Design automation for managing the complexity of mixed-domain microsystems

电子设计自动化(EDA)和计算机辅助设计(CAD)工具是使微电子行业在全球范围内蓬勃发展成为一个价值数十亿美元的行业的关键推动因素，加拿大处于这场革命的前沿。CAD工具使设计者能够管理包含数百万个晶体管的超大规模设计的复杂性，并显著降低设计成本和上市时间。因此，微电子组件目前在从计算机到汽车再到烤面包机的大多数消费产品中越来越重要，预计将出现显著增长，除了传统的台式/笔记本电脑外，特别是在个人无线通信产品和数字娱乐产品方面。这是因为重要的技术进步带来了前所未有的机遇，同时也带来了重大挑战。光刻技术的进步导致了更小的器件尺寸进入纳米范围，商业化的45 nm器件即将问世。封装技术正在以非常快的速度发展，以解决集成、信号完整性和电源分配问题。最后，基于纳米技术、微型机电系统(MEMS)、光电子技术和生物/化学传感器的新技术和新器件正在与微电子技术相结合，以形成具有广泛潜在应用的微系统，最显著的是在生物医学技术领域。虽然这些技术进步对经济增长和改善加拿大人的生活来说是一个重要的机会，但它们也导致设计的复杂性显著增加。这一研究计划包括协调一致的研究活动，导致设计自动化工具和方法，以解决日益增长的设计复杂性，目的是使加拿大工业能够充分利用先进微系统的潜力。

Electronic design automation (EDA) and computer aided design (CAD) tools were the key enablers that allowed the microelectronics industry to flourish into a multi-billion dollar industry world wide, with Canada at the forefront of this revolution. CAD tools have allowed designers to manage the complexity of very large scale designs containing millions of transistors, and to significantly reduce the design cost and time to market. As a result, microelectronic components are currently an increasingly significant part of most consumer products ranging from computers to cars to toaster-ovens, with significant growth expected particularly in personal wireless communications products and digital entertainment products in addition to the traditional desktop/notebook computers. This is due to important technological advances which have resulted in unprecedented opportunities as well as significant challenges. Advances in lithography have lead to smaller device sizes well into the nanometer range with commercial 45nm devices on the horizon. Packaging technology is advancing at a very fast pace in order to address integration, signal integrity and power distribution issues. Finally novel technologies and devices based on nanotechnology, micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS), opto-electronics technologies and bio/chemical sensors are being integrated with microelectronics in order to form Microsystems with wide ranging potential applications most notably in the biomedical technology area. While these technological advances represent an important opportunity for economic growth, and for improving the lives of Canadians, they also result in a significant increase in the complexity of design. This research program consists of coordinated research activities leading to design automation tools and methodologies for addressing this increasing design complexity with the aim of enabling the Canadian industry to take full advantage of the potential of advanced Microsystems.