CAD/CAM/CAE : electronic design automation, 1992 - Archive Server

Chapter 5
IC Layout Market
1991: The Year in Review
Introduction
The IC layout software market showed a 6.2 percent growth
between 1990 and 1991. This growth is down almost half from the
1990 growth figure of 11.7 percent, yet outperforms the EDA industry
growth of 3.8 percent. This growth is spurred by the increasing
use of ASIC design methodologies for chip-level design, an idea
pioneered by the early chip-set vendors.
Market Segmentation
Dataquest segments the IC layout application market as follows:
• Full Custom IC Design Tools—^Ftill custom tools include polygon
editors, symbolic editors, compaction tools, and floor-planning
systems.
• Automatic Placement and Routing—^Automatic placement and
routing (APR) consists of two different sets of tools, those for
gate array design and those for cell-based IC design.
• Design Verification—Design Verification tools include design rule
checking, electrical rules checking, layout-versus-schematic checkers,
and parasitic extraction.
• Compilers—Compilers are predominantly cell compilers and
associated tools for the automatic creation of hbrary cells based
upon low-level silicon design rule information.
• Module Generators—^Module generators are software packages
that use parameterized inputs to create high-level Ubrary cells
(such as datapath, RAM, and ROM) based upon lower-level ASIC
vendor supplied cells.
Full Custom IC Design Tools
Showing sales of $55 million, the full custom tool arena has remained
stagnant for the past three years (see Figures 5-1 and 5-2). Almost all
full custom tools are supplied to the semiconductor industry. The
recession, which has negatively impacted semiconductor production,
and hence IC layout capital spending, has caused the stagnation of
this market.
CCAM-EDA-MT-9201 ©1992 Dataquest Incorporated October 12,1992