Micronas Standardizes on Synopsys' Design and Verification Solutions for Automotive Designs

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., March 17, 2013 -- Micronas, (SIX Swiss Exchange: MASN), known and recognized in the automotive and industrial business as a global partner for intelligent, sensor-based system solutions, and Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS), a global leader providing software, IP and services used to accelerate innovation in chips and electronic systems, today announced that Micronas has standardized on Synopsys' custom and digital solutions for the design and verification of semiconductors used in automotive and industrial applications. The solution includes Galaxy Custom Designer® for custom IC design, HSPICE® for circuit simulation, StarRC™ for gate-level and transistor-level extraction, IC Compiler™ for place and route, IC Validator for physical verification and VCS® for functional verification. After a comprehensive and thorough evaluation of available solutions, Micronas decided to standardize on the Synopsys tools and flow.

"The automotive industry is characterized by increasingly complex electronic systems, shorter innovation cycles and a steady rise in safety and quality requirements. In response, Micronas pursues a forward-looking quality policy in which both suppliers and customers are actively integrated into the "zero ppm" strategy," said Dirk Behrens , vice president Automotive at Micronas. "Our new partnership with Synopsys gives us an improved interoperability between the different tools and will enable us to influence future tool versions, thus giving us better, earlier access to advanced technologies in that area."

To enable a smooth and quick migration from their previous flow, Synopsys worked closely with Micronas to deliver a customized front-to-back analog and digital design flow. The collaboration included the following:

Development of custom interoperable process design kits (iPDKs);
IC Validator and StarRC design rule decks for in-house proprietary process technology;
Integration of Micronas' in-house SPICE simulator into the Galaxy Custom Designer schematic environment;
Migration of design data from legacy tool flows to the Synopsys solution.

As a result of this close collaboration, Micronas has fully migrated to Synopsys' solution and has used it to tape out two new designs, successfully making use of the unified custom and digital design solution in the Galaxy™ Implementation Platform, as well as the VCS functional verification solution in the Discovery™ Verification Platform.

"Increasingly, designers are adopting the full Synopsys solution for custom and digital designs to achieve their design goals in a timely manner," said Paul Lo , general manager and senior vice president of the Analog/Mixed-Signal Group at Synopsys. "Through our collaboration, we've helped Micronas take advantage of the unified custom and digital design and verification solutions in the Galaxy Implementation and Discovery Verification platforms."

About Synopsys

Synopsys, Inc. (Nasdaq: SNPS) accelerates innovation in the global electronics market. As a leader in electronic design automation (EDA) and semiconductor IP, its software, IP and services help engineers address their design, verification, system and manufacturing challenges. Since 1986, engineers around the world have been using Synopsys technology to design and create billions of chips and systems.

About Micronas

Micronas (SIX Swiss Exchange: MASN) is known and recognized in the automotive and industrial business as a reliable global partner for intelligent, sensor-based system solutions. Micronas offers a variety of Hall sensors and embedded controllers for smart actuators for automotive and industrial applications, such as drive trains, chassis frames, engine management and convenience functions. Micronas serves all major automotive electronics customers worldwide, many of them in continuous partnerships seeking joint success. While the holding company is headquartered in Zurich (Switzerland), operational headquarters are based in Freiburg (Germany). Currently, the Micronas Group employs around 900 persons.