CT 222: HARDWARE DESCRIPTION

LANGUAGES AND PROGRAMMABLE

LOGIC
Instructor: Mr. Mwalongo M, R

(Assistant Lecturer)

Office No: AB 15 (Admin Block)

E-mail: mwalongomarko@gmail.com
 DIGITAL SYSTEM DESIGN FLOW AND
HARDWARE DESCRIPTION LANGUAGES
(HDLS)
 INTRODUCTION
 Traditionally, digital system design was a manual process of
designing and capturing circuits using schematic entry tools.
This process has many disadvantages and is rapidly being
replaced by new methods.
 System designers are always competing to build cost-
effective products as fast as possible in highly competitive
environment.
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 INTRODUCTION
 In order to achieve this, top down design methodologies
including Hardware Description Languages (HDLs) and
synthesis and simulation are in use.

A product of this instance is any electronic equipment

containing Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs),
or Field-Programmable Gate-Arrays (FPGAs)
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 INTRODUCTION
 Advantages of top design methodology;
 Increased productivity yields shorter development cycles with more
product features and reduced time to market.
 Reduced non-recurring engineering costs
 Design reuse is enabled
 Increased flexibility to design changes
 Faster exploration of alternative architectures
 Faster exploration of alternative technology libraries
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 Better and easier design auditing and verification
 ASIC AND FPGA DEVICES

 ASIC

 It is a device that is partially manufactured by an ASIC and

vendor generic form. Its manufacturing process is the most
complex, time consuming, and expensive part of the total
manufacturing process.
 There are two types/categories of ASIC devices;
 Gate Arrays and;
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 Standard Cells
 ASIC AND FPGA DEVICES

 Gate Arrays are logic gates that are pre-laid in matrix

form on a chip.
 Types of gate arrays
 Channeled

 Non-channeled/channel-less

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 ASIC AND FPGA DEVICES

 Channeled gate array is manufactured with single or

double rows of basic cells across the silicon.
 The channels between the rows of cells are used for
interconnecting the basic cells during the final
customization process.
 Channel-less gate array is manufactured with a “sea” of
basic cells across the silicon and there are no dedicated
channels for interconnections. 8
 ASIC AND FPGA DEVICES

 Standard Cell
 In this category devices do not have the concept of a cell
and no components are prefabricated on the silicon chip.
 The manufacturer creates custom masks for every stage of
device’s process and means silicon is utilized much more
efficiently than gate arrays.

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 ASIC AND FPGA DEVICES
 FPGAs

 They are  integrated circuits designed to be configured by a

customer or a designer after manufacturing – hence the term
"field-programmable".
 The FPGA configuration is generally specified using
a hardware description language (HDL), similar to that used
for an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

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 ASIC AND FPGA DEVICES
 FPGAs

 Each FPGA vendor manufactures devices to proprietary

architecture.
 Architecture includes an number of programmable logic blocks
that are connected to programmable switching matrices.
 To configure a device for a particular functional operation
these switching matrices are programmed to route signals
between the individual logic blocks.
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 HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
LANGUAGES (HDL)
 HDL is a language that describes the hardware of digital
systems in a textual form.
 It resembles a programming language, but is specifically
oriented to describing hardware structures and behaviors.

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 HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
LANGUAGES (HDL)
 The main difference with the traditional programming
languages is HDL’s representation of extensive parallel
operations whereas traditional ones represent mostly serial
operations.
 The most common use of a HDL is to provide an
alternative to schematics.

