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What are the latest trends and challenges in STA for advanced process nodes and emerging technologies?

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Static timing analysis (STA) is a crucial step in the design and verification of integrated circuits (ICs) that ensures the performance, reliability, and functionality of the chip. As the process nodes shrink and the technologies evolve, STA faces new trends and challenges that require innovative solutions and strategies. In this article, we will explore some of the latest developments and issues in STA for advanced process nodes and emerging technologies, and how you can use STA tools effectively to overcome them.

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RONY THOMAS

SoC Design Verification Engineer at Intel Corporation | IEEE Volunteer | Chair of Industry Relations, IEEE Kerala…

1 Process variation

One of the major challenges in STA for advanced process nodes is the increasing impact of process variation on the timing and power of the IC. Process variation refers to the variations in the physical parameters of the transistors, interconnects, and other components of the chip due to manufacturing variations, environmental conditions, and aging effects. Process variation can cause significant variations in the delay, capacitance, resistance, and leakage of the circuit, leading to timing errors, power dissipation, and performance degradation. To cope with process variation, STA needs to account for the statistical distribution of the variation sources, and use techniques such as corner analysis, statistical timing analysis, parametric on-chip variation (POCV) analysis, and adaptive voltage scaling (AVS) to ensure robust and accurate timing closure.

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2 Clock domain crossing

Another challenge in STA for advanced process nodes is the handling of clock domain crossing (CDC) scenarios. CDC refers to the situation where a signal or data transfers from one clock domain to another with a different frequency or phase. CDC can cause metastability, data loss, or data corruption if not properly synchronized or verified. To avoid CDC issues, STA needs to identify and classify the CDC paths, and use techniques such as synchronizers, handshake protocols, data encoding, and CDC verification tools to ensure reliable and safe data transfer.

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3 Low power design

A trend in STA for advanced process nodes and emerging technologies is the increasing demand for low power design. Low power design aims to reduce the power consumption and heat dissipation of the IC, which are critical for the battery life, performance, and reliability of the chip. To achieve low power design, STA needs to consider the power modes, power domains, power switches, voltage islands, and power gating techniques that are used to control the power supply and activity of the circuit. STA also needs to use techniques such as dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), clock gating, multi-threshold CMOS (MTCMOS), and power-aware timing analysis to optimize the power and timing trade-offs.

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4 Emerging technologies

A final challenge in STA for advanced process nodes and emerging technologies is the adaptation to new device architectures and materials that are being explored to overcome the limitations of the conventional CMOS technology. Some of these emerging technologies include FinFETs, nanowires, carbon nanotubes, graphene, spintronics, memristors, and quantum dots. These technologies offer advantages such as higher performance, lower power, smaller size, and novel functionality, but also pose challenges such as higher complexity, uncertainty, variability, and compatibility. To deal with these challenges, STA needs to incorporate the new device models, parameters, and behaviors, and use techniques such as device-aware timing analysis, variation-aware timing analysis, and reliability-aware timing analysis to ensure accurate and robust timing closure.

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RONY THOMAS

SoC Design Verification Engineer at Intel Corporation | IEEE Volunteer | Chair of Industry Relations, IEEE Kerala Section
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The advent of new transistor technologies like gate-all-around (GAA) transistors means that computing of STA becomes even more challenging and timing models need to be updated accordingly. Another emerging technology to consider is the use of chiplets. In a single package there can be multiple interconnected chiplets that are fabricated using different process technologies. This can be another challenge in calculating STA especially when there are critical paths across these chiplets.

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5 Here’s what else to consider

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What are the latest trends and challenges in STA for advanced process nodes and emerging technologies?

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1 Process variation

2 Clock domain crossing

3 Low power design

4 Emerging technologies

5 Here’s what else to consider

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