Current criticalities and innovation perspectives in flash memory design automation

With reference to technological, architectural, and market considerations, the specific areas of design methodology and automation in flash memory design are analyzed in this paper. For each of the activities identified as critical, we show the design process key constraints and specifications, which drive the change in methodology, tools, and flows. We go through a brief survey of the solutions adopted in the recent past as well as the new emerging areas of intervention. The analysis covers: 1) design methodology, floorplanning, full-custom layout design and Rtl2Layout automation integration; 2) analog-digital mixed full-chip simulation and architectural exploration; 3) statistical analog circuital simulation; 4) mixed-signal design to test approaches; and 5) IC and package design integration.