siliconindia

As the use of semiconductors grows into new application areas such as IoTs, intelligent medical devices, autonomous cars and drones, the engineering requirements are also growing, for greater performance, lower power consumption, improved security and safety. Against the backdrop of these requirements and the ever-increasing growth in complexity of these devices, verification is becoming the primary challenge for semiconductor companies. VeriKwest Systems Inc, a semiconductor verification consulting company was founded to help mitigate these challenges by offering comprehensive verification and CAD automation services. Founded by electronics industry veterans, each having a Ph.D. in electronic design automation, VeriKwest provides state-of-the-art verification services, CAD automation services and custom-based training for chip and SOC level verification.

Commanding expertise over the most advanced verification technologies, methodologies, and models. VeriKwest Systems’ services include execution of block level verification projects with UVM (Universal Verification Methodology).Verikwest relies heavily on automation technologies to accelerate the process of UVM testbench creation, stitching third-party VIPs (Verification Intellectual Property), and the creation of UVM tests. Recently, VeriKwest has been on the forefront of many landmark projects.

Our biggest strength lies in automation

Its current endeavors include implementing flexible and secure regression systems by leveraging cloud-based computer clusters and developing verification for RISC-V (an open instruction set architecture for design) based SOC. Verikwest Systems’s engineers have been involved in the creation of custom VIPs for both emulation and simulation environments, conversion of legacy testbenches to the most recent UVM methodologies, implementation of UVM scoreboards, coverage closure and more.

“Our biggest strength lies in automation,” says Loganath Ramachandran, Director, VeriKwest Systems. “Using automation, we recently stitched together a complex UVM testbench which included more than 25 instances of third party VIPs in a matter of days, enabling the customer to save several weeks in their schedules”.

Well aware that each semiconductor firm has its distinct requirements and methodologies, the experts at VeriKwest clearly see the need for custom automation solutions. For instance, when a client grappled with SOC integration issues, VeriKwest Systems helped alleviate the problem through custom automation, thereby ensuring that the client’s enormous databases for SOC integration were consistent, complete and efficiently managed, with consolidated error checks across the entire design flow.

Recognizing the need for imparting the knowledge and skills for effective design and verification, VeriKwest offers highly customized onsite training. “Our training programs are thoughtfully built to empower clients’ teams with design and verification languages, methodologies, and custom coding guidelines,” says Champaka Ramachandran, CEO, VeriKwest Systems. To illustrate— when a leading semiconductor firm approached VeriKwest Systems to create a training program for engineers, VeriKwest designed a comprehensive custom training program focused on hands-on lab sessions. The trainees designed the required VIPs from scratch, verified and integrated the VIPs with DUT, and created UVM environments. Next, the trainees had to write multiple sequences, virtual sequences, and test cases which could successfully drive traffic on to the DUT. The program helped the trainees to attain incredible hands-on experience and gave them the confidence to take on complex verification tasks.

Moving ahead, VeriKwest Systems is geared to advance its verification and automation capabilities further. The company sees tremendous opportunities for furthering SoC verification automation with the upcoming releases of the Accelera’s new Portable Stimulus Standard (PSS).

“With dynamic changes in the realm of semiconductor design, our focus lies in developing machine-learning based verification solutions especially for IoT devices, offering solutions for Power-Aware Verification, and further improving our verification solutions for RISC-V devices,” concludes Raj Mitra, VP, CISMA Consultants, subsidiary of VeriKwest Systems based in India.