Intel® Quartus® Prime Standard Edition User Guide: PCB Design Tools

ID 683619
Date 9/24/2018
Public
Document Table of Contents

1.4. SSN Estimation Tools

Addressing SSN early in your FPGA design and PCB layout can help you avoid costly board respins and lost time, both of which can impact your time-to-market.

Intel provides many tools for SSN analysis and estimation, including the following tools:

  • SSN characterization reports
  • An early SSN estimation (ESE) tool
  • The SSN Analyzer in the Intel® Quartus® Prime software

The ESE tool is useful for preliminary SSN analysis of your FPGA design; for more accurate results, however, you must use the SSN Analyzer in the Intel® Quartus® Prime software.

Table 1.  Comparison of ESE Tool and SSN Analyzer Tool
ESE Tool SSN Analyzer
Is not integrated with the Intel® Quartus® Prime software. Integrated with the Intel® Quartus® Prime software, allowing you to perform preliminary SSN analysis while making I/O assignment changes in the Intel® Quartus® Prime software.
QL and QH levels are computed assuming a worst-case pattern of I/O placements. QL and QH levels are computed based on the I/O placements in your design.
No support for entering board information. Supports board trace models and board layer information, resulting in a more accurate SSN analysis.
No graphical representation. Integrated with the Intel® Quartus® Prime Pin Planner, in which an SSN map shows the QL and QH levels on victim pins.
Good for doing an early SSN estimate. Does not require you to use the Intel® Quartus® Prime software. Requires you to create a Intel® Quartus® Prime software project and provide the top-level port information.