Product lifecycle management is a well-adopted methodology used in mechanical design. Until recently, it was not widely used in the semiconductor industry. That all changed when Methodics created intellectual property lifecycle management or IPLM, a design-centric mechanism for tracking and analysis of semiconductor IP and design. The result is a workspace for chip designers who often reuse existing IP.

Methodics was acquired by Perforce in 2020 and continues its quest to complete the digital thread, a traceable system from product definition and requirements all the way through semiconductor development.

Methodics founder and CEO Simon Butler is now general manager of the Methodics Business unit at Perforce, a member of the ESD Alliance, a SEMI Technology Community. Simon and I recently discussed  the Methodics by Perforce survey of semiconductor design professionals that identified challenges, trends and opportunities in 2022. What follows is a condensed version of our discussion.

Smith: What was the size of the survey sampling and what was your goal?

Butler: We surveyed around 100 semiconductor professionals to understand trending issues around design and the general business climate.

Smith: What conclusions did you draw from the survey?

Butler: The key takeaways from our report were:

Design practices are continuing to trend toward component-based design and IP reuse.

Compliance remains a manual process and a challenge.

More designs are including an embedded software component.

An increasing amount of analog design is being included on SoCs.

Smith: According to the survey, using component-based design and IP is becoming more prevalent. Finding IP is a challenge. Why do you think that’s the case?

Butler: Component-based design improves time to market and reduces cost. However, understanding the context of IP for reuse is challenging and usually requires engagement from advocates on the original project. Having a better process for identifying IP for inclusion in a project helps companies better leverage their existing assets and avoid reinventing the wheel for each new project.

Smith: The survey found that analog components are being combined on a digital SoC. Are current design platforms able to handle the co-design and validation of analog, mixed-signal and digital components?

Butler: Finding a platform that can handle the co-design and validation of components can be challenging but necessary given the demanding nature of the market. Reusing analog components is seen as a holy grail for companies. It feels impossible. Without a comprehensive IPLM platform, it can be extremely difficult to find let alone reuse and combine analog components on a digital SoC. An IPLM platform needs to address this issue by providing the necessary context to validate analog, mixed-signal and digital components, helping teams accelerate time to market and project schedules.

Smith: Did the respondents describe which manufacturing approaches they are using as process nodes continue to shrink?

Butler: The majority of companies are still using standard SoC manufacturing techniques but more advanced 2.5D and 3D-IC packaging techniques (chiplets, etc.) are gaining traction.

Smith: Respondents are concerned about compliance with functional safety standards and traceability. Does the industry have answers?

Butler: The process of tracking compliance and evidence, then presenting this to prospects in a compelling way is still a time-consuming and laborious process.

Smith: It seems that IP traceability is highly needed. Are there are any industry-wide solutions or collaborative efforts that are focused on this topic?

Final Note: The State of the Semiconductors Report is available for download from the Methodics by Perforce website.

About Simon Butler

Simon Butler was founder and CEO of Methodics Inc., acquired by Perforce in 2020, and is currently the General Manager of the Methodics Business unit at Perforce. Methodics created IPLM as a new business segment in the enterprise software space to service the needs of IP and component-based design. Simon has 30 years of IC design and EDA tool development and specializes in product strategy and design.