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Cadence Commits to Join imec Automotive Chiplet Programme

AmandaK

Administrator
Staff member
10 Oct 2024

3D-IC in Automotive Design


The automotive industry stands on the cusp of a technological renaissance, ushering in an era where vehicles aren't just tools of transportation but interconnected nodes within a vast network of software-defined mobility. Central to this transformation are chiplets—miniaturized, modular components that can be mixed, matched, and scaled to create powerful, application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). This blog post delves into the significance of chiplets for the automotive industry, the objectives of the imec automotive chiplet programme, and Cadence's pivotal role in this groundbreaking initiative.

Why Chiplets Are Important for the Automotive Industry​

The automotive industry is experiencing rapid advancements in electrification, autonomy, and the shift from hardware to software-defined vehicles. These key transformations necessitate innovation in electronics to meet the increasing demands for data movement, processing, storage, and security. Chiplets present an attractive solution by offering a scalable architecture that can address these challenges efficiently. Here are some key reasons why chiplets are crucial for the automotive industry:
  • - Scalability and Flexibility: Chiplets enable a modular design approach, allowing for scalable performance from Level 2 ADAS up to Level 5 full autonomy.
  • - Cost and Development Time: Reusing known-good chiplet designs from previous generations reduces R&D costs and accelerates time to market.
  • - Enhanced Functionality: The fusion of data from multi-spectral cameras, radar, and lidar through specialized sensor chiplets enables "vision" beyond human capability, which is critical for safe autonomous driving.
  • - High Performance: Compute chiplets can provide data center-level processing and networking power, essential for the next generation of automotive applications.

What Is the imec Automotive Chiplet Programme?​

Imec, a world-leading research and innovation hub in nanoelectronics and digital technologies, has initiated a research program focused on using chiplets in automotive designs. It aims to address the design challenges arising from the ever-increasing demands of data movement, processing, storage, and security in the automotive sector. Key aspects of the imec automotive chiplet programme include:
  • - Collaborative Ecosystem: Through its Automotive Chiplet Alliance (ACA), imec has formed an ecosystem of leading companies from multiple automotive industry segments to collectively gain insights of the challenge of bringing multi-chiplet compute modules to the automotive market. Building on those insights, imec has now setup a dedicated Automotive Chiplet Programme (ACP) to accelerate and derisk the transition to automotive chiplets in collaboration with a selective number of companies across the ecosystem. The first companies committing to join this programme were announced October 10, 2024, at the Automotive Chiplet Forum in Ann Arbor (MI).
  • - Prototyping and Testing: Imec involves building prototypes to measure failure modes and ensure reliability and quality in automotive applications.
  • - Industry Standards: Imec emphasizes the need for industry-wide agreement on interconnect standards, protocols, form factors, diagnostics, and functional safety.
  • - Performance Goals: By adding additional chiplets, Imec aims to achieve over 2000 tera operations per second (TOPS) of performance, thereby providing a scalable architecture for various levels of autonomous driving.

Cadence Commits to Join the Automotive Chiplet Programme​

By joining the imec automotive chiplet programme, Cadence intends to bring its expertise in electronic design automation (EDA), intellectual property (IP), and SoC architecture and design to the table. Cadence and imec engineers are collaborating to develop a proof-of-concept project on automotive chiplet-based design. The technology and knowledge are derived from a development announced earlier in 2024 which Cadence aims to support int he programme where most applicable.
  • Chiplet Reference Design and Virtual Platform: Cadence is developing a virtual platform model of an ADAS system, built leveraging Cadence's SoC architecture and design experience and optimized with the Cadence IP portfolio. This digital twin will faithfully mirror the behavior of the actual hardware design, allowing automotive engineers to start software development for new chiplets even before the physical components are available.
  • System Chiplet Proof of Concept: Cadence is developing a multi-die system chiplet platform. Featuring the Cadence Chiplet Framework and design solutions, this chiplet showcases the system and memory IP and the integration of multiple chiplet dies on the same package, interconnecting them using the Universal Chiplet Interconnect Express (UCIe) standard interface. It also serves as a framework to demonstrate Cadence's newest IP for UCIe (up to 64GB/s peak bandwidth) and LPDDR5 (up to 32GB/s peak memory bandwidth). It features an industry-standard compute subsystem, a safety management processor, Cadence IP for LPDDR5 and UCIe, and Cadence Janus NoC technology.
  • Multi-Die Proof of Concept: Cadence is also developing a multi-die proof of concept based on its UCIe IP. This project includes seven chiplets, each with two UCIe PHY blocks, demonstrating an industry-first eye-diagram measurement of a die-to-die interconnect with speeds of up to 16GT/s.

Leveraging the Knowledge of Cadence Solutions Engineers​

Our solution engineers will play a pivotal role in this initiative. With deep expertise in advanced nodes, digital and mixed-signal design, verification, embedded software, and post-silicon back-end development capability, our combined team will drive the development of cutting-edge chiplet solutions.

Cadence's Focus Areas in the Programme​

Cadence's contributions to the imec automotive chiplet programme are extensive and focused on several key areas:

1. Automotive Chiplet Solutions​

  • SoC Architecture and Design Experience: Engineering experts from several teams, including architecture, design, IP, verification IP, and EDA methodology, will collaborate and lead innovation in the research and development of chiplet packaging and reliability for ADAS applications.
  • Helium Virtual Platform and Virtual Model Development: Development of virtual platforms and models to facilitate automotive software development and distributed simulation of chiplets.

2. UCIe Design IP and Verification IP​

  • UCIe Verification Environment and Associated VIP: Cadence will provide a verification environment and Verification IP (VIP) for UCIe, ensuring robust testing and validation of chiplet designs.
  • UCIe Design IP Up to Proof-of-Concept Tapeout: Development and provision of UCIe Design IP up to the proof-of-concept tapeout stage, though not for volume production.

3. Multi-Die Design Environment – Design and Analysis Flow​

  • - Digital Flow Integrity 3D-IC for Multi-Chip/Multi-Technology: Capitalizing on our 12+ years of collaboration, Cadence will ramp up the imec team on digital flow with Integrity 3D-ICs Planner, optimizing concurrent I/O performance.
  • - Innovus Multi-Die Design Solution: Utilization of the Innovus Implementation System for efficient multi-die design.
  • - Substrate Design with Allegro X Advanced Package Designer or Innovus Implementation: Expertise in substrate design using Allegro Package Designer or Innovus Implementation System.
  • - Analysis Tools: Use of Cadence's analysis tools, such as the Celsius Thermal Solver for thermal analysis and Sigrity technologies or Clarity 3D Solver for signal integrity analysis of the UCIe interface.

Conclusion​

The participation of Cadence in imec's automotive chiplet programme represents a significant step forward in the evolution of automotive technology. By leveraging chiplets, the programme will address the critical challenges of scalability, performance, and reliability in automotive electronics. Cadence's extensive contributions, including its chiplet reference design, virtual platform, and multi-die test chip, underscore its commitment to driving innovation in the automotive industry.

As the automotive sector continues to transform, the importance of collaborative efforts like the imec automotive chiplet programme cannot be overstated. By bringing together industry leaders and fostering a culture of innovation, the programme is poised to make a lasting impact on the future of automotive technology.

For technology enthusiasts, industry analysts, and investors, the advancements in automotive chiplets present exciting opportunities for growth and innovation. Stay tuned for more updates as Cadence and imec continue to push the boundaries of what's possible in the automotive industry.

Learn more about Cadence projects and chiplet test chips.

Link to Press Release
 
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