IBIS (I/O Buffer Information Specification)

Introduction:

IBIS is a standard for electronic behavioral specifications of integrated circuit input/output analog characteristics.

Group Objectives:

In order to enable an industry standard method to electronically transport IBIS modeling data between silicon vendors, simulation software vendors, and end customers, the IBIS template was proposed. The intention of this template was to specify a consistent format that can be parsed by software, allowing simulation vendors to derive models compatible with their own products.

Activities and Achievements:

IBIS Version 1.0 was first introduced June 1993. Work continued leading to IBIS Version 2.1 which has been formally ratified as ANSI/EIA-656 on December 13, 1995.IBIS Version 3.2, containing some technical extensions, has been released on August 20, 1999 and has been formally ratified as ANSI/EIA-656-A on September 21, 1999. This document became the official IBIS document forwarded to IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) in the IEC 62014-1 ratification process (first started in September 1997). It was approved in December 1999 and has been voted for publication as an official international specification on April 13, 2001.

IBIS Version 4.0 was ratified by the EIA IBIS Open Forum on July 19, 2002. A future Version 4.1 may include multi-lingual references for general configurability. An Open Forum Working Group is addressing Quality issues.

The EIA IBIS Open Forum has also completed a new Interconnect Model Specification (ICM) 1.0. ICM 1.0 was approved September 12, 2003.

The committee was formally affiliated with EIA (Electronic Industries Alliance). It met every three weeks on IBIS technical development, IBIS utilities development, IBIS parser/checker development, and for exchanging general information on good modeling practices and for dealing with all issues related to IBIS. The EIA/IBIS Open Forum also holded several IBIS Summit meetings for face-to-face discussions and technical presentations. IBIS Models were widely available in company sites and under Models in the official EIA IBIS home page. Many model development utilities and much documentation was also available in the official EIA IBIS home page.