Cadence Collaborates with Arm

The collaboration with Arm to advance mobile device silicon success, provides customers with a faster path to tapeout through use of Cadence digital and verification tools and the new Arm Total Comput Solutions 2023 (TCS23), which includes the Arm Cortex-X4, Arm Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520 CPUs and Immortalis-G720, Mali-G720 and Mali-G620 GPUs.

Cadence Digital Flow for Arm TCS23

Through this latest collaboration, Cadence delivered comprehensive RTL-to-GDS digital flow Rapid Adoption Kits (RAKs) for 3nm and 5nm nodes to help customers achieve power and performance goals using the new Arm TCS23. The Cadence tools optimised for the new Arm TCS23 include the Cadence Cerebrus Intelligent Chip Explorer, Genus Synthesis Solution, Modus DFT Software Solution, Innovus Implementation System, Quantus Extraction Solution, Tempus Timing Signoff Solution and ECO Option, Voltus IC Power Integrity Solution, Conformal Equivalence Checking and Conformal Low Power. Cadence Cerebrus provided Arm with AI-driven design optimisation capabilities that resulted in 50% better timing (TNS), a 10% reduction in cell area and 27% improved leakage power on the Cortex-X4 CPU, empowering Arm to achieve power, performance and area (PPA) targets faster.

The digital RAKs provide Arm TCS23 users with several key benefits. For example, the AI-driven Cadence Cerebrus automates and scales digital chip design, providing customers with improved productivity versus a manual, iterative approach. Cadence iSpatial technology provides an integrated implementation flow, offering improved predictability and PPA, which ultimately leads to faster design closure. The RAKs also incorporate an innovative smart hierarchy flow that enables accelerated turnaround times on large, high-performance CPUs. The Tempus ECO Option, which provides path-based analysis, is integrated into the flow for signoff-accurate, final design closure. Finally, the RAKs utilise the GigaOpt activity-aware power optimisation engine, which is incorporated with the Innovus Implementation System and the Genus Synthesis Solution to dramatically reduce dynamic power consumption.

Cadence Verification Flow for Arm TCS23

Arm used the Cadence verification flow to validate the Cortex-X4, Cortex-A720 and Cortex-A520 CPU-based and Immortalis-G720, Mali-G720 and Mali-G620 GPU-based mobile reference platforms. The Cadence verification flow supports Arm TCS23 and includes the Cadence Xcelium Logic Simulation Platform, Palladium Z1 and Z2 Enterprise Emulation Platforms,  Helium Virtual and Hybrid Studio, Jasper^Ò Formal Verification Platform and Verisium Manager Planning and Coverage Closure tools.

The Cadence verification flow lets Arm TCS23 users improve overall verification throughput and leverage advanced software debug capabilities. Cadence also validated that Cadence Perspec^Ô System Verifier, VIP and System VIP tools all support TCS23-based designs to enable customers to accelerate time to market when assembling TCS23-based SoCs. In addition, the virtual and hybrid platform reference designs include the Arm Fast Models to enable early software development and verification through the Cadence Helium Studio as well as the Cadence Palladium and Protium platforms, also known as the dynamic duo.

“With the delivery of Arm TCS23, we’re unlocking the creative potential for customers around the world who demand high performance and efficient compute for next-generation mobile experiences,” said Chris Bergey, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Client Line of Business at Arm.“Through our ongoing collaboration with Cadence, we successfully leveraged the Cadence digital and verification flows to get our latest generation of CPUs and GPUs into our customer’s hands faster and accelerate time to market.”

“Arm is known for building foundational computing platforms that address performance and efficient compute requirements, and the new Arm TCS23 is aimed at empowering designers to create the world’s most advanced mobile designs that provide the best user experience,” said Dr. Chin-Chi Teng, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Digital & Signoff Group at Cadence. “By collaborating with Arm on the development of TCS23 and by delivering innovative digital and verification flows, we’re jointly leading our customers to improve overall productivity and achieve faster time to tapeout.”

The Cadence digital and verification flows support the Cadence Intelligent System Design strategy, which the company states, enables customers to achieve SoC design excellence.