The document outlines the career path and opportunities for verification engineers in the VLSI domain, emphasizing the increasing complexity of designs and the critical role of verification. It covers various aspects such as job categories, skills required, and the importance of functional, formal, performance, and power verification. Additionally, the document discusses the potential for career advancement and the need for continuous learning and innovation in verification engineering.

1. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineer
-Opportunities and Career Path
Ramdas M
Verification Engineer & Manager
Applied Micro (AMCC)
Mentor Graphics HEP Program (July 2016)
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2. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Introduction
- Verification Engineer & Manager
- 17 years of experience
- Applied Micro, Intel, IBM, C-DOT
- www.verificationexcellence.in
- Online Teacher & Author
- Online courses on Verification
- “Cracking Digital VLSI Verification Interviews: Interview
Success”
- Blogger -
- Quora
- https://www.quora.com/profile/Ramdas-Mozhikunnath
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3. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Agenda
- VLSI Job categories - Design, Verification and others
- Verification Engineer - Opportunities
- Job vs Career
- Verification Engineer - Career Path
- Career development steps
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4. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
VLSI / Chip designs
● ASIC - Application Specific Integrated Circuits
○ A chip custom designed for an application and for a specific customer
● ASSP - Application Specific Standard Parts
○ A chip designed for an application but targeted at a wider market
○ E.g USB controller, PCIE controller chips
● FPGA - Field Programmable Gate Arrays
○ Array of programmable blocks and programmable interconnects
● SOC - System On Chip
○ Integrated processor subsystem, IOs, controllers etc all on a single chip
● FPGA-SOC - FPGAs with embedded processor subsystems
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5. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
VLSI
ASIC/SOC
Design
FPGA Design EDA Tools Manufacturing System Design
Frontend Backend
-Fabrication -
Packaging
-Wafer sort/testing
-Reliability
-Board design
-Bringup
-Validation
-Arch/Microarch
-Logic/RTL design
-Verification
-Synthesis, STA
-Layout, Routing
-Custom Circuits -
Library Cells
-Mask design
-DFT - Scan,BIST
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6. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Design Engineers
Logic / RTL Design (Block, SOC)
Microarchitecture, Architecture
Power, Performance
Analysis/Estimate,
Analog/Mixed-Signal Design
(High speed I/O, PLL etc)
Custom Circuits/Library Design
STA - Static Timing Analysis
DFT/DFM
(Design for Test/Manufacturing)
Verification Engineers
Functional Verification
Formal Verification
Power Aware Verification
CDC (Clock Domain Crossing)
FPGA Emulation
Architecture Modelling
Verification IP development
DFT/DFM verification
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7. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
EDA Tools Development
(Frontend and Backend Tools)
Tool development Engineer
Testing Engineer
Field Application Engineer (FAE)
Corporate Application Engineer
(CAE)
Technical Support
STA - Static Timing Analysis
DFT/DFM
(Design for Test/Manufacturing)
Silicon & System Validation
Board Design, Reference Boards
Test Software (firmware, bios), Tools
Validation Content Development
Validation and Debug
HW+SW Validation
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8. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Design vs Verification career ?
