The risks of counterfeit chips to the proper operation of electronic systems are well-documented both on these pages and throughout the industry. Briefly stated, counterfeit chips (which are manufactured to look just like authentic chips, with identical packages, markings and interfaces) have far higher failure rates than the real components.
But while there are solutions available now that provide secure identification for chips, far less has been written about or done to prevent piracy of design software. Piracy consists of making an unauthorized exact copy of an item covered by an intellectual property right. For example, someone may counterfeit software, perhaps inserting malware, and then distribute it as though it were a legitimate copy.
Counterfeiting and piracy are detrimental to innovation, directly affecting job creation and economic growth. Without the protections of their intellectual property rights, semiconductor OEMs may be less inclined to develop new ideas and products.
Nevertheless, there is a booming business in illegal software online. Pirates market and sell low-cost, frequently-flawed copies via URLs where buyers go to download the software. Each pirated copy of the software comes with an illegal copy of a license key.
How widespread is the problem? The anti-piracy committee of the Electronic Design Automation Consortium (EDAC) has estimated that 30 to 40 percent of all EDA software use is via pirated licenses.
A New Anti-Piracy Standard
There are already a number of legal instruments in place, such as patents, copyrights, designs, models and trademarks. However, in order to make them more effective, SEMI, Cadence, Mentor and Synopsys have announced plans to jointly develop an industry-standard protocol to be used with software license management systems to combat electronic design automation (EDA) software piracy. Under this partnership, the organizations will develop the SEMI Server Certification Protocol, a standard that will provide protection against piracy by defining how servers can be uniquely identified.
Currently, most software license management systems rely on a license manager that runs on a server, and typically given a machine identifier. Unfortunately, software pirates can clone the machine identifier using virtualization technologies to gain illegitimate access to additional licenses without added cost.
According to terms of the agreement, the SEMI Server Certification Protocol will outline a standard mechanism defining how every installation of a server can be uniquely identified, putting a substantial barrier in place against piracy.
Once the first version of this protocol is available, access, updates and version control will be managed through SEMI and the License Management/Anti-piracy (LMA) Committee. The LMA Committee meets by phone once a month to discuss issues related to software licensing and piracy common to EDA vendors and their mutual customers. Topics include how to deal with Host ID spoofing (the creation of a false source IP address for the purpose of impersonating another computing system), helping customers monitor and get reports on their license usage, and other issues.
High Stakes
There is a lot to protect. Despite the pandemic, the printed circuit board (PCB) and multi-chip module (MCM) software category reported double-digit gains in Q1. The four-quarter moving average continued to increase for PCBs and MCMs, as well as for computer aided engineering (CAE), IC physical design and verification and semiconductor intellectual property (SIP) categories in the Americas, EMEA and Asia Pacific (APAC), as noted by Walden C. Rhines, CEO emeritus of Mentor.
Typically, EDA software is used to verify and evaluate product designs. This IP significantly improves the design-to-manufacturing process, eliminates design iterations and reduces time-to-market. For PCBs and embedded systems development, design tools address the challenges of ever-increasing performance and product complexity.
Going forward, these tools will increasingly be needed as it is now possible to fabricate circuits embedded with resistors, capacitors and inductors – the most fundamental building blocks of any electrical circuit.
Engineers use software during the design procedure, pulling old designs of circuit board components from libraries of PCBs and verifying schematic diagrams of circuits. Whether an engineer is retrieving the latest component data from vendors, running ICs through simulators, capturing the schematics, laying out the board or creating automated batch manufacturing files, EDA, computer-aided design, computer-aided manufacturing and product lifecycle management programs are in widespread use.
Other examples (among many) of software commonly in the engineer’s toolbox include:
- Online passive component comparison tools used by designers of high-speed and complex wireless SoCs. These interactive tools help prevent false starts in the design of new circuits. Consider RF inductors, for example: here, the user enters his/her operating frequency between 1 MHz and 3 GHz, then selects inductors to compare using pull-down lists. The results screen provides a table showing specifications for each part at the user’s own operating frequency: inductance, Q factor, impedance and equivalent series resistance (ESR). Because these details all appear side-by-side on the same grid, it’s easy to quickly spot the best performer at any frequency.
- Analog Filter Wizards, used to design low-pass, high-pass or band-pass filters with actual op amps. This method helps to evaluate the tradeoffs in op amp specifications including, gain-bandwidth, noise and supply current, to determine the best filter design for given requirements. Provide the Filter Wizard with the desired specifications and the software returns a list of products that match.
- Trace width design tools are important to properly size traces based on current capacity, spacing between traces, and the size and pitch of the pads that the traces will connect to. Trace width design tools calculate an accurate trace width for PCB design. Proper trace width is necessary to guarantee the desired DC current that can be transported without overheating or damaging the PCB.
The Time Has Come
The ongoing problem of software piracy makes the Server Certification Protocol a vital and much-needed program. As quoted in one recent report: “Software piracy is a growing challenge and threatens to stifle innovation for EDA companies and customers alike,” said Nimish Modi, senior vice president of market and business development at Cadence. “We are glad to collaborate with the industry on defining this new standard to help further the efforts towards a comprehensive anti-piracy strategy.”
Arun Venkatachar, vice president of Synopsys central engineering, noted “It is time for EDA to be on par with the rest of the industry. This collaborative effort from both vendors and customers is critical for an effective anti-piracy strategy.”
Added Derek Magill, executive director of HPC (High Performance Computing) Pros: “Deployment of this capability will increase our confidence that all licenses used are fairly acquired, making it harder for unethical competitors to gain competitive advantage through the theft of licenses.”
Illegal use of software can happen innocently. Unless you've knowingly copied or bought software illegally, you may not be aware that pirated programs were being used – unless the software "calls home" to report installations and usage. Also, when you update the application, other information may be being sent out unbeknownst to you, the user. It is always a good idea to have a record that you bought the licenses that are needed, and to understand that "free to download" isn’t the same as “free to use commercially.”
Statements of fact and opinions expressed in posts by contributors are the responsibility of the authors alone and do not imply an opinion of the officers or the representatives of TTI, Inc. or the TTI Family of Companies.
