3 ASIC HIGHLIGHTS
INTRODUCTION
The term ASIC (application specific integrated circuit) has been a misnomer from its first use. ASICs are really customer specific ICs; a gate array or standard cell IC that is specifically made for one customer. ASIC, if taken literally, would mean the IC is created for one particular type of system, such as a disk-drive, even if this IC is sold to numerous customers or is put in an IC man- ufacturer’s catalog. An IC type that is sold to more than one user, even if it is produced using ASIC technology, is considered a standard IC.
The nomenclature guidelines presented in Figure 3-1 help to clarify this confusion that surrounds the use of the term ASIC.
ASIC: An application specific IC is produced for only one customer. PLDs are included as ASICs because the customer programs them for its needs only.
CSIC: Customer specific ICs are what ASICs should have been called initially. Some companies differentiate an ASIC from a CSIC by who completes or is responsible for the majority of the IC design effort. If it is the IC producer, the part is labeled a CSIC; if it is the end-user, the device is called an ASIC. Unfortunately, this term is not used often in the IC industry.
ASSP: Application specific standard product ICs target specific types of systems. In many cases the IC will be manufactured using ASIC technology (e.g., gate or linear array or standard cell techniques), but will ultimately be sold as a standard IC to numerous users (i.e., put into a product catolog). If the end-user helped the IC producer design the ASSP, that user is typically given a market leadtime (i.e., window of opportunity) to use the IC before it is made available to competitors.
CSP: Customizable standard products are 70 to 90 percent standard with 10 to 30 percent of the chip available for user-specified logic, memory, or peripheral functions. A CSP can be an ASIC device if it is sold to only one customer.
Source: ICE 19181D
Figure 3-1. ASIC Terminology
INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ENGINEERING CORPORATION 3-1 ASIC Highlights
One problem many IC producers have run into while producing application specific standard product ICs (ASSPs) is that to provide the optimum part, the IC producer must understand the system application as well as the end-user. Because this system-level expertise is not easy to acquire, most ASSP suppliers have formed close relationships or partnerships with end-users. In this way, the IC supplier and user work closely together early in the system design cycle to prop- erly define the needed ASSPs.
In general, as standard ICs take aim at ever finer segments of the IC market, they ultimately evolve into ASSPs. In other words, at some point in time there could be very few standard ICs; most ICs produced would be aimed at specific system needs. For example, certain DRAMs are architec- turally optimized for hand-held telecommunications systems, laptop personal computers (PCs), or high definition television (HDTV) sets. This is precisely the direction the IC industry is heading.
As IC producers customize their products for specific system needs, the list of ICs labeled as ASSPs continues to expand. In 1997, Alcatel-Mietec introduced an ARM core-based ISDN chip- set (Figure 3-2). The chip set is produced using a 3V 0.5µm CMOS mixed-signal process. It doesn’t take too much imagination to visualize a one-chip ASSP solution sometime in the near future. As was mentioned earlier, 20 years from now there may be few standard ICs produced.
AGND Analog Proprietary (DSP) JTAG Support Filter Engine TAP
Interface ROM
D/A Logic RAM ARM7TDMI Core A/D Serial