Development of Superconductor Advanced Integrated Circuit Design Flow Using Synopsys Tools

HYPRES developed an advanced design flow and design infrastructure for single-flux-quantum (SFQ) superconductor integrated circuits using standard CMOS based EDA tools along with internally developed tools and has been successfully using this flow for the past several years. The design infrastructure includes the process design kit, advanced simulation methodology, and IC verification rule decks. The superconductor hierarchical circuit analyzer developed by HYPRES serves as bedrock of our simulation methodology facilitating circuit analysis and debugging including extraction of circuit parameter margins, analysis of Monte-Carlo simulations with process corners, as well as automated timing characterization. Using this proven design flow and infrastructure as a knowledge source, we have collaborated with Synopsys to enhance their tools for a full native tool enabled design flow and infrastructure, which represents a significant expansion in design capabilities and capacity for superconducting electronics. Using the 64-Bit arithmetic logic unit and a Pseudo Random Bit Sequence (PRBS) generator as reference circuits, we demonstrate the use of Synopsys tools for superconductor IC design including spice circuit simulations, plotting waveforms, margins analysis, Monte-Carlo simulations, HDL simulations with timing back-annotation, and IC validation including design rule checker and layout-versus-schematic checker.