Practice of standardization of IC design process of Riguangxin Design
Recently, Riguan Xinshe participated in the Yangcheng Lake Forum of the Semiconductor CAD Alliance, where it shared its practical experience in IC design process standardization, which received a warm response.
As a leading one-stop digital chip signoff platform EDA manufacturer in China, Shanghai Riguanxin Automation Co., Ltd. independently develops RigorFlow design process management software. Combined with the mature process experience of design platforms of Shanghai Xiyaoxinwei Semiconductor Co., Ltd. and many chip designers, it can provide users with Turnkey Solutions related to design processes, including process building, optimization, and customization services.
As shown in the figure above, RigorFlow chip design full process management software is a chip full process management tool used to improve the design efficiency and QoR of the entire project. The concise and intuitive visual interface helps engineers improve work efficiency and engineering quality, and can also help managers quickly identify project progress and problem points. While designing full process management, it will also facilitate cross-departmental collaboration of the team and data extraction and summary display of designers' personal tasks. The tool supports customization and optimization, is compatible with secondary development in different scenarios, and helps standardize the full process management of chip design.
In addition, Riguan Xinshe is exploring the use of AI technology to make intelligent decisions and manage IC design processes, and to intelligently allocate and adjust cluster resources. AI is used to evaluate task results, and to temporarily suspend or restrict resources for subsequent processes with poor performance, thereby reducing unnecessary resource waste and shortening iteration cycles. At the same time, the parameters of each link can be intelligently optimized based on historical data to find an advantageous parameter combination to achieve a better PPA balance effect.
In addition to RigorFlow, Riguan has also launched its self-developed RigorCons constraint sign-off software, which can promptly discover and solve constraint-related problems in the early stages of design, shorten the constraint iteration cycle between front-end design and back-end implementation, thereby accelerating design and ensuring the smooth delivery of digital chip customer projects.
RiGuan will strengthen its cooperation with the CAD Alliance, promote in-depth cooperation and exchanges among outstanding enterprises in the integrated circuit industry based on the alliance guidelines, do its utmost to accelerate TAT for customers, assist in the implementation of customer projects, and jointly create a broader, more influential and more effective ecosystem.
Technical seminars and exchanges
1. What IT support is needed for the installation and deployment of RigorFlow?
Deploying RigorFlow does not require complicated installation and deployment work. You only need to provide a license on the server configuration to start the server. Users can start the client GUI interface on the login machine to connect to the server for access. There is no additional installation and deployment work.
2. What preparations do customers need to make to use RigorFlow to run actual projects?
You only need to prepare the license environment, project scripts, and template files that define dependencies.
3. Compared with other process management platforms such as FlowTracer and Jenkins, what are the advantages?
Compared with some other tool platforms on the market, RigorFlow has the following distinct advantages: 1. The graphical interface is subdivided into a single task, and the input and output file status is added to make the project status more intuitive; 2. The user's original process changes are small. The use of other tools mostly requires the existing process to adapt to the platform, while RigorFlow will not affect the user's original process tools and can be carried out in parallel; 3. RigorFlow has been polished in the user's actual scenario for more than a year, and contains many user-customizable operation interfaces, which is more in line with the user's actual scenario; 4. It can be customized for users to adapt to the different needs of different companies and facilitate users.
4. What content needs to be configured in the initial template file?
RigorFlow template files are mainly used to define the project's tasks and their properties, such as input and output files, dependencies, and execution instructions. This process is generally automated using scripts based on the customer's actual existing rules and can be automatically generated.
5. Regarding AI exploration, can you introduce your current overall plan and work progress?
Currently, RigorFlow has the functions of process control and data extraction and analysis, but it still requires manual judgment of the results. In order to reduce manual intervention in the future, we plan to integrate AI into the tool to form intelligent decision-making capabilities, free the hands of engineers, and achieve full-process intelligent control, greatly improve efficiency, and reduce labor costs. To realize the above vision, multi-faceted cooperation from upstream and downstream partners in the industry chain is required. Here we call on more partners to join in, jointly develop, and share results.
6.Does RigorFlow software have any users?
Yes, RigorFlow has been adopted by well-known manufacturers in the industry and has been polished for more than a year. Its functions and performance have become more mature and stable, and have been recognized by users.
7. Is it compatible with the software of the three major companies?
Compatible with software from all EDA companies. RigorFlow only manages processes and is decoupled from EDA tools, regardless of which company's EDA products the user uses.
8. Is it a lot of work to migrate the existing process to the RigorFlow unified interface? How long does it take?
It is not big, and users can complete the configuration by themselves. Our AE can also provide door-to-door service. According to our experience, it usually takes half a day to a day to complete.
9. In addition to providing software, can your company provide services related to the design process?
Yes, we have an AE team of about 10 people. Combined with the mature experience of the design platform of the design service company partner, we can provide users with Turnkey Solutions related to the design process, including process building, optimization, and customization services.