Principal-level CAD methodology engineering

Ship better silicon, faster—without adding headcount.

On-demand CAD methodology engineering and EDA tool operations from a principal-level engineers. Reproducible RTL→GDSII flows, tuned infrastructure, and operations rigor that keeps programs on schedule.

See how we work

Senior-only, outcome-aligned, and fluent in Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens (Mentor), and OpenROAD where it fits.

Use Cases study

Selected real-world engagements.

Use Case 1 — Rapid SoC P&R and Signoff Stabilization

Situation: A startup was building an application-specific processor SoC but was blocked on physical implementation: placement-and-routing (P&R) could not converge to a clean signoff state (timing closure, power signoff, shorts-free routing, and passing DRC/LVS/ERC).

What We Did (2 weeks):

  • Drove timing closure by iterating on floorplan/layout changes and providing SDF-based timing feedback to the RTL team.
  • Planned and corrected the power grid so it did not produce power violations and integrated with IP blocks seamlessly.
  • Integrated placeholder/black-box (“ghost”) IP blocks to unblock physical verification and enable clean Calibre runs.
  • Resolved a backlog of electrical-rule and LVS issues, tightening the loop between implementation and verification.
  • Worked in a tight iteration cadence, often delivering actionable feedback by the team’s next workday and re-running updated RTL/netlists multiple times per day.

Outcome: Within two weeks, the design reached a stable P&R and signoff-ready state and the team hit their MPW submission deadline (TSMC) with all checks passing. A few months later, they reported fully working silicon and shared a working PCB as a thank-you.

Use Case 2 — Cross-View Library Validation Tool (Liberty/LEF/GDSII/Spice/Verilog)

Situation: A major semiconductor company needed an automated “cross-view validation” tool to catch inconsistencies across library deliverables (cell sets, pins, area, shapes) and to support repeatable releases across multiple formats. The tool needed to run on RHEL5 and RHEL6 64-bit hosts.

What We Did (4 weeks):

  • Built the Cross View Validation application (core in C++) and delivered it against a customer-provided build VM/toolchain.
  • Implemented a configuration-driven workflow to validate one or more library blocks at a time, including optional cellmap support to match cells across libraries with different naming.
  • Implemented validation checks described in RS0048-00-01 (examples): Liberty↔LEF/GDSII/Spice/Verilog, LEF↔GDSII, LEF↔LEF, GDSII↔GDSII, plus internal-format checks (e.g., LEF polygon overlap, Spice transistor-name uniqueness).

Outcome: The customer used the tool to validate many ARM and GlobalFoundries libraries, catching cross-format mismatches early and increasing library release confidence.

What We Deliver

Schedule risk removed

Plug-in senior CAD methodology to hit tapeout dates and program gates.

Flows that scale

Cloud-ready automation, CI/regressions, dashboards, and robust orchestration to keep throughput predictable.

Quality you can defend

Repeatable methodology with traceable artifacts and QoR/runtime/capacity metrics.

Vendor-stack fluent

Synopsys, Cadence, Siemens (Mentor), and OpenROAD where it fits.

Services

CAD Methodology Engineering

  • Reproducible RTL→GDSII workflows with versioned inputs/outputs
  • Push-button flows, CI for experiments, QoR tracking, and dashboards
  • Methodology QA before roll-out

EDA Tool & License Operations

  • Install, configure, and upgrade tool stacks; manage licenses
  • Secure on-prem + cloud design environments with tuned grids/queues
  • Runbooks, standards, and ops playbooks

Cloud & Hybrid EDA Infrastructure

  • Storage patterns, scheduling policies, caching, and HPC enablement
  • Instrumentation for throughput and bottleneck detection
  • Cloud bursting for peak tapeout windows

Physical Verification CAD

  • Automated DRC/LVS/PEX flows with debug-friendly reporting
  • SVRF-style automation and sign-off repeatability
  • Waivers, deltas, and checks that scale across blocks/SoCs

Custom Tooling & Integrations

  • Python/Tcl/C++ utilities to connect Synopsys/Cadence/Siemens tools
  • Adapters for reporting, artifact management, and data retention
  • OpenROAD-based flows where appropriate

Proof & Differentiators

Case snapshots

  • Cloud EDA environment build-out with secure queues, storage, and runbooks
  • Distributed RTL→GDS flow with dashboards to pick winning strategies
  • Library due diligence via C++ validators across LEF/Spice/Lib/GDS

Principal-only delivery

Built and operated flows at brand-name teams—no junior proxies or hand-offs.

Methodology + operations

Toolsmith and operator in one: build it, run it, measure it, transfer it to your team.

Outcome-aligned engagements

Pilots and milestone work focused on business results instead of hours consumed.

Process

Discovery

Free 30-minute session to understand goals, constraints, and stacks.

Rapid Assessment

1–2 weeks to reproduce, measure, map bottlenecks, and propose milestones.

Execute & Integrate

Implement methodology, tooling, and infrastructure with weekly measurable deltas.

Transfer

Docs, scripts, dashboards, and training so your team can operate independently.

Engagement Models

Milestone projects

Clear deliverables like “reproducible RTL→GDS flow + CI + dashboard; reduced runtime and queue latency.”

Augmented senior contributor

Embedded 1–3 days/week to de-risk a critical path while enabling the in-house team.

Assess & architect

Short diagnostic → plan → quick win; extend only if ROI is evident.

Trust & Compliance

Contracts & IP

Work under your NDA/MSA with code delivered to your repos.

Security

Cloud/HPC work follows least privilege, with your review gates and approvals.

Insurance

Business and professional liability available as required by contract.