Introduction to System IC Design Flow

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Introduction to System IC Design Flow Wireless Information Transmission System Lab. EDA Tools, Failure Analysis Tools and Reliability Testing for System IC Development Hung-Chih Chiang Institute of Communications Engineering National Sun Yat-sen University EDA Markets 6,000 PCB Design 單 位 5,000 IC CAD : CAE/Misc. 百 CAE/Gate Level 萬 4,000 美 CAE/RTL 元 CAE/ESL 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2000 2001 2002 2003(e) 2004(e) 2005(f) 2006(f) 2007(f) 資料來源:工研院IEK (2004/04) 2 Outline EDA Tools and Design Flow System Level Simulation Tools Front-end IC Design Flow and Design Tools Back-end IC Design Flow and Design Tools System Verification Tools Failure Analysis Tools Reliability Testing 3 System Level Simulation Purpose: Ö Algorithm verification Ö Protocol design verification Ö System Integrity verification 4 System Level Simulation Tools C, C++: SystemC: Ö A modeling platform supports different levels of abstraction. Ö A simulation kernel. Matlab: SPW: 5 Cell-Base Front–END Design Flow Front-End IC Design Flow Design Specification RTL Design and Simulation RTL Verilog Library File Code .v or .V Logic Synthsis Constraint file static timing anaysis / design rules check Front_End Pre_sim SDF file change_names / Pre_sim Verilog write_timing (SDF) gate-level netlist code.vg or .VG Pre_sim EDIF Pre-layout Gate Level Simulation netlist GTL Verilog 1st Sign-Off Code Floorplan, Placement .vg or .VG and Route 6 RTL Simulation Tools Verilog-XL (Cadence) : a standard sign off simulator. NCVerilog (Cadence) : a compiled simulator, works as fast as VCS, and still maintains the sign off capabilities of Verilog-XL. This simulator is good when it comes to gate level simulations. VCS (Synopsis) : a compiled simulator like NCverilog. This simulator is faster when it comes to RTL simulation. Few more things about this simulator are direct C kernel interface, Covermeter code coverage embedded, better integration with VERA and other Synopsys tools. Finsim (Fintronic) : This is 100% compatible simulator with Verilog-XL, runs on Linux, Windows and Solaris. This is compiled simulator like VCS and NCVerilog, but slower then VCS and NCVerilog. Modelsim (Model Technology): popular and cheap simulator, has got good debugging capabilities, and nice GUI. This simulator can be used for block level design and verification. But sign-off should not be done with this simulator. Polaris (Avanti) : Cycle based simulator. Smash (Dolphin) : mixed signal, Verilog, VHDl simulator 7 Debugging Tools Debussy (SprintSoft) : Ö a powerful debugging tool with a nice GUI. Modelsim (Model Technology): Ö popular and has a nice GUI. 8 Logic Synthesis Tools Design Complier (Synopsys) : Ö the most popular logic synthesizer, bottom-up approach Ambit (Cadence): Ö a fast logic synthesizer, top-down approach 9 Synthesis Methodology Compile Strategies Ö Bottom-up – Synopsys Design Complier Traditional method used in building up hierarchy Each module is individually synthesized Uses manual time budgets or a default budget May not produce optimal design Prone to error in manually specified time budgets Ö Hierarchical (Top-down) – Cadence Ambit Build hierarchical design objects with constraints applied at the top-most level Entire design hierarchy is optimized together Only top level time budgets are required Requires fewer files and produces more optimal design than with bottom-up approach 10 Bottom-Up synthesis Approach Always specify at least a default time budget! Time budgets are easiest with registered outputs (Ambit) set_input_delay 2 –clock clk [find –port –input *] set_external_delay 2 –clock clk [find –port –output *] Q Q Q Q + Q 11 Hierarchical Synthesis Approach Hierarchical synthesis avoids inter-module time budgeting An entire design hierarchy is optimized together Sub-designs are optimized in full context of top of hierarchy Only top level time budgets are required (Ambit) do_xform_optimize_slack -time_budget do_optimize -time_budget Top bottom1 bottom2 Q Q 12 SoC Synthesis Recommend a bottom-up approach. Ö Each IP/macro should have its own synthesis script to ensure the right internal timing. Chip-level Synthesis Ö Consist only connecting the macros and resizing the output drive buffers. 