AIM Photonics certifies Synopsys' IC Validator design tool

Synopsys has announced that its IC Validator has received certification from AIM Photonics for physical verification sign-off of photonics ICs. AIM is a US Department of Defense Manufacturing Innovation Institute, focusing on accelerating the transition of integrated photonics to mainstream manufacturing. IC Validator is used to develop silicon for use in networking SoCs, artificial intelligence (AI) accelerator engines.

The tool suite can be used with Synopsys' PIC design suite for design rule checking (DRC) signoff for integrated photonics design. PIC is claimed to be the first unified electronic and photonic design platform that integrates both design and physical verification of complex photonic IC designs in a single environment. It allows designers to identify design issues before tape-out and therefore avoid expensive mask repossessing or costly delays.

"We are seeing an explosion of new design activity as integrated photonics expands from data communications into markets such as AI, machine learning, quantum computing and lidar," said David Harame, chief operations officer, AIM Photonics. The Synopsys tools are used by customers to produce clean, accurate and correctly connected designs that can be more quickly handed off to AIM for manufacturing, he said.

In addition to receiving IC Validator certification, Synopsys has also renewed its AIM Photonics membership to provide electronic/photonic design automation (EPDA) to enable the future of the integrated photonics design market as it enters the mainstream. Membership allows the EDA company to understand design challenges before they are evident. "Our membership in AIM gives us valuable insight into the types of design challenges our future customers will be facing, which, in turn, enables us to field the right solutions at the right time," said Twan Korthorst, director of photonic solutions for Synopsys.  

IC Validator handles complex design rules associated with curvilinear design used in photonics, enabling designers to quickly converge to much cleaner and more accurate results by avoiding potentially thousands of false DRC violations.

Process design kits for the PIC Suite, including IC Validator DRC runsets, are available today for mutual customers.