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Section 3. ASIC Industry Trends

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Section 3. ASIC Industry Trends 3 ASIC INDUSTRY TRENDS ASSPs AND ASICs The term ASIC (Application Specific IC) has been a misnomer from the very beginning. ASICs, as now known in the IC industry, are really customer specific ICs. In other words, the gate array or standard cell device is specifically made for one customer. ASIC, if taken literally, would mean the device was created for one particular type of system (e.g., a disk-drive), even if this device is sold to numerous customers and/or is put in the IC manufacturer’s catalog. Currently, a device type that is sold to more than one user, even if it is produced using ASIC tech- nology, is considered a standard IC or ASSP (Application Specific Standard Product). Thus, we are left with the following nomenclature guidelines (Figure 3-1). ASIC: A device produced for only one customer. PLDs are included as ASICs because the customer “programs” that device for its needs only. CSIC: What ASICs should have been called from the beginning. 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. This term is not currently used very often in the IC industry. ASSP: A relatively new term for ICs targeting 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 device type 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 device before it is made available to its 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. Source: ICE, "Status 1996" 19181A Figure 3-1. ASIC Industry Terminology INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ENGINEERING CORPORATION 3-1 ASIC Industry Trends One problem many IC producers have run into while producing ASSPs is that in order to provide the optimum part, the IC producer must understand the system application at least as well as the end-user. Because this system-level expertise is not easy to acquire, most ASSP vendors have formed close relationships or partnerships with end-users. In this way, the IC vendor and end- user work closely together early in the system design cycle in order to properly define the ASSP device. In general, as standard ICs take aim at ever finer segments of the marketplace, they ultimately evolve into ASSPs. In other words, at some point in time there could be very few standard ICs; most devices produced would be aimed at specific system needs. An example would be certain DRAMs architecturally optimized for a hand-held telecom system, laptop PC, or HDTV set. This is precisely the direction the IC industry is now heading. Figure 3-2 shows some of the devices that National Semiconductor considers ASSPs. As IC pro- ducers customize their devices for specific system needs, the list of ICs labeled as ASSPs contin- ues to expand. In 1995, Sharp Corporation plans to release an ASSP product based upon the 33MHz ARM RISC 32-bit MPU core. The ARM ASSP will include a 480x320 monochrome LCD controller, 115-kbaud serial data infrared transceiver, write-back cache controller, on-board SRAM optimized for real-time interrupt, and pulse-width modulators. As was mentioned earlier, 20 years from now there may be few “standard” ICs produced. • Mainframe connectivity solutions • FDDI devices • Local area network (LAN) ICs • Telecommunications products (e.g., CODECs) • Graphics ICs • Mass storage devices • Real-time clocks • DRAM management ICs • Floppy-disk devices • UARTs Source: ICE, "Status 1996" 17776 Figure 3-2. Sampling of ASSPs from National Semiconductor Although the 1995 ASIC market is estimated to have been $15.7 billion, the ASSP-type products (which are part of the special purpose MOS Logic category) are taking away some of its momen- tum (Figure 3-3). Overall, the ASIC market (not including full custom) is forecast to follow total IC industry growth rates fairly closely. 3-2 INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ENGINEERING CORPORATION ASIC Industry Trends 8 7.63 7 28% 5.98 6 5 4.74 26% 4 3.75 26% 3 Billions of Dollars 2 1 0 1992 1993 1994 1995 (EST) Year Source: ICE, "Status 1996" 20204A Figure 3-3. Special Purpose MOS Logic Market (1992-1995) Does the proliferation of ASSPs and more customer-specific standard products mean an end to the ASIC market? No. This is because most of the pros and cons of ASICs versus ASSPs or standard products still exist. The primary advantage of ASSPs or standard products is the ability to immediately (most of the time) purchase the ICs and get the system to market quickly. However, ASIC devices allow the system producer to differentiate its product from the competition. The result is that many times the system producer is able to gain marketshare and/or better profit margins. In some cases standard products and ASICs are merging in an attempt to offer the benefits of both approaches. In 1993, TI announced that it was merging an enhanced version of its standard fixed- point TMS320C25 DSP chip and 15,000 usable and customizable 0.8-micron CMOS gate-array gates on one device. Thus, the user is able to take advantage of well characterized high-perfor- mance DSP circuitry while at the same time adding unique features to give its system a differen- tial advantage over its competitors. TI estimated that 30 percent of its total DSP IC sales in 1995 would be in customizable version form.