A brief primer on EDA’s function in IC design

May 6, 2025

5

A brief primer on EDA’s function in IC design

Analysts estimate that the worldwide marketplace for semiconductors will exceed $600 billion in 2025 and hit the $1 trillion mark by 2030, suggesting a CAGR of over 8%. It’s no shock that the drivers behind this progress embrace the semiconductor gadgets and programs wanted to help the quickly rising segments like synthetic intelligence (AI), automotive industries (autonomous driving and EVs), knowledge facilities and cloud computing, communications, and shopper electronics.

Digital design automation (EDA) performs a vital function within the progress of the worldwide semiconductor business. But it’s comparatively unknown exterior of those that take part immediately within the business. To be able to perceive the worth of EDA, it helps to understand the place EDA suits throughout the semiconductor provide chain.

Semiconductor worth chain

The semiconductor provide chain is each advanced and globally distributed. If we contemplate the portion of the provision chain from design by way of completed semiconductor merchandise—packaged chips and programs, for instance—it includes the elements proven under.

Determine 1 The semiconductor provide chain encompasses product specification, chip design and verification, manufacturing and meeting, and check and packaging. Supply: Bob Smith

Semiconductor corporations are the first customers of EDA instruments required for designing chips that will include upward of billions of transistors. Along with EDA instruments, these corporations additionally use semiconductor mental property (IP) blocks which can be pre-designed and characterised purposeful blocks to assist simplify the design course of.

The start of the method that feeds the provision chain is the event of latest chip designs. Main into design is the upfront planning, together with assessing the goal market(s) and market timing necessities—each too early and too late should be prevented—and purposeful and efficiency traits. As soon as the plan is in place, the chip design course of begins.

Chip design is a posh course of that begins with architectural planning and detailed specs on chip performance and efficiency (Determine 2). The subsequent steps take the design by way of completely different ranges of abstraction and verification. All of the blocks within the diagram are served by EDA distributors offering many alternative EDA merchandise.

Determine 2 Chip design and verification are advanced and require a number of steps earlier than the design may be handed off to manufacturing. Supply: Bob Smith

Register switch degree (RTL) design creates a software program mannequin of the chip utilizing a {hardware} description language (HDL) corresponding to Verilog or VHDL. This design should then be rigorously verified utilizing a simulator, and in some instances, the usage of hardware-assisted verification often known as {hardware} emulators or FPGA prototypes. As soon as the software-based design is verified, the subsequent step is one other transformation.

Synthesis takes the RTL software program design and transforms it right into a logic-level netlist. The netlist is a group of logical parts and blocks interconnected to type the circuitry that may carry out the chip’s capabilities. Extra verifications steps are carried out after synthesis to make sure that the netlist works as anticipated.

As soon as the netlist is verified, the subsequent step is the creation of the particular bodily geometries used to outline the constructions (transistors) and interconnects (wires) that will likely be manufactured. This step known as place and route. “Place” refers to finding the purposeful blocks on the chip and “route” speaks to producing the wires that interconnect the blocks.

Bodily design is adopted by exhaustive verification steps that embrace checking performance and timing. Different checks corresponding to energy and thermal integrity and design and electrical rule checking assess that necessities for the goal semiconductor course of have been met. These verification steps are the “gatekeepers” that should be happy earlier than the design may be launched to manufacturing.

The manufacturing business consists of suppliers of the gear and supplies which can be used to fabricate semiconductor chips. As soon as manufactured, the fabricated chips are handed off to corporations focusing on the subsequent step of meeting, check, and packaging.

On this closing step earlier than the chips may be delivered to market, these corporations check the chips after which assemble them into packages. The packaged chips then head to distribution channels that finally ship the chips to product producers to assemble into their merchandise.

The worth of EDA

The overall income contribution of those segments of the provision chain in 2024 was roughly $420 billion. On this similar interval, the EDA section generated about $20 billion or ~ 5% of the overall income. Whereas this appears like a small piece of the puzzle, the worth of EDA goes far past what income numbers convey.

The place is that this “unseen” worth in EDA coming from? The reply lies within the complexities of the design course of itself, and the driving must sustain with the competitors.

Fashionable chip design is each advanced and difficult. Essentially the most subtle chips could include tens of billions of transistors—far past the realm of unaided handbook design.

Furthermore, time to market is the whole lot within the extremely aggressive market. The flexibility to design and ship a brand new chip to handle a market want on time and with the options that may guarantee success ultimately market is a frightening process. Design groups put money into the EDA and verification instruments that assist them optimize these tradeoffs.

The price of designing and verifying a modern chip may be within the a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} to go from idea to design completion and launch to manufacturing. A design flaw or late supply can imply the tip of a promising new chip and result in a whole lot of tens of millions of {dollars} or extra in unrecoverable prices. Failure just isn’t an possibility.

EDA instruments are the engines that drive the design course of and permit semiconductor producers to fulfill ever-shrinking market home windows. The EDA instruments themselves and the methodology and flows (“recipes”) that every firm develops round them are thought to be extremely priceless commerce secrets and techniques.

Whereas time to market is on the prime of the checklist, there are different concerns that EDA instruments additionally tackle. These can embrace product security, product lifecycle and suitability for specialised purposes for markets corresponding to automobiles, medical gadgets, and protection and aerospace. All these necessities mandate subtle design and verification instruments that may be utilized to make sure designs meet these wants—and ship on time.

EDA performs one other priceless function within the chain as a key driver in bringing new course of applied sciences to market. Growth of latest semiconductor processes depends on tight partnerships between the method builders and the EDA corporations.

It’s costly to convey a brand new course of to the purpose the place it has been characterised and dialed-in in order that it may ship the yield and efficiency that potential prospects will demand. However to have the ability to settle for designs, semiconductor manufacturing should have the ability to help the shoppers with verified EDA instruments and flows that may help the brand new know-how. No instrument help, no prospects.

Semiconductor design is on the entrance finish of the provision chain and the EDA business supplies the instruments which can be important for turning out right this moment’s advanced chip designs. With out availability of those design automation instruments, the brand new improvements and merchandise that drive the worldwide semiconductor business ahead would come to a screeching halt and the provision chain would wither and atrophy.

Worth past licensing price

The insatiable demand for brand new merchandise from the electronics business retains intense strain on the semiconductor producers to ship the long run. In flip, this calls for that the EDA business frequently ship new instruments, applied sciences and performance that help the continuing transfer to the long run. Merely mentioned, there could be no new merchandise or progress within the world electronics market with out EDA. Measuring the EDA market solely on income contribution vastly understates the worth that EDA delivers to the worldwide semiconductor business.

The final word worth that the EDA business delivers to the worldwide semiconductor business is nearly incalculable. Definitely, it’s far past the licensing and upkeep revenues that the business generates.

Robert (Bob) Smith is government director of the ESD Alliance, a SEMI know-how neighborhood, representing members within the digital system and semiconductor design ecosystem accountable for its administration and operations.