Monday, February 26, 2001		Article

Developing tools for verifying IC designs
By Sumesh Raizada

WE come across several electronic devices like television, CD player, computer, video game, mobile telephone, both at home and at the work place. The technology in this field of electronic and communication is changing rapidly throughout the world. Every day we hear about the launch of a new products or gadgets, whether it be a Palm top PC, 3-D camera, WAP-enabled cell phone, or laser printer.

In order to capture a sizeable market share, electronic companies are coming out with innovative products that offer more utilities and convenience to users at a given cost. Billions of dollars are being spent by the enterprises around the world on research and development, design or manufacturing of new or upgraded products. However, the technology or expertise available with the manufacturing companies are sometimes not sufficient enough for advanced research or testing of new components.

Also, it is usually uneconomical for the IT-firms to spend huge amounts of funds on in-house R&D and testing. Here arises the need for Electronic Design Automation or EDA. As the name implies, it involves automation of electronic circuit design and manufacturing.

The EDA companies around the world are exclusively engaged in the design and development of software and testing tools for electronic circuit components and products. Since electronic circuits form the basis of various utilities in today life, whether it is ATM services, computers, mobile telephones or microwave ovens, the task of EDA professionals are therefore extremely important.

Each electronic gadget or device operates through the miniature circuits and components that are connected through soldered wires on a printed circuit board. In case of a complex connection or where a large number of components are involved, integrated circuits or ICs are used to reduce overall size and to improve functionality. Since size of these ICs is small, the EDA is extremely useful in their design, manufacturing and testing. It is almost impossible for the hardware engineers to do micro connections on a small chip and then test those connections for their desired performance.

The EDA professionals design and develop specific tools and software to carry out these tasks with acute precision and efficiency. With the increased competition and demand for more sophisticated products, IT companies are under pressure to design and develop very large Integrated Circuits (ICs) that may contain million of devices on a single chip. This is made possible with the help of the EDA, which provides improved fabrication and testing capabilities. EDA professionals develop software and computer-aided tools to verify and check the IC designs. This helps the IC designers to concentrate solely on their job rather than to worry about preparing testing tools.

Electronic design automation has made it possible to design, create and test the functionality of an integrated circuit (IC) or a printed circuit board (PCB) or any other VLSI device in a virtual environment on a computer. The designers in various industries like cell phone, video games, MP3 players, are building chips with micro connections and larger integrated circuits. The EDA professionals help them by providing necessary software and tools to achieve their task. At present EDA companies are providing vital technology to several industries like telecommunication, computers, medicine, home appliances and consumer electronics.

As the electronic and IT industries progresses, new products and appliances shall be developed. This will, in turn, create demand for more EDA professionals throughout the world. India, with its huge technically literate manpower, expects a boom in this field in the coming years. Hence, career opportunities in the EDA industry are enormous for new entrants. Almost, all major companies that are involved in the development of EDA software or tools have opened up their shops in India. These EDA companies are either operating directly through their subsidiaries or through Indian collaborators.

The main reason for their sudden interest in India is due to availability of cheaper technical manpower available here. Further, due to huge potential market for electronic and communication products, leading global firms have established their manufacturing or marketing base in India. These electronic and IT firms like Siemens, Philips semiconductors, Nokia, Bell computers, Samsung and Intel are the ultimate clients of the EDA industry.

In India, companies that are employing services of EDA professionals for the development of VLSI and other complex circuits are Texas Instrument India, IBM, Intel, SGS Thomson, Motorola, Lucent Technologies, mainly. Domestic enterprises like SCL, ITI, BEL, Wipro, are also providing openings for the EDA professionals.

Several firms providing EDA solution and consultancy have come up in software park at Bangalore and Noida export processing zone. Bangalore-based Silicon Automation Systems Ltd., employs hundreds of EDA professionals for developing tools and software to optimise design standards in semiconductor, telecommunication and signal processing industries. Its major clients are Hitachi, Toshiba, Sharp and has marketing offices in the USA and Japan. Texas Instrument India, a subsidiary of US giant, has opened up its hi-tech establishment in Bangalore with world class working environment and facilities to its staff.

The EDA professionals here develop IC design solutions for applications like multimedia, telecom. and export them to the parent company in the USA. Noida-based firm called Delsoft, an affiliate of Interra Inc. and IKOS Inc. is engaged in developing of the EDA software that are capable of running on both Unix and Windows-operating systems. Another Bangalore-based firm called Spike Technologies is providing excellent opportunities for prospective EDA professionals in the area of VLSI and ASIC design, CMOS circuits, design verification, etc.

The EDA professionals work as project engineers, managers, team leaders and senior engineers. They are required to develop and maintain EDA tools and software as per the client requirement, verification, and validation and quality assurance for the designed circuit or component. As a project engineer, the EDA professional identify project specification for the client, prepare cost estimates and review product design for suitability with respect to engineering principles, standards.

He is required to coordinate and resolving engineering design and test problems. An engineer carries out testing and validation of design concepts. Since EDA involves a high level of engineering and research skills, organisations employs graduate or postgraduates in electronics, computer or telecommunication engineering. In some areas, post-graduate or Ph.D. in physics or electronics may be employed.

A person should be proficient in languages like C++, Java, Skill, L and must be capable of working on Unix, Windows and related platforms. At present there are limited institutes that offer research and training facilities in the field of electronic circuit design. Some of these are premier institutes like IIT, IISc, CEERI, TIFR, etc.

However, most of the EDA firms provide in-house training to their employs. Cadence, which is among the leading EDA companies provide expertise to its design engineers in wireless and wires communication, networking and Internet. It also provides education and training services to its clients at their premises. The curriculum includes both classroom as well as lab training.

The earning of EDA professionals is enormous. Since the task involves a high level of technical expertise, remuneration is proportionate. Moreover, as most of the firms are multinationals, candidates are exposed to the best working facilities in India itself. With a few years of experience, an EDA professional can earn anywhere between 6 to 8 lakh per annum. Since, the job is project based they have a high probability of getting foreign postings and thus expanding their horizon.

The importance of EDA shall increase further in coming years as communication and computer technology advances throughout the world.