VERIFICATION OF SYSTEM ASSERTIONS IN SIMULATION

A method for design verification includes receiving a definition of a design of an integrated circuit device and at least one assertion of a property that is to be verified over the design. The definition is compiled into a graph of processing elements, including first processing elements that simulate operation of the device and at least one second processing element representing the at least one assertion. The at least one second processing element includes a hierarchical arrangement of at least one operator node and one or more leaf nodes corresponding to inputs of the at least one assertion. A simulation of the design is executed by triggering the processing elements in the graph in multiple, consecutive clock cycles and evaluating the property during execution of the simulation.