If you’re doing circuit simulation anywhere in the world, you’re probably already familiar with the Cadence Spectre® simulator. The Spectre simulator is an accurate and high-performance SPICE circuit simulator that has established itself as the golden reference analog simulation over many years of use by designers. Now, with smaller geometries and denser chip designs, requiring more performance and capacity, the Spectre simulation platform has evolved again with the introduction of the Spectre X Simulator.
Chip design has changed rapidly over the last decade. The adoption of FinFET transistors for advanced-node processes has been the biggest change in process technology since planar CMOS processes replaced the bipolar processes in the '70s. Adoption of FinFET transistors mean more transistors and more device parasitics being used to design more complex designs, operating at higher speeds, meaning designers need more capacity and performance than ever before.
This is where the Spectre X Simulator comes on the scene. The Spectre X Simulator is based on Spectre, it is not a FastSPICE—so you’re getting the accuracy you know and expect from SPICE and the speed and capacity of FastSPICE without the uncertainty of FastSPICE approximations. The Spectre X Simulator can handle all of these new chip simulation challenges. More finFET parasitics? More complex process nodes? No passive elements? No problem! And if you’ve got analog components, the Spectre X Simulator can help you simulate those as well. In fact, the Spectre X Simulator is specifically designed to be good for chips with analog components that target new process nodes. It’s scalable and massively parallel, so you don’t have to worry if your chips are massively complex, as chips today tend to be—and it’s cloud ready... Compared to Spectre APS, you’re looking at an up-to-5X increase in capacity to overcome unaddressed simulations, and up to a 10X simulation speedup. New numerical analysis methods allow the Spectre X Simulator to solve bigger circuit equations than ever before without sacrificing any accuracy. New modeling methods for devices and interconnects combine with overall data model improvements to provide efficient handling of the largest pre- and post-layout designs. And don’t worry—it’s backward compatible with all your existing Spectre models, IP, and testbenches.
You don’t need to be filling the cloud with sims to see benefits from upgrading your circuit simulation tool to the Spectre X Simulator. No matter what your chip is, Spectre X simulator will make your simulation easier, faster, and more accurate than ever before.
If you’re looking for more details, check here, and if you want to watch the full presentation on this subject from the Cadence Theater at DAC 2019, check here.