Processor validation: a top-down approach

This work presents the design validation techniques for microprocessors. The verification effectiveness validates the design implementation using a combination of simulation techniques and formal methods. This article presents a top-down validation methodology that complements existing bottom-up verification techniques. The validation team applies model checking to a high-level description of the design abstracted from the RTL implementation. Formal verification uses a formal language to describe the system. The specification for the formal verification comes from the architecture description; the implementation can come from either the architecture specification or the abstracted design. A top-down methodology for validating microprocessors using a combination of symbolic simulation and equivalence checking is presented. Specification-driven hardware generation and validation of design implementation using equivalence checking has one limitation: the structure of the generated hardware reference model is similar to that of implementation.