Chip lifecycle / Lifecycle documents / Procedure

Taking a new IP version into a frozen design: procedure

How a design team decides whether to take a new version of an IP block, from an internal team or a supplier, after its design is frozen, and how it does so safely. The new version is compared with the one in use, the change is decided on its merits, integrated on a branch, rechecked and merged only when results are acceptable, with the bill of IP updated so everyone knows which version each design uses. This procedure sets out the steps, roles, records and approval levels, and how the flow differs across lifecycles.

1. Purpose

This procedure governs taking a new version of an IP block into a design that is already frozen or close to freeze. IP providers keep improving their blocks, but each new version brings work and risk to every design that takes it. Taking versions by habit can destabilise a design late; never taking them can leave known bugs in silicon.

The procedure makes the choice deliberate: compare the versions, decide on the merits for this design, integrate on a branch, recheck and merge only when results are acceptable, and record the version in the bill of IP so the baseline is always known.

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