1.Architectural and electrical specification.
2. RTL coding in HDL.
3. DFT memory BIST insertion, for designs containing memory elements.
4. Exhaustive dynamic simulation of the design, in order to verify the
functionality of the design.
5. Design environment setting. This includes the technology library to be
used, along with other environmental attributes.
6. Constraining and synthesizing the design with scan insertion (and
optional JTAG) using Design Compiler.
7. Block level static timing analysis, using Design Compiler’s built-in static
timing analysis engine.
8. Formal verification of the design. RTL compared against the synthesized
netlist, using Formality.
9. Pre-layout static timing analysis on the full design through PrimeTime.
10. Forward annotation of timing constraints to the layout tool.
11. Initial floorplanning with timing driven placement of cells, clock tree
insertion and global routing
12. Transfer of clock tree to the original design (netlist) residing in Design
Compiler.
13.In-place optimization of the design in Design Compiler.
14.Formal verification between the synthesized netlist and clock tree
inserted netlist, using Formality.
15. Extraction of estimated timing delays from the layout after the global
routing step (step 11).
16. Back annotation of estimated timing data from the global routed design,
to PrimeTime.
17. Static timing analysis in PrimeTime, using the estimated delays extracted
afterperforming global route.
18. Detailed routing of the design.
19. Extraction of real timing delays from the detailed routed design.
20. Back annotation of the real extracted timing data to PrimeTime.
21. Post-layout static timing analysis using PrimeTime.
22. Functional gate-level simulation of the design with post-layout timing (if
desired).
23. Tape out after LVS and DRC verification.