( ESNUG 244 Item 1 ) ---------------------------------------------- [7/25/96]
Subject: ( ESNUG 241 #7 243 #6) Lawyers Make Avant! Scarey; Going To Cascade
> I would reccomend you take a look at the Cascade tools to see if they fit
> your requirements - and no I don't work for them I just think they have a
> great tool set - there is also more likelihood of being able to complete
> your layout without the assistance of a lawyer ! - [ The Thin Man ]
From: David.Brantley@dalsemi.com (David Brantley)
John,
I whole-heartedly agree with "The Thin Man"'s critique of the Cascade tool
suite. We use Cascade tools here at Dallas Semi for both cell and block
level routing. We were using Cell Ensemble and Block Ensemble from Cadence
until Block Ensemble caused us to miss a market window on a part. It took
us 11 weeks to route a chip at the top level with Block Ensemble which could
have been done in 2 weeks manually (and eventually was done manually just to
finish the part).
We were "encouraged" by our CEO to find a tool which would work after this
fiasco. We held a benchmark/evaluation of top level routers. All vendors
were invited to participate. Only Mentor and Cascade made the "short" list.
We then contracted with both Mentor and Cascade to work with us on the next
chip to be done. Cascade easily won this portion of the evaluation in both
area and time to turn the chip.
We are also impressed with Cascade's technology independent cell libraries.
We are able to migrate designs from one technology to another with minimal
agony.
- David Brantley
Dallas Semiconductor
|
|
