IP

Design Solutions

Featured Product

SPD5118A0

A smart SPD hub with integrated temperature sensing, secure authentication, and enhanced data protection.

Vertically integrated ASIC team with decades of proven experience. ForwardEdge is an integrated ASIC design group based in St. Paul, Minnesota. Our engineers have worked together for over 30 years, covering every design phase from requirements to high volume manufacturing (HVM). All development is done in the U.S., with 100% domestic traceability and a reliable, secure supply chain.

Capabilities and
Proven Areas of Expertise

From high-speed SerDes and memory controllers to PCIe, NVMe, and UCIe integration, our silicon IP and system-level design expertise spans the full ASIC development cycle. We’ve delivered enterprise SSD controllers, stacked memory SoCs, and I/O expanders built to meet today’s most demanding technical requirements.

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IP Development

  • ONFI, DDRx, LPDDRx, GDDRx Controllers
  • AXI, APB, AHB (AMBA)
  • MIPI/JEDEC I3C, MPHY5.0
  • QSPI, SHA2, SHA3
  • Switch Interconnect Fabric
  • SerDes (25G NRZ and 56/112G PAM4 SERDES)
  • UCIe 2.0 Controller and PHY

PCIe

  • AHCI, NVMe
  • PCIe Gen 3,4,5,6
  • Enterprise SSD controllers

Multiple Programs

  • HVM manufacturing experience across multiple ASICs
  • First-time-right production ASICs
  • Involved in NVMe, ONFI and JEDEC standards
  • UCIe Consortium Member

Innovative Designs

  • Enterprise SSD Controllers
  • 3D Stacked Memory SoCs w/TSVs
  • ONFI SSD I/O Expander
  • ASICs for HS Memory testers for DDRx, GDDRx, LPDDRx and NAND
  • HMC (Hybrid Memory Cube)

Physical Design

  • Very large high bandwidth/low latency SoC designs
  • Ex: 17 physical partitions, 60M placeable instances, 5nm
  • TSMC: 180nm, 90nm, 28nm, 16nm, 12nm, 6nm, 5nm
  • Global Foundries: 12LP+, IBM: 32SOI
  • Honeywell 150nm:
    • Integrated into Honeywell ASIC Design Process
    • Embedded in QML-V design flow (HW issued Laptops)

Memory

  • DDRx, GDDRx, LPDDRx, ONFI and NAND Interfaces
  • 3D Stacked Memory
  • NVDIMM

Analog / Mixed-Signal
Design and Layout

Our designers specialize in High-Speed TX/RX Design, SerDes, Sensor Interfaces, LDOs, Oscillatiors and Data Converters. The team has experience in multiple leading-edge technology nodes.

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Process Node and Device Experience

  • High Speed Analog/Mixed-signal CMOS, 12nm – 180nm, FINFETs, DMOS, BiCMOS

IO design – Transmitters and Receivers

  • TX, RX; preamps, samplers, calibration, prog. termination & bias circuits
  • Equalization techniques – FFE, DFE, CTLE, Tcoil
  • High Current Output Driver circuits
  • High speed signals, signal integrity, TX lines & impedance matching
  • HDD preamplifiers

Serializers, Deserializers

  • 42Gbit PAM3, 56Gbit PAM4 SerDes
  • Clocking circuits, Phase Interpolators, correction circuitry (duty cycle, phase)

Misc.

  • Input Sensing circuits – voltage, current, charge
  • LDO regulators, BGR, bias networks, inductors, programmable resistors, VGA
  • ADC/DAC
  • Internal and external precision sensors
  • ESD, EOS and latch-up circuitry

Robust ASIC
Design Methodology

Our ASIC design methodology enables rapid development of complex SoCs with minimal risk. Through a fully automated RTL-to-GDSII flow and rigorous verification strategies, we consistently meet aggressive PPA targets with first-pass silicon success.

