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66 9985 EC535 2012 1 2 1 Introduction To VLSI Design
66 9985 EC535 2012 1 2 1 Introduction To VLSI Design
Design
Amit Kumar Mishra
ECE Department
IIT Guwahati
Tale of two queries!
Y R U here?
Y M I here?
Landmarks
Moore’s axiom
Some more funda
Free CAD tool
Parting notes
Moore’s Law
Gordon Moore: co-founder of Intel
Predicted that the number of transistors
per chip would grow exponentially (double
every 18 months)
Exponential improvement in technology is
a natural trend:
e.g. Steam Engines - Dynamo - Automobile
Moore’s
Transistors
Law
Microprocessors PPC603
Pentium
80486 Pentium Pro
10M 80386 PPC601
68020 68040 MIPS R4000
1M 68000
8086
100K
4004
8080
10K
1K 10x/6 years
100
10
1
[©Keutzer]
IC Products
Processors
CPU, DSP, Controllers
Memory chips
RAM, ROM, EEPROM
Analog
Mobile communication,
audio/video processing
Programmable
PLA, FPGA
Embedded systems
Used in cars, factories
Network cards
System-on-chip (SoC)
Images: amazon.com
IC Product Market Shares
Intel486TM DX
Processor
Pentium® Processor
[©Keutzer]
Stronger Market Pressures
Decreasing design
Time-to-market
window
Less tolerance for design
revisions
[©Keutzer]
VLSI Design Styles
Full Custom
Application-Specific Integrated Circuit
(ASIC)
Programmable Logic (PLD, FPGA)
System-on-a-Chip
Full Custom Design
CAD $3 B
[©Keutzer]
Where is the money?
Gaps to be filled:
System-semiconductorgap
Semiconductor-CAD gap
A free CAD flow for all who care!