Do Synopsys design tools support all major foundry processes?
Norm: Yes, both Synopsys tools and DesignWare IP products support all major foundry processes with one slight exception — we have a few mixed-signal products that are customized for each process. So those mixed-signal products may not be available for all foundry processes. We make them available on the major foundry processes as standard products and for the lesser foundry processes on an as-needed basis. Purely custom work? Norm: Yes, that’s right. An example, by the way, of that is being announced just this week — the 90-nanometer USB 2.0 PHY that we’ve done for IBM and Chartered Semiconductor. That is an example of where we’ve ported our USB 2.0 PHY to the IBM 90-nanometer process. What would you say are the most important characteristics of a successful design or block of IP? Norm: We look at a number of things, particularly with soft IP. Reusability is obviously key in creating a product that covers the widest variety of applications, processes, and different targets in terms o
