Question 1

What does ACE actually do?

Accepted Answer

ACE processes the parasitic netlist you already have. It reads sign-off extraction output and produces the specific netlist each analysis needs, without going back to the extractor — including zone-based R and C scaling, threshold trimming, metal-layer filtering, coupling control, corner variants, and block abstraction.

Question 2

Does ACE replace my extractor or my simulator?

Accepted Answer

No. ACE consumes extractor output and emits netlists your existing simulator reads. It works alongside StarRC, Quantus, and Calibre xRC, and with Spectre, PrimeSim, and HSPICE. Sign-off extraction and simulation stay unchanged.

Question 3

What file formats and file sizes can ACE handle?

Accepted Answer

DSPF and SPEF. Verified to 300GB on TB-scale architectures, with reference designs from 180nm through 5nm on production silicon.

Question 4

How much faster is post-extraction processing with ACE?

Accepted Answer

Data processing — extraction variant generation and netlist optimization — can be dramatically faster. A customer pipeline that took 18 hours was reduced to about 5 minutes. Simulation speedup from reduced netlists is separate and depends on netlist size.