"... contains the most up-to-date nuts and bolts of the front-end and back-end design automations. ... covers every single EDA aspect imaginable in vivid detail. ... This book will be very useful for master's and PhD students who are doing their theses in IC design. ... This is by far the most comprehensive book on EDA in the market. Every IC design company should purchase this book as a reference for their engineers."
-Faisal Mohd-Yasin, Griffith University, Queensland, Australia
"... comprehensive coverage of all aspects of algorithms and EDA tools for modern VLSI design, starting from system design to GDSII tape out, including testing. ... Practicing engineers and graduate and undergraduate students will find these two volumes to be sources of extensive knowledge. ... This book is well written with in-depth explanation of basic concepts as well as advanced topics."
-Dr. Soumya Pandit, Institute of Radio Physics and Electronics, University of Calcutta, India
"...The depth and complexity of each domain and sub field within the scope of EDA is hard to grasp. People working at one end of the design spectrum rarely deeply understand the other end. As a technology writer and analyst, I often must pull from a wide range of information about EDA technology. I was pleasantly surprised when I heard from Grant Martin, an old time co-worker from when I was at Cadence. He asked me to look over the latest edition of the Electronic Design Automation Handbook for IC System Design, Verification, and Testing. It is published by the CRC Press. As he had warned me, this two-volume set is a weighty tome. Yet, this set does an impressive job of covering the field broadly and yet deeply.
It was originally published 10 years ago in 2006. Grant was one of the editors who marshalled the major update for 2016. There are over 40 technical contributors, who have written detailed technical articles on just about every corner of the chip design process. The first volume focuses on front end designed such as language based design, architecture specification, and higher levels of abstraction. Indeed, many of the updates to the handbook address changes in system specification and high level verification that have occurred over the last 10 years. The second even more substantial volume deals with everything from synthesis and schematic capture to lithography.
I decided to read up in the second volume on one of the topics that I had recently written about. Before I write an article I usually do background research to make sure that the technical points are properly covered. It's pretty clear that had I referred to the handbook, it would have been much easier to pull together the detailed background information to help write a more informed piece. The content is well written and goes down to bedrock when it comes to the underlying theory and principles. As such it would be a very useful source of information for someone who wants to gain greater knowledge of the topics adjacent to their expertise.
I know we live in an age where books are being supplanted by online information. However, digging into a topic online often results in scattershot information. This handbook has even and thorough information. It is likely to remain close to my keyboard as a resource for future articles."
-Tom Simon, SemiWiki.com, https://www.semiwiki.com/forum/content/6725-how-far-has-design-automation-brought-us.html
"It was a great pleasure to sit down recently with Grant Martin - Distinguished Engineer in the Tensilica R&D/IP Group at Cadence - to discuss the 2nd edition of the 2-book compendium he is so closely associated with:
Volume 1: Electronic Design Automation for IC System Design, Verification, and Testing
Volume 2: Electronic Design Automation for IC Implementation, Circuit Design, and Process Technology.
The topic material is so comprehensive, the list of chapter authors so astounding, the sheer volume of journal and conference papers referenced at the end of each chapter so complete.
And now as I write this - as I look again through these books, marvel at the vast scope of the technology involved in chip design and manufacturing, and the number of people who have contributed their ideas and history to the development of these ideas - I am struck again by the profound and heroic nature of this effort.
This is distinctly the idea that comes to mind in looking at these books. Here, in these two books, resides that level of knowledge. This is an encyclopedic place, one that would be a starting point for anyone who wants to understand EDA.
Good training. Great imagination. Great intelligence. Great stamina. Great dignity. It's all there in these books. You should own a set. And you should read them."
-Peggy Aycinena, freelance journalist and Editor of EDA Confidential at www.aycinena.com. https://www10.edacafe.com/blogs/whatwouldjoedo/2017/07/13/martin-lavagno-scheffer-markov-assembling-a-mighty-tome-for-the-ages/
Praise for the Previous Edition
"These books represent the state of the art as it existed in 2005 and early 2006. These are the techniques in use today and are the bases for future developments."
-Books-On-Line
"Every design group should have a copy of this handbook in its library. It is an excellent reference text. It can also serve as outstanding background reading for new engineers exposed to some of these areas for the first time. The material here is better organized and better written than what could be found on the web. Putting together such a high-quality, substantive work is quite an achievement."
-IEEE Design & Test of Computers, September-October 2006
"Comprising the work of expert contributors guided by leaders in the field, this handbook is an indispensable resource for EDA tool developers; electronics designers and engineers using EDA tools; students and faculty in electrical engineering, computer science, and computer engineering courses; companies that develop EDA tools and companies that design and build integrated circuits; and embedded system and software developers in system product and software companies."
-IEEE Industrial Electronics Society Newsletter, Vol. 54, No. 2, 2006
