Abstract: Over the past decade, a variety of techniques have been developed and refined for the synthesis of custom and semi-custom IC layout. Choice of technology (CMOS, NMOS, etc.), electrical design style (e.g., static, dynamic, etc.), and layout design style (gatearray, building-block, PLA, etc.) all play an important role in determining the overall performance of the final component and the chip design time. Now, an equally important consideration is the availability of computer-aided design (CAD) tools to support the synthesis and testing of such chips. The rapid advances in each of the aforementioned areas often makes it difficult to determine the best combination of each of these techniques for a particular custom or semi-custom design system. While there is no single design method that is suitable for all cost-performance-design time tradeoffs, even for a specific set of tradeoffs, the best choice of design techniques is not clear. Combinations of various semi-custom design techniques, with detailed comparisons with other approaches for implementing the same circuits, are being reported. This includes rapid design turnaround, achieved by using building-blocks, standard cell, and automated PLA design as well as a number of mixed custom and semi-custom design styles. Speakers will also cover a differential CMOS electrical design style and its application to a large circuit design. This technique is supported by a powerful CAD system and has been used to implement a circuit containing over 20,000 transistors. The use of module generators for the automated synthesis of complex IC buildingblocks was introduced at ISSCC 83. Two more excellent examples of this new approach to circuit design will be described. Not only have these module generators been used to implement digital circuits, but a system for synthesizing analog building-blocks with specified gain, noise margin, and slew rate has been developed. Additional projects to be discussed include an advanced electron-beam circuit test strategy which permits both random-access read and random-access write of circuits during operation.
Publication Year: 1984
Publication Date: 1984-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Access and Citation
AI Researcher Chatbot
Get quick answers to your questions about the article from our AI researcher chatbot