Review Verification Flow

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Architecture

  • High-level design and definition of overall ASIC project goals
  • Function and performance analysis (Speed, size, cost)
  • System Level modeling
  • Power targets and requirements

Logic Design

  • Coding Conventions and Linting
  • Clock Crossing and RESET planning
  • Timing Closure analysis and signoff
  • Mixed-signal simulation to verify interfaces to custom analog designs
  • Ultra Low Power Design: clock and power gating, leakage optimization

Design Verification

  • Coverage driven constrained random UVM based testbenches
  • Block-to-Top self-checking environments
  • Functional coverage merged against verification plan to show all features are fully verified

Analog

  • Full PVT (Process-Voltage-Temperature) simulations
  • Monte-Carlo simulations
  • ESD checks
  • Power delivery

Physical Design

  • Cross-corner timing closure and signoff
  • Characterized libraries to match PVT conditions
  • DFT implementations to support HVM
  • EM/IR Drop Analysis (Electromigration & Voltage Drop)

Validation Test

  • Define, prioritize, and approve test plan with teams
  • Define physical requirements (stations, test equipment, etc.)
  • Eval PCB design and layout

Security-Driven
Silicon Design

Our security capabilities include secure processors, cryptographic IP, side-channel resistance, and secure boot flows. We operate in gov-cloud environments and deliver fully traceable, tamper-resistant designs for aerospace, defense, and mission-critical applications.

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ForwardEdge ASIC Team

  • Trusted partner providing 100% domestic traceability
  • On premise Data Center
  • Implementation of gov.cloud environment
  • Secure Information Exchange data transfers

Security IP

  • AES-256
  • SHA2, SHA3
  • PUF
  • Encryption Algorithms

RoT Solution

  • RISC-V security processor (SP)
  • Secure cryptographic accelerators
  • Secure Boot
    • Chiplet MCM VID option
  • Programmable
  • Countermeasures against all classes of side-channel and tamper attacks
  • Lifecycle management
  • Secure test and debug
  • Device attestation

ASIC Design
Tools Expertise

We have a full suite of Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens and Ansys EDA tool flows to support customer and fab requirements.

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Logic Design

  • Genus: Cadence
  • Conformal: Cadence
  • Design Compiler: Synopsys
  • Formality / Spyglass: Synopsys
  • Vivado / Vitus: Xilinx / AMD
  • Quartus: Altera / Intel

Design Verification

  • VCS: Synopsys
  • Xcelium: Cadence
  • Questa: Siemens
  • Verdi: Synopsys
  • VC Formal: Synopsys

Analog Design

  • Virtuoso: Cadence
  • Spectre: Cadence
  • Quantus: Cadence
  • Pegasus: Cadence

Physical Design

  • Cadence: full toolset
  • Synopsys: full toolset
  • Ansys Redhawk: PWR / ESD
  • Siemens: Calibre (Physical Verification) / Tessent (DFT)

Validation

  • EZJIT
  • Jenkins Regression
  • PCIe / MPHY Compliance suite
  • DDR5 TX / RX Compliance suite

Supporting Tools

  • GIT
  • Atlassian
  • Jenkins
  • Matlab
  • Python
  • VSCode
Industries We Serve

With decades of experience on the leading edge and expertise across all disciplines, ForwardEdge is the surest path to success.

Defense

Trusted, rugged and ready. ForwardEdge delivers reliable microelectronics built to perform in mission-critical defense applications where failure is not an option.
Defense

Commercial Consumer

Scalable, high-performance solutions designed to meet the speed, volume and innovation demands of today’s commercial and consumer markets.
Energy

Aerospace

Pushing the boundaries of innovation with mission-proven microelectronics built to perform in the most extreme environments – on Earth and beyond.
Aerospace

Cyber

Delivering secure, high-performance IC technologies engineered to protect critical systems and outpace evolving threats in real time.
Cyber
Contact us to learn more about how we can help you

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