13 Partitioning The top-levels of design hierarchy should be interconnect only I/O PAD Asynchronous Logic 20K 20K BIST Clock Generation/ Embeded Core PLL UP 40K 40K Test Module 100K RAM JTAG 14 Layout Design Flow Overview Hierarchical Multi-million gate APR and gate level floorplan. Timing Driven/Power Driven/CTS (Clock Tree Synthesis) APR. Signal integrity(antenna/cross talk/voltage drop/electron-migration) violation analysis and removal. SOC integration. LVS/DRC/ERC physical verification. Scan chain re-ordering service Advanced 3D RC extraction (Gate Level and Transistor Level) SDF generate and skew report ECO/LVL 15 Clock Tree Insertion 16 Cell-Base Back-End Design Flow Cell-Base Back-End IC Design Flow Pre-layout Gate Level Simulation GTL Verilog Code .vg or .VG Cell Library Tech File Floorplan Labrary Mapping File Placement and Route Netlist File post-layout timing analysis / design rule check Back_End Phsical Verification LVS APR SDF Out 17 Cell-Base Back-End Design Flow Post APR Not O.K Gate Level O.K Simulation No (Avanti Flow) Logic Synthsis Optimization Milkyway2Star ? Load SDF and Netlist File Yes Layer GRD APR ECO Milkyway2Star GDS II Out Mapping File File APR SDF Out SDF Out DRC/ERC/ Run Set File LVS Res TCAD File Yes SDF Out ? GRD File Skip Cell File Post Layout O.K No Gate Level Simulation Star-RC Tech 2nd Sign-Off File Not O.K Runset File Logic Synthsis Star-DC Tech Optimization File Load SDF and Netlist File pio File APR ECO APR SDF Out Tape Out GDS II File 18 APR Silicon Ensemble (Cadence) : Ö good for interface with Cadence synthesizer. Apollo (Avanti/Synopsis): Ö used to be the most popular APR tool. Astro (Synopsis): Ö new version of Apollo. 19 RC Extraction Hyper Extract (Cadence) : Star-RC (Avanti/Synopsys): Ö a popular RC extraction tool 20 Layout Verification (DRC/ERC/LVS) Herculus (Avanti/Synopsys) : Dracula (Cadence): 21 Layout Editor Virtuoso (Cadence): Laker (SprintSoft): Ö on-line rule driven & point to point routing Tanner (Mentor Graphics): Enterprise (Synopsys): 22 Transistor Level Verification HSpice (Avanti/Synopsys): Ö accurate but slow. Star-Sim: Ö Fast but not as accurate as HSpice. P-Spice: Ö for PC users. 23 Circuit Simulation Conditions Operation Temperature Ö Low (-55°C~0°C) Ö Typical (25°C) Ö High(80°C~120°C) Spice Model Ö FF/TT/SS/FS/SF 24 System Verification Requirements: Ö Mixed level, mixed-language, mixed-signal simulation and debugging Ö Abundant IP libraries and models 25 System Verification Tools CoCentric System Studio (Synopsys): Virtual Component Co-design/Incisive Function Verification Platform (Cadence): 26 Outline EDA Tools and Design Flow System Level Simulation Tools Front-end IC Design Flow and Design Tools Back-end IC Design Flow and Design Tools System Verification Tools Failure Analysis Tools Reliability Testing 27 Failure Analysis Tools FIB (Focused Iron Beam) Laser EMMI (EMission MIcroscope) Probe Station E-Beam X-Ray, SAM (Scanning Acoustic Microscope) 28 FIB Flow 29 EMMI Example: Leakage 30 E-Beam Example: 31 X-Ray Example: 32 Outline EDA Tools and Design Flow System Level Simulation Tools Front-end IC Design Flow and Design Tools Back-end IC Design Flow and Design Tools System Verification Tools Failure Analysis Tools Reliability Testing 33 Reliability Testing (1) ESD (ElectroStatic Discharge) Ö Human-Body Mode Ö Machine Mode Ö Charged-Device Mode Latch Up Ö Parasitic transistors 34 Reliability Testing (2) High/Low Temperature Operating Life Temperature & Humidity with Bias High Accelerated Stress Pressure Cooker Thermal Shock Temperature Cycling High/Low Temperature Storage Temperature & Humidity Storage Temperature & Humidity Cycling Solderability 35 Summaries Following a complete design flow increases the chance of first cut work. Failure analysis tools help to resolve problems of ICs. Reliability tests provide quality assurance of products. 36.