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 HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
LANGUAGES (HDL)
 HDL can be used to represent logic diagrams, Boolean
expressions, and other more complex digital circuits.
 Thus, in top down design, a very high-level description of
a entire system can be precisely specified using an HDL.
 This high-level description can then be refined and
partitioned into lower-level descriptions as a part of the
design process.
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 HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
LANGUAGES (HDL)
 There are two standard HDL’s that are supported by IEEE.
 VHDL (Very-High-Speed Integrated Circuits Hardware
Description Language) - Sometimes referred to as
VHSIC HDL, this was developed from an initiative by
US. Dept. of Defense.
 Verilog HDL – developed by Cadence Data systems and
later transferred to a consortium called Open Verilog
International (OVI). 15
 HDL BASED DIGITAL DESIGN
 Why HDLs?
 Support larger system designs.
 By describing the design in a high-level (=easy to
understand) language, we can simulate our design
before we manufacture it. This allows us to catch
design errors.

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 HDL TOOL SUITES
 Text editor
 Allows you to write, edit and save an HDL program.
 Compiler

 Finds syntax errors.

 Creates an intermediate file that describes the
interconnections and logic operations.

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 HDL TOOL SUITES
 Synthesizer

 Targets the design to a specific hardware technology such

as PLD, FPGA or ASIC.
 Refers to one or more libraries having gates, flipflops,
registers, adders, counters etc.
 By analyzing the intermediate design description,
synthesizer “infer” the opportunity to map portions of the
design into these larger-scale library components. 18
 HDL TOOL SUITES
 Simulator

 Inputs: HDL program and test bench/ waveform editor.

 Test bench is the timed sequence of inputs for the
hardware described by HDL.
 Waveform editor used to graphically represent the inputs.

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 HDL TOOL SUITES
 Simulator

 Simulator runs the specified input sequence on the

described hardware and determines the values of
hardware’s internal signals and its outputs over a
specified period of time.
 Outputs are viewed graphically through waveform editor
and also a text file that lists signal values, errors and
warnings.
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 HDL TOOL SUITES
 Template generator
 Creates text file with the outline of commonly used program
structure so that the designer can “fill in the blanks” to create
source code for a particular purpose.

 Schematic viewer
 Creates schematic diagram corresponding to an HDL
program, based on output of compiler.
 May differ from final synthesized result.
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 HDL TOOL SUITES
 Translator

 Targets the compiler’s intermediate-language output to a real

device such as PLD, FPGA or ASIC
 There is also an associated fitter and chip viewer.
 Fitter fits the translated realization into available resources
on the real device.
 Chip viewer lets the designer see how the design has been
laid out on the chip. 22
 HDL TOOL SUITES
 Timing analyzer
 Calculates delays through some or all of the signal paths in
the final chip and produces a report showing the worst case
paths and their delays.

 Back annotator
 Inserts delay clauses or statements in the original HDL
source program, corresponding to delays calculated by the
timing analyzer. 23
HDL –BASED DESIGN FLOW

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 FRONT-END STEPS
 Block diagram: define modules and their interfaces
 Coding: writing of HDL code for modules, their
interfaces and their internal details
 Compilation: the HDL compiler analyzes the code for
syntax errors and compatibility with other modules on
which it relies
 Simulation: define and apply inputs to the design and
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observe its outputs.
 FRONT-END STEPS

 Verification:

 Functional verification: study the circuit’s logical

operation
 Timing verification: study circuit’s operation
including estimated delays ,and verify setup, hold
and other timing requirements

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 BACK-END STEPS
 Synthesis: converts the HDL description into a set of
primitives or components that can be assembled in the
target technology.
 E.g.: with PLDs and CPLDs, the synthesis tool may
generate two-level SOP equations.
 With ASICs, it may generate a list of gates and a netlist
that specifies how they should be connected
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 BACK-END STEPS
 Fitting: a fitter maps the synthesized primitives or
components onto available device resources.
 For PLD or CPLD, this means assigning equations to
available AND-OR elements.
 For FPGA or ASIC, it means selecting macro-cells or
laying down individual gates in a pattern and finding
ways to connect them within the physical constraints of
the FPGA or ASIC die--- place-and-route process 28
 BACK-END STEPS
 Timing verification: actual circuit delays due to wire
lengths, electrical loading and other factors can be
calculated with reasonable precision

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THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!

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