* This percentage was expected to rise to 50 percent in 2000. * Through 1995 TI’s belief in the success of its customizable DSP was well founded. TI’s big jump in gate array sales in 1994 and 1995 was greatly due to the success of its gate array DSP program. INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ENGINEERING CORPORATION 3-3 ASIC Industry Trends Another grey area is where Cirrus Logic takes one of its ASSP ICs and customizes a portion of it for one of its customers. Typically only about 5-10 percent of the new design is customized for the end-user. This “tweaked” device is still normally classified as an ASSP since the majority of the circuitry is still ASSP-based. There is no question that the IC industry will continue to evolve toward devices that are specifi- cally suited for the customers’ needs. ICE believes that various versions of ASICs and ASSPs will co-exist to help serve those needs in the most economical and efficient manner possible. ASIC Definitions Some basic definitions and classifications are shown below in order to define what ICE means when using the various terms used to describe today’s ASIC devices. ASIC stands for Application Specific Integrated Circuit and according to ICE’s definition includes gate arrays, standard cells (sometimes called cell-based), full custom, and programmable logic devices (PLDs). These devices are classified as either semicustom, custom, or PLDs. Formal definitions are given in Figure 3-4. I. Semicustom IC - A monolithic circuit that has one or more customized mask layers, but does not have all mask layers customized, and is sold to only one customer. Gate Array - A monolithic IC usually composed of columns and rows of transistors (organized in blocks of gates). One or more layers of metal interconnect are used to customize the chip. Sometimes called an uncommitted logic array (ULA). Linear Array - An array of transistors and resistors that performs the functions of several linear ICs and discrete devices. II. Custom IC - A monolithic circuit that is customized on all mask layers and is sold to only one customer. Standard Cell IC - A monolithic IC that is customized on all mask levels using a cell library that embodies pre-characterized circuit structures. ICs that are designed with a silicon compiler are included in this category. Most "embedded" arrays are included in this category. Full Custom IC - A monolithic IC that is at least partially "handcrafted". Handcrafting refers to custom layout and connection work that is accomplished without the aid of a silicon compiler or standard cells. Source: ICE, "Status 1996" 13660E Figure 3-4. ASIC Definitions 3-4 INTEGRATED CIRCUIT ENGINEERING CORPORATION ASIC Industry Trends III. Programmable Logic Device (PLD) - A monolithic circuit with fuse, antifuse, or memory cell-based circuitry that may be programmed (customized), and in some cases, reprogrammed by the user (in- system or prototype form). Simple PLD (SPLD) - Usually a PAL or PLA, typically contains less than 750 logic gates. Complex PLD (CPLD) - A hierarchical arrangement of multiple PAL-like blocks. Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) - A PLD that offers fully flexible interconnects, fully flexible logic arrays, and requires functional placement and routing. Electrically Programmable Analog Circuit (EPAC) - A PLD that allows the user to program and reprogram basic analog functions. Source: ICE, "Status 1996" 13660E Figure 3-4. ASIC Definitions (continued) ICE does not include ASSPs in its ASIC market figures. An example of an ASSP part that is not classified as an ASIC by ICE is Hitachi’s H8/300H Series of microcontrollers. Although the H8/300H user is able to customize this MCU using an extensive Hitachi cell library, the finished devices are almost always allowed to be sold to other Hitachi customers after a certain period of time (Motorola has a similar program using its 68HC05 MCUs).
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