
IBIS Macromodel Task Group

Meeting date: 08 May 2012

Members (asterisk for those attending):
Agilent:                    * Fangyi Rao
                            * Radek Biernacki
Altera:                     * David Banas
Andrew Joy Consulting:      * Andy Joy
Ansys:                        Samuel Mertens
                            * Dan Dvorscak
                            * Curtis Clark
Arrow Electronics:            Ian Dodd
Cadence Design Systems:       Terry Jernberg
                            * Ambrish Varma
                              Feras Al-Hawari
Celsionix:                    Kellee Crisafulli
Cisco Systems:                Ashwin Vasudevan
                              Syed Huq
Ericsson:                     Anders Ekholm
IBM:                          Greg Edlund
Intel:                        Michael Mirmak
LSI Logic:                    Wenyi Jin
Maxim Integrated Products:    Mahbubul Bari
Mentor Graphics:            * John Angulo
                              Zhen Mu
                            * Arpad Muranyi
                              Vladimir Dmitriev-Zdorov
Micron Technology:            Randy Wolff
NetLogic Microsystems:        Ryan Couts
Nokia-Siemens Networks:     * Eckhard Lenski
QLogic Corp.                  James Zhou
Sigrity:                      Brad Brim
                              Kumar Keshavan
                              Ken Willis
SiSoft:                     * Walter Katz
                              Todd Westerhoff
                              Doug Burns
                            * Mike LaBonte
Snowbush IP:                  Marcus Van Ierssel
ST Micro:                     Syed Sadeghi
Teraspeed Consulting Group:   Scott McMorrow
                            * Bob Ross
TI:                           Casey Morrison
                              Alfred Chong
Vitesse Semiconductor:        Eric Sweetman
Xilinx:                       Mustansir Fanaswalla

The meeting was lead by Arpad Muranyi

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Opens:

- Andy Joy joins us for the first time
  - WOrked at TI for 12 years as SerDes architect
  - Currentl consulting for QLogic looking at AMI models

- Arpad: Should we meet next week?
  - Some may be traveling to SPI
  - Can't attend: Bob, Eckhard
  - We will meet next week

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Call for patent disclosure:

- None

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Review of ARs:

- Arpad submit Boundary Definition BIRD to Open Forum
  - Done

- Arpad and Walter decide on BIRD 123.3 equation formats
  - Done
  - This has been uploaded to website

- Walter send BIRD 121.2 draft for posting on ATM website
  - Done

- Bob propose method for parameter passing
  - Bob: This may take a while
    - It may be hard to retrofit AMI style parameters into the existing structure
  - Arpad: It would help to have any alternatives to BIRD 117 in writing
  - Ambrish: Are AMI style parameters in the IBIS file the only concern?
  - Bob: Not sure exactly what the concern is
    - The tree structure may not be the answer

- Arpad revise BIRD 117 and 118 to generalize parameter file references
  - In progress

- Ambrish update BIRD 145 for pad to pin mapping and other clarifications
  - This is tabled, waiting for the outcome of other issues

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New Discussion:

BIRD 123.3 draft 2:
- Arpad: When should we vote on ending discussion of BIRD 123.3?
- Bob: I'm in favor of this BIRD but some may want more time
- Walter: The changes are related to the range of the rand() function
- Arpad showed the BIRD
- Mike: "bit_time+2.*Tx_Dj" should have "0" after the "."
- Bob: This should be voted at the next meeting
- Radek: Agree
  - There is also a caret problem after Rx_DCD

AR: Walter make typographical changes to BIRD 123.3 draft 2

BIRD 121.2:
- Walter showed BIRD 121.2
- Arpad: Was this version sent to the group?
  - Yes it was posted May 1
- Walter: Supporting_Files should list an files and folders needed
- Radek: The entire directory should be listed
- Arpad: This is confusing
  - The files are supposed to be in the same directory as the IBIS file
- Mike: Listing just directory names makes the files in them anonymous
  - A checker would be unable to verify their presence
  - It might be better to list all files contained
- Walter: There might be many files
- Arpad: It is not clear that all files within directories would be included
  - This should be clarified
- Walter added a clarification
- Radek: It should not be too hard to list each file
- Bob: This is a tool design issue for which two vendors are disagreeing
- Fangyi: Should we require all files to be in the same directory as the IBIS file?
- Radek: That was discussed some time ago
- Walter: The point is that the DLL needs to find certain files

- Fangyi:
  - There are two issues here:
    - How to deliver the model
    - How the model finds files
  - Requiring them to be in the same directory is too restrictive
- Walter: The .dll and .ami already have that restriction
  - IBM supports this proposal
  - This approach is used by models based on Matlab
- Fangyi: This committee works to support more than just IBM models
  - They support models using files in other directories
- Walter: They prefer this approach
- Bob: IBM should be here to state that
  - The part defining .report files has to be reviewed
- Arpad: If we define this file we must define the contents too
  - This part should be removed
- Walter: This gives the DLL a way to produce an ASCII file with "Result <name> <value>"
  - It is a standardized format
- Arpad: We can do this with tree syntax
- Walter: A number of IC vendors have requested this format
  - It has already been implemented for 3 years
- Arpad: We need a standard with integrity
- Ambrish: This is trying to force an IC vendor's proprietary approach
- Arpad: If tree syntax is used vendors can change their models
- Walter: Our code would have to change too
- Arpad: It is risky to base features on unapproved BIRDs
  - We must focus on what the next specification should have
- Bob: We should discuss this later
- Walter: If this group does not approve I will not submit it
- Arpad: This group is suggesting a change
- Walter: I will not make that change

- Bob moved to table discussion of the BIRD
  - Even if the BIRD is approved it is not official until in a specification
- Fangyi seconded
- There were no objections
- BIRD 121 is tabled

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Next meeting: 15 May 2012 12:00pm PT

Next agenda:
1) Task list item discussions

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IBIS Interconnect SPICE Wish List:

1) Simulator directives
