Azuro, Inc. is an
electronic design automation
Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...
(EDA)
software company. Formerly headquartered in
Santa Clara, California with a development office in
Cambridge, England, it is now part of
Cadence Design Systems
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (stylized as cādence), headquartered in San Jose, California, is an American multinational corporation, multinational computational software company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc. The co ...
.
Azuro develops software for the design of
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
s. Azuro specializes in
clock network
A clock network or clock system is a set of synchronized clocks designed to always show exactly the same time by communicating with each other. Clock networks usually consist of a central master clock kept in sync with an official time source, ...
implementation. Azuro's PowerCentric product takes an innovative approach to
clock network
A clock network or clock system is a set of synchronized clocks designed to always show exactly the same time by communicating with each other. Clock networks usually consist of a central master clock kept in sync with an official time source, ...
implementation that produces lower power clock networks with lower
clock skew and shorter
insertion delay using a smaller area of the
integrated circuit
An integrated circuit or monolithic integrated circuit (also referred to as an IC, a chip, or a microchip) is a set of electronic circuits on one small flat piece (or "chip") of semiconductor material, usually silicon. Large numbers of tiny ...
than competing tools.
Azuro has been particularly focussed on lower power design. In
synchronous circuit designs all changes of
state are coordinated by a
clock, and this clock edge must be distributed to all parts of the chip. Since the clock signal is distributed throughout the entire circuit it can consume a large percentage of the energy used. Azuro's technology allows
clock gating and
clock network
A clock network or clock system is a set of synchronized clocks designed to always show exactly the same time by communicating with each other. Clock networks usually consist of a central master clock kept in sync with an official time source, ...
implementation to be combined as a single step, allowing the clock to be prevented from reaching parts of the chip where it is not needed more effectively than competing technologies. The company has a number of patents in the area of low power design, clock tree synthesis and power analysis.
History
Azuro was founded in
Cambridge in 2002 by Paul Cunningham and Steev Wilcox, using research from their doctoral studies.
On July 12, 2011
Cadence Design Systems
Cadence Design Systems, Inc. (stylized as cādence), headquartered in San Jose, California, is an American multinational corporation, multinational computational software company, founded in 1988 by the merger of SDA Systems and ECAD, Inc. The co ...
announced that it had acquired Azuro for an undisclosed sum.
[{{cite news, url=http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4217769/Cadence-acquires-power-specialist-Azuro, date=July 12, 2011, publisher=EETimes, title=Cadence acquires power specialist Azuro]
See also
*Electronic design automation
Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), is a category of software tools for designing Electronics, electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools wo ...
* Design flow (EDA)
* Integrated circuit design
References
EETimes: Power reduction tool extends to 65-nmEETimes: Starc adopts Azuro's clock-tree synthesis
EETimes Europe: Startup targets power problems in wireless IC design
Electronic design automation companies