The History of LPM

The LPM standard was proposed in 1990 as a means to enable efficient mapping of digital designs into divergent technologies such as PLDs, Gate Arrays, and Standard Cells. Preliminary versions of the standard appeared in 1991 and again in 1992. The standard was accepted as an Electronic Industries Association (EIA) Interim standard in April 1993 as an adjunct standard to the Electronic Design Interface Format (EDIF).

EDIF is the preferred method for transferring designs between the tools of different EDA vendors and from the EDA tools to the Integrated Circuit (IC) vendors. EDIF describes the syntax that represents a logical netlist, and LPM adds a set of functions that describe the logical operation of the netlist. Before LPM, each EDIF netlist would typically contain technology-specific logic functions, making technology-independent design impossible.

Although LPM is an adjunct standard to EDIF, it is compatible with any text or graphic design entry tool. In particular, LPM is a welcome addition to Verilog HDL or VHDL designs.

By the end of 1995, LPM will be supported by every major EDA tool vendor including Cadence, Mentor Graphics, Viewlogic, and Intergraph. Altera has supported the standard since 1993, and many other PLD companies will support LPM by the end of 1995.