1 Introduction and Motivation
1 Introduction and Motivation
Spring 2023/2024
Micro RTL
Architectural Model Transistor- Mask
Design custom Level Layout Data
design Model
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Why is Verification important?
Verification is the single biggest lever to
effect the triple constraints:
– Quality
A high quality track record preserves revenue and reputation.
Ideally a team can establish a “right-first-time” track record.
– Cost
Fewer revs through the development/fabrication process
means lower costs.
Respinning a chip costs hundreds of thousands of £/$/€
+ the associated lost opportunity costs.
– Timing/Schedule
Fewer revs through the development/fabrication process
means faster time-to-market.
Respinning a chip costs 6-8 weeks at least
+ the associated “lost opportunity” costs.
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All about Bugs
Types of bugs
How are bugs introduced?
How can bugs be found?
Why do Designs have Bugs?
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Why do Designs have Bugs?
Problem Solution
Develop a
computational
Manufacture
solution
the HW
Design the
HW
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Why do Designs have Bugs?
Problem Solution
Develop a
Ambigious specification
computational
Manufacture
solution
the HW
Design the
HW
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Why do Designs have Bugs?
Problem Solution
Develop a
The
Ambigious specification
computational
solution human Manufacture
the HW
dimension
Design the
HW
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Loss of
Cost of Bugs over Time Reputation
Lost
Number of
opportunity Cost of
bugs found Mask
cost bugs
costs
Huge
Late to costs are
market associated
cost Debug
with
Bug found cost
finding a
Bug found on system
at chip level test floor bug in your
customer’s Recall
Bug found has requires
moderate respin of environ- cost
early has
little cost. cost. the chip. ment.
Time
Initial Design Chip System Customer
Wireless OFDM
xDSL
Modem
Baseband Signal Processor
5-10K Up to 2M
Lines of
Processor Lines of
Microcode Network S/W
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Increasing Verification Productivity
Productivity improvements drive
early problem discovery
Total
Number
of Bugs
found
Test
Verification
Time
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Verification in the IC
Design Process
Recall: The IC Design Process
Architectural
Specification Gate-Level Design
Model Library
Behavioral synthesis
Concept
Model
Micro RTL
Architectural Model Transistor- Mask
Design custom Level Layout Data
design Model
HDL Implementation
Functional
(Logic Design) Fixes To HDL Verification
at RTL Level
Physical Circuit
Design via Synthesis
Or Custom Layout
Fabricated
Chip
17
Role of Verification in IC Design
IC design process is complex:
Engineers need to balance conflict of interest:
– Tight time-to-market constraints vs. increasing design complexity
Aim: “Right-first-time” design, “correct-by-construction”
More and more time-consuming to obtain acceptable
level of confidence in correctness of design!
design time << verification time
– Remember: Verification does not create value!
But it preserves revenue and reputation!
– Up to 70% of design effort can go into verification.
– 80% of all written code is often in the verification environment.
– Properly staffed design teams have dedicated verification
engineers.
– In some cases verification engineers outnumber designers 2:1.
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Chip Design Process
General
Customer
Specification and
Requirements
= Architecture
=
HDL Implementation
Functional
(Logic Design) Fixes To HDL Verification
at RTL Level
Physical Circuit
Design via Synthesis
Or Custom Layout =
Fabricated
Chip
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What are you
going to verify?
How do Designers know whether
a circuit is correct?
Concept
Silicon
21
Reconvergence Models [Bergeron]
Transformation
Verification
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Verification vs. Test
Often confused in the context of HW design!
– Purpose of test is to show design was manufactured properly.
– Verification is done to ensure that design meets its functional
intent prior to manufacture!
HW Design Fabrication
Specification Silicon
Chip
Verification Test
Netlist
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Formal: Equivalence Checking
Compares two models to check for equivalence.
Proves mathematically that both are logically equivalent.
– Commonly used on lower levels of design process.
Example: RTL to Gates (Post Synthesis)
Synthesis
RTL Gates
Equivalence Check
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Equivalence Checking
F
Inputs Outputs
xor
Yet indispensable
To create revenue, design must be functionally correct
and provide benefits to customer.
Proper functional verification demonstrates
trustworthiness of the design.
Right-first-time designs demonstrate professionalism
and ”increase” reputation of design team.
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Verification is similar to statistical hypothesis testing
Hypothesis ”under test” is: The design is functionally correct.
Bugs found
No Bugs found
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Verification is similar to statistical hypothesis testing
Hypothesis ”under test” is: The design is functionally correct.
Type I:
Bugs found
False Positive
No Bugs found
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Verification is similar to statistical hypothesis testing
Hypothesis ”under test” is: The design is functionally correct.
Type I:
Bugs found
False Positive
Type II:
No Bugs found
False Negative
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Summary
What is Design Verification?
– Why do we care?
– Verification vs validation
Bugs
– Sources of bugs
– Cost of bugs
– Importance of Design Verification
Impact of increasing design complexity
– Shrinking time to market windows
– Increasing Productivity
The chip design process
– Where does Verification “fit”?
Reconvergence Models
– Help us identify what is being verified
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