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9. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Design vs Verification
● Continuous increase in complexity of designs
○ More and more integration
○ System On Chip designs
○ IP based design approach
○ Emphasis on low power, high performance,
○ High speed IOs and AMS logic
● Verification is no longer just running tests
○ Advanced Test benches need architecture and design
○ Always more to be verified in lesser time - needing more constant innovation
○ Multiple aspects of verification - Functional, Formal, power, performance, emulation
○ VIP (Verification IP) based approach
○ Debug challenges
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10. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification
Functional
Verification
Performance
Verification
Power
Aware
verification
Clocking
and CDC
verification
FPGA/
Emulation
Simulation Formal
DFT/DFM
Verification
HW/SW Co
Verification
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11. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - Functional Verification
● Ensuring Functional Correctness
● Majorly Simulation based
● Test bench Architecture and design
○ Developing Agents, BFMs, drivers, checkers, VIPs
○ Defining right tests and methodology
● Microarchitecture and feedback
○ Learning microarchitecture for Test plans, debugs
○ Feedback to design
● Regressions, Automation, Coverage
○ Opportunities to Innovate for quality and faster closure 11

12. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - Formal Verification
● Formal Technologies gaining importance
● Model Checking used increases Verification
efficiency
○ Exhaustively covers all input scenarios for
correctness
○ Limited to smaller designs/units
● Assertion Based Verification (ABV)
○ Assertions written for Model checking can be
used in simulation
○ Works as checker, coverage and debug utility
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13. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - Formal Verification
● Formal Apps
○ Predefined assertion library for recurring tasks
○ Connectivity checks, X-propagation, register testing, CDC checks, etc
● Challenges (Opportunities)
○ Developing Assertions to capture Model behavior
○ Debugging property failures
○ Need thorough understanding of design/microarchitecture
○ Identifying correct design elements for maximizing benefits of Formal Verification
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14. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - Performance Verification
● Verifying that design meets the target bandwidth and latency numbers
● Increasingly important with SOC designs having processor & memory
subsystems and other IPs along with interconnect designs
● Analyze metrics with realistic stimulus / benchmarks
○ Peak bandwidth, idle and loaded latencies, memory/bus utilization etc
● Opportunities
○ Understanding and modelling realistic stimulus/benchmarks
○ Performance measuring/tracking infrastructure for simulations
○ Debugging design bottlenecks
○ Performance model development
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15. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - Power Verification
● As important as Functionality Verification
○ A design consuming 2x power than budget is dead and has no workarounds
● Several low power techniques used in current SOC designs
○ Clock gating, Power gating,
● Power Analysis
○ Estimating power at RTL and Gate Level Simulations
○ Define stimulus for peak and average power
● Power Aware Simulations
○ Functional correctness with power domain ON/OFF
○ UPF - IEEE 1801 Standard
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16. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - Clocking Verification
● No more designs without - multiple and asynchronous clocks
● Clock Domain Crossing (CDC) Verification
○ Synchronizers (2-3 FF for single bit transfers)
○ Async FIFOs (for multi-bit data transfer)
○ Functional RTL simulations might not catch all the issues.
● CDC Verification Methodology with tools
○ Structural - Verifies presence of synchronizers in all signals crossing two clock domains.
○ Functional - Synchronizers are actually working
■ Data loss, Data incoherence problems
■ Tools can infer assertions , use formal approach, inject metastability, vary clock edges ..
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17. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - FPGA Emulation/Prototyping
● Simulation speedups achieved by moving time consuming hardware to
FPGA/emulators
● Opportunities
○ Need more hardware skills
(synthesis) and debug
○ Advanced Verification
methodologies to deal with
emulation friendly design
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18. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Opportunities - HW/SW Co-verification
● HW and SW development and
Verification happen together
○ Reduces overall product development time
● Opportunities
○ HW Verification engineers works close
with SW development/test engineers
○ Innovations in new methodologies and
stimulus to verify HW+SW together
○ Understanding overall product
development life cycle
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19. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineers - Skills
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20. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineers - Skills
● Demanding both HW and SW skills
○ Digital logic, Analog, Computer Architecture,
Memories
○ HDLs like SystemVerilog
○ SW Programming Concepts
■ Advanced methodologies like UVM heavily
use SW concepts like OOP, factory patterns
○ Version control
■ Build, compile, managing branches
○ Scripting languages
■ Regressions, Automation
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21. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineers - Skills
● Analytical thinking , Problem solving
○ Think how to break a design
○ Question design approach
○ Solve Debug challenges
● Communication , Collaboration
○ Most projects need team of design and verification engineers
● Innovation and continuous learning
○ Always need to find better ways
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22. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Job vs Career
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23. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
JOB
Short term regular activity in
exchange of payment
Short term learning to get job done
Income depends on job and
demand
Do bare minimum effort to get job
done
CAREER
Long term process of learning and
development to progress through
opportunities
Continuous skill development
through trainings and learnings
needed
Increased income earning
opportunity with enhanced skill-set,
knowledge
Go above and beyond tasks to grow
A long term satisfying journey
through life
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24. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Career - Confusions
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25. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Career - Confusions
● Is there any career path for Verification Engineers?
