RTL Architect: RTL Architect's "Shift-Left" Strategy Significantly Reduces Time-To-Feedback

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RTL Architect
RTL Architect’s Overview

“shift-left” strategy The RTL Architect™ solution is the industry’s first physically aware RTL design system
that significantly reduces the development cycle and delivers superior quality-of-results.
significantly reduces RTL Architect continues the “shift-left” strategy introduced in the Synopsys Fusion
time-to-feedback Design Platform™ to address power, performance, and area (PPA) challenges earlier
in the design cycle. The complexities of advanced process nodes have made it more
difficult to meet PPA targets through physical implementation techniques alone, so
RTL designers are tasked with exploring domain-specific architectures to dramatically
improve PPA. RTL Architect provides a logical/physical workbench that can accurately
predict the PPA impact of architectural changes without waiting for feedback from the
physical design team.
Key Benefits
• Unified data model that provides multi-billion gate capacity and comprehensive
hierarchical design capabilities
• Fast, multi-dimensional implementation prediction engine that enables RTL
designers to predict power, performance, area, congestion
• Dedicated workflow environment for ease-of-use and seamless analysis of key
quality metrics
• RTL re-structuring with automatic constraint updates for architectural changes and
IP re-targeting
• Hierarchical floorplan creation for block area, timing, and congestion estimation
• Leverages Synopsys’ world-class implementation and golden signoff solutions to
deliver results that correlate-by-construction
• RTL power estimation and optimization of energy efficient designs with the
PrimePower golden signoff power analysis engine
• Comprehensive cross-probing facilitates debug from layout, schematic and
reports to RTL
synopsys.com
Predictive Modeling
RTL Architect’s new Predictive Engine (PE) is derived from Synopsys’ implementation environment and enables rapid multi-
dimensional analysis and optimization of RTL to predict PPA of downstream implementation accurately. This Predictive Engine
utilizes new correct-by-construction modeling, leveraging the proven and widely used core implementation algorithms and
architectures of the Synopsys Fusion Design Platform. This ensures tight correlation to the best implementation.
This also allows the RTL designers to experiment and tune their HDL code without multiple, back-and-forth, hand-offs to synthesis
and to pinpoint timing bottlenecks in their source code to improve RTL quality.
Design Planning
RTL Architect’s hierarchical, design planning, infrastructure automatically generates a physical implementation, with clock trees, to
provide the RTL designer with accurate power, timing and area estimates. Additionally, the RTL block integrator can use the design
planning capabilities to integrate in-house and third-party IP (as seen in Figure 1 Arteris® IP FlexNoC® Interconnect Integration)
including bus and pipeline register planning. This fast and deep look-ahead allows the designers to not only predict but also drive
physical implementation.
Figure 1: Arteris IP FlexNoC Interconnect Integration
RTL Design Experience

The RTL Architect experience is built around the RTL designer. The PE maps leaf cells back to the RTL so that the designer can see
the direct impact a code change has on PPA. Figure 2 RTL Cross-Probing, shows the cross-probing capability from various design
views to RTL. Color coded reports indicate severity level.
RTL Architect Uniﬁed GUI Environment
RTL Layout
view view
Block level
Timing
view
view
Figure 2: RTL Cross-Probing
2
For example, the designer can see how the logic is physically implemented by cross-probing from a report directly to the layout. This is
useful for seeing the predicted congestion hotspots caused by RTL, so they can experiment with different architectures to reduce the
congestion. Figure 3 shows the high degree of correlation between the place and route engines of RTL Architect and Fusion Compiler™.
RTL Architect Fusion Compiler
Figure 3: RTL Architect vs. Fusion Compiler Congestion
Another key concern for RTL designers is power usage. The interactive power summary report provides an overview of key power
metrics, such as, switching and glitch power, leakage, and clock gating efficiency. The results are based on the PrimePower golden
signoff power analysis engine. The report data can be sorted, filtered and cross-probed to RTL.
Bridging the Gap

RTL Architect significantly improves the quality of RTL before handing off to implementation. It addresses the limitations of the existing
solutions which are hampered by inaccuracies that impact productivity as downstream implementation tools compensate. The shift-left
strategy identifies and corrects physical implementation issues early in the design cycle to achieve aggressive PPA targets at advanced
nodes through better RTL.
©2020 Synopsys, Inc. All rights reserved. Synopsys is a trademark of Synopsys, Inc. in the United States and other countries. A list of Synopsys trademarks is
available at synopsys.com/copyright.html . All other names mentioned herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.
02/28/20.CS469885535_RTL Architect_DS.

RTL Architect: RTL Architect's "Shift-Left" Strategy Significantly Reduces Time-To-Feedback

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DATASHEET

RTL Architect’s Overview

Figure 1: Arteris IP FlexNoC Interconnect Integration

RTL Design Experience

RTL Architect Uniﬁed GUI Environment

Figure 2: RTL Cross-Probing

RTL Architect Fusion Compiler

Figure 3: RTL Architect vs. Fusion Compiler Congestion

Bridging the Gap

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