry needs a new approach to measuring the "goodness" of a design. Quality of Silicon (QoS), an interconnect-centric method, ensures the fastest path to the best chip characteristics possible. This paper defines QoS and reviews the critical portions of the design flow, from synthesis to test, where QoS metrics need to be applied.
Creation of wires early in the design process is an element that is essential for using QoS effectively; this paper introduces silicon virtual prototyping (SVP), a technique for incorporating wires at the front end of the design process. Finally, the paper reviews the advantages of QoS over the previous metric, Quality of
Results (QoR), and discusses why a holistic solution consisting of an integrated set of tools is the optimal way to achieve a successful chip design.
