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INTRODUCTION
Formal assertion-based verification uses formal technologies to analyze if a design satisfies a given set of properties. Formal verification doesn’t need simulation testbenches and can start much earlier in the verification process. There are three possible results for an assertion after formal runs: “proven,” “fired,” and “inconclusive.” Proven means that formal has done exhaustive mathematic analysis and proved the design satisfies the assertion and no legal stimulus sequence can violate the assertion. Fired means that formal has found an error trace showing the assertion violation. Inconclusive means that formal has only found bounded proof result, i.e., the assertion is true for the bounded cycle, but may be true or false
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