● Can I move from Verification to Design in my career?
● Does design engineer get paid more than Verification engineer?
● Is it true that design engineers get to work on important stuff while
Verification engineers just look at test, coverage, bug?
● Can I move from Verification to Software Engineer?
● Is it possible to move from Frontend to Backend in my career?
● Can I become a good Verification engineer if I don't like programming?
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26. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Career - Facts
● Verification Engineer has a solid career path
○ Two decades back - Design engineer tested their designs
○ Today - Verification of a design needs dedicated skills
■ Scope for broader and deeper skills
○ Verification is increasingly complex and critical
■ Verification consumes majority of project time (Avg - 70%)
■ Increasing demand for Verification engineers (12% CAGR as per
industry survey)
○ Verification engineers are involved in project from early stage of design
○ Considered at par with design engineers (including compensation)
○ Several well known Verification technologists across industry
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27. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineer - Career Path
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28. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineer - Career Path
Entry from University - All Technical engineers (Design, Verification,
Frontend, Backend, EDA, Validation )
Few years of experience (5+ years) Senior/Staff Engineers - Starts
more specialized skills, domain knowledge, more responsibilities
Managers Principal Engineers
Directors
Technologists,
Fellows
VPs
Senior Fellows,
Distinguished Engineers
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29. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification - Career Path
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30. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineer - Career Path
Entry Level
-Learn, Learn, Learn
-Small tasks under guidance
-Testbench components
Develop/Maintain/Enhance
-Regressions, debug
-Partial Test plan development
-Test writing, coverage closure
-Automation
-Block/IP ownership
-Testplan ownership
-Testbench infrastructure
Definition, development
-Test development
-Regressions, debug
-Tracking self
-Meeting commitments
-Assist overall planning
-Formal/Power/Performance
Mid Level
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31. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Verification Engineer - Career Path
Senior Level
-Multiple block/IP/SOC
ownership
-Defining & implementing
Methodologies
-Testbench architecture and
implementation
-Regressions, debug
-Design, Verification reviews
-Domain expertise
-Managing/leading teams
-Planning and tracking
-Interaction with
design/arch/SW
-Multiple Project level ownership
-Engineering advice, reviews
and coordination across design,
SW, validation, etc
-Business unit/Organizational
level methodologies,
-Industry level participation in
forums
-Strategy and new initiatives
Executive Level
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32. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Career Development - Steps
● Learn & Explore
○ Learn skills, Ask questions, clarify
○ Go above and beyond in taking responsibilities
○ Explore different areas - Functional, Formal, Power etc
○ Seek areas/domain that interests
○ Build trust and credibility
● Plan/Goal
○ Set goals and plan. Find Mentors
○ Develop deeper knowledge/skills to advance
● Action
○ Learn, execute and make use of all opportunities
● Evaluate
○ Self introspection and evaluating progress, interests
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33. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
My Career Journey
C-DOT (~2 yrs)
-Board, FPGA design,
testing, validation
-2 years and slow
learning
From
College
Intel (~5 yrs)
-Validation/Emulation (2 yrs)
-Processor Verification (2.5 yrs)
-New team ramping up, lot of
great people to learn from
-Started disliking bureaucracy
Montalvo(Startup - ~3yrs)
-Processor Verification
-Small and smart team
-Fast pace learning with quality
-Lots of development from
scratch
-Shutdown but gained valuable
skills
IBM (~2 years)
-Processor Verification
-Small and new Team ramping
up
-Greatest processor verification
engineer interactions
-Slow and relaxed work/pace
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Teaching, Blogging, writing on
Verification, VLSI
Applied Micro (Current)
Processor Verification
Small team with great people
New designs, latest
methodologies, lead role
Intel (~3 yrs)
-Graphics Processor verification
-HW+SW Verification
-Methodology
-Lead role

34. Verification Engineer - Career Path by Ramdas
www.verificationexcellence.in
Thank You
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