November 16, 2009 -- If an integrated circuit design is to meet the need for high-quality/low-risk implementation, the need for formal communication among the participants in the design process is obviously necessary. When design engineers, design managers and mask shop engineers are at multiple sites, with each team and each site working within their own schedule constraints, moving communication online is a must.

Online communication lets system-on-chip integrators do their jobs in parallel to intellectual property design and software development, and in complete awareness of the design-for-mask-manufacturing (DFFM) constraints imposed by the next engineering steps.

IP designers, for instance, need to communicate where they stand with respect to predefined quality criteria (such as functionality, performance and reusability). Regardless of their position in the design chain, engineering and design managers now spend 20 to 40% of their time compiling quality progress reports based on individual, manual reports. Although quality standards are available, and most large companies have strong in-house experience managing quality, reporting is still largely ad hoc, Excel-based and manual.

A more formal understanding of what constitutes design quality, and an automated, online method for designers to check quality run after run, dramatically reduces quality reporting time.

By Stephane Bonniol. (Bonniol is Director of R&D and co-founder of Satin IP Technologies.)