Over the last 22 years of IC Layout Design work, I have had the fortune of working in some real cohesive team environments. Where we would always meet and exceed our goals.
The circuit design engineers (our customers) worked very hard at creating the required designs. They created detailed notes in their “Circuit Master Plan”. The Analog designers used custom schematics whereas the Digital designers use VHDL/Verilog formatted files and associated timing requirements. Either way, these plans are tested in simulation and required extensive work and rework. Before work, during and after rework there were great efforts made to communicate with the physical design world. Analog designers would create notes and pointers of their schematics. Digital designers would document using floor plan, pinning, timing constraint and clock system requirements in various file formats.
The physical design approach was top down with bottom up perspective. The “RTL” (Real Top Level) was created and maintained by product management and was consistent through out design hierarchy, regardless of the Analog or Digital design insertion. Naming conventions, typically prefixes and affixes for cells and signals, were followed consistently.
The teams always benefited from these approaches. First pass success was almost assured because effective communication meant less mistakes. Working smarter instead of harder was a nice way to work.
Simon IC Layout Design Services 