Virtuoso ADE Explorer

The Cadence^® Virtuoso^® ADE Explorer provides a new entry-level cockpit to test a circuit early in the development cycle. The tool supports schematic-centric and specification-driven design exploration, as well as basic variation analysis such as corner case and Monte Carlo statistical analysis.

Virtuoso ADE Explorer provides a design cockpit, a testbench simulation environment, and an analysis engine and can work in one of two modes:

• Schematic-centric mode: This mode integrates seamlessly with the Virtuoso Spectre^® Circuit Simulator to support real-time tuning of circuit functionality
• GUI mode: This mode provides a specification-driven environment that allows you to set the pass/fail status of measurements made during a simulation

Circuit exploration and design

Virtuoso ADE Explorer allows the creation of measurements that can be monitored for a single test configuration. The results are visible in the new datasheet-centric display in the GUI, making it clear which specifications are passing and which are failing. The schematic mode allows the tool to display waveform probes at specific points in your project. By simply changing variables and monitoring the waveform probes, you can drill into your design quickly and with minimal intrusion.

Statistical variation design

Virtuoso ADE Explorer has built-in corners and Monte Carlo statistical analysis, as well as support for sensitivity and reliability analysis. This allows you to use these advanced techniques at the beginning of the design so you can get a complete sense of the circuit status under various operating conditions or over process corners. 

Virtuoso ADE Explorer shares a common data view with the other tools in the Virtuoso custom design platform, so designs naturally progress from single tests, to multiple tests, to significant regression testing, greatly simplifying the testing process.