WG 7.7: Tools and Technologies
Conveners:
- Xavier Llopart, CERN
- Kostas Kloukinas, CERN
- Mark Willoughby, STFC
In response to the DRD7 projects and those related to electronics in other DRDs, and in order to manage ASIC-related design risks in our distributed community, the Steering Committee invites Conveners of WG7.7 to create and steer a task force that will propose an implementation solution for a hub-based structure for ASICs developments.
A Hub-based structure
A few central ASIC development centres defined as ?Hubs? will be established with CERN as the lead focus. On behalf of the DRD7 Collaboration, these Hub centres will be available to support best practice design of a selection of large and complex DRD sponsored ASIC projects within their region. The overall goal of this Hub-based structure is to:
Establish and maintain access, for the community at large, to state-of-the art microelectronics technologies and EDA software tools through regional collaboration and coordination Ensure a professional approach to prototyping and production fabrication cycles by delivering best practice in design, verification and foundry submission, Facilitate collaborative work across distributed design teams establishing the necessary infrastructure for IP block sharing Follow rigorous project review and submission processes to manage risks and control changes in projects
The Hub institutes will collaborate with their wider region?s design groups to deliver a wide programme of sophisticated, complex or large size DRD-sponsored ASICs. They will contribute by ensuring thorough planning, review and design validation in all design fabrication cycles. Then, working with CERN and other Hubs, they will plan and coordinate foundry access for these projects over their lifetime. In addition, the Hub institutes will collectively:
Provide access to necessary technical support for projects to ensure rigorous completion of all design validation and foundry design rules checks. Maintain signoff checklists, foundry submission check lists and ?lessons learned? logs to support each other and build best practice Coordinate fabrication manufacturing runs and IP library access in partnership with supported foundries, CERN ASIC support and Foundry Services and Europractice Maintain a master list of all current projects to enhance global overview and forecast foundry access Provide advice in ensuring that projects are correctly resourced for the anticipated goals
Locally, in their region, Hub institutes will also:
Lead the preparation and management of IP sharing agreements that meet the needs of their region Ensure that the strict end-use rules, export controls and taxation issues in each region are recognised, understood and met by their community Engage with their local funding agencies to ensure that support and submission management costs are planned for and included in projects.
The overall objective of the above is to support the wider community so that everyone can continue to contribute and innovate new electronic systems in the knowledge that with their Hub partner they will be able to implement successful ASIC production solutions for their experiments, when needed by the experimental programme. The best way to achieve this objective at project-level is to include from the beginning a Hub institute in all the most complex and risky DRD- ponsored ASIC projects.
Hub roles and requirements
Hub centres will be expected to be equipped and have all the resources and skills necessary to develop and submit full-scale ASICs to supported foundry(ies), making best use of state-of-the-art practices and tools. In addition, they must demonstrate their ability to support a reasonable number of community projects in their region. Practically, Hubs are expected to be large established institutions or national laboratories. Hubs might adopt an infrastructure setup resembling the CERN ASIC support and Foundry service model. This would involve personnel working on design projects and providing support services as necessary. As members of the DRD7 collaboration, Hubs will participate in Working Group WG7.7 (tools and technologies). They will collectively maintain their expertise through appropriate training, collaboration with industry and engagement in ASIC design projects. They will, wherever necessary, develop ?common design platforms? incorporating design kits, IP libraries and design flows and provide long-term maintenance, technical support and training. Funding of Hub support will be achieved directly via centralised national channels, or indirectly via the projects requesting support. The list of Hub institutes will be agreed and reviewed periodically by the DRD7 collaboration. In their preparation for complex projects, the community will be invited to discuss and agree the level of Hub involvement required with their regional Hub centre. This could range from active design and/or verification work to just engagement with design reviews. The DRDC may, based on expert reviews, recommend that a Hub institute is added to the list of project participants, in case it judges that the design is too challenging for the project team as is. CERN, as lead focus, will coordinate the overall structure and undertake central roles including:
Negotiating legal and commercial aspects for accessing new technologies on behalf of the community Maintaining a list of Institutes eligible to collaborate on NDA protected technologies Providing technical support and training to Hub Institutes Working with Hub institutes to develop ?common design platforms? and to facilitate maintenance, technical support, training and collaboration Assisting in supporting the wider community when circumstances prevent a regional Hub from doing so