Recommended publications
  • Introduction to ASIC Design
    ’14EC770 : ASIC DESIGN’ An Introduction Application - Specific Integrated Circuit Dr.K.Kalyani AP, ECE, TCE. 1 VLSI COMPANIES IN INDIA • Motorola India – IC design center • Texas Instruments – IC design center in Bangalore • VLSI India – ASIC design and FPGA services • VLSI Software – Design of electronic design automation tools • Microchip Technology – Offers VLSI CMOS semiconductor components for embedded systems • Delsoft – Electronic design automation, digital video technology and VLSI design services • Horizon Semiconductors – ASIC, VLSI and IC design training • Bit Mapper – Design, development & training • Calorex Institute of Technology – Courses in VLSI chip design, DSP and Verilog HDL • ControlNet India – VLSI design, network monitoring products and services • E Infochips – ASIC chip design, embedded systems and software development • EDAIndia – Resource on VLSI design centres and tutorials • Cypress Semiconductor – US semiconductor major Cypress has set up a VLSI development center in Bangalore • VDAT 2000 – Info on VLSI design and test workshops 2 VLSI COMPANIES IN INDIA • Sandeepani – VLSI design training courses • Sanyo LSI Technology – Semiconductor design centre of Sanyo Electronics • Semiconductor Complex – Manufacturer of microelectronics equipment like VLSIs & VLSI based systems & sub systems • Sequence Design – Provider of electronic design automation tools • Trident Techlabs – Power systems analysis software and electrical machine design services • VEDA IIT – Offers courses & training in VLSI design & development • Zensonet Technologies – VLSI IC design firm eg3.com – Useful links for the design engineer • Analog Devices India Product Development Center – Designs DSPs in Bangalore • CG-CoreEl Programmable Solutions – Design services in telecommunications, networking and DSP 3 Physical Design, CAD Tools. • SiCore Systems Pvt. Ltd. 161, Greams Road, ... • Silicon Automation Systems (India) Pvt. Ltd. ( SASI) ... • Tata Elxsi Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital Design Flow Techniques and Circuit Design for Thin-Film Transistors
    Printed by Tryckeriet i E-huset, Lund 2020 Printed by Tryckeriet SUMAN BALAJI Digital Design Flow Techniques and Circuit Design for Thin-Film Transistors SUMAN BALAJI MASTER´S THESIS Digital Design Flow Techniques and Circuit Design for Thin-Film Transistors for Thin-Film Design and Circuit Flow Design Techniques Digital DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY FACULTY OF ENGINEERING | LTH | LUND UNIVERSITY Series of Master’s theses Department of Electrical and Information Technology LUND 2020 LU/LTH-EIT 2020-770 http://www.eit.lth.se Digital Design Flow Techniques and Circuit Design for Thin-Film Transistors Suman Balaji [email protected] Department of Electrical and Information Technology Lund University Academic Supervisor: Joachim Rodrigues Supervisor: Hikmet Celiker Examiner: Pietro Andreani June 18, 2020 © 2020 Printed in Sweden Tryckeriet i E-huset, Lund Abstract Thin-Film Transistor (TFT) technology refers to process and manufacture tran- sistors, circuits, Integrated circuits (ICs) using thin-film organic or metal-oxide semiconductors on different substrates, such as flexible plastic foils and rigid glass substrates. TFT technology is attractive and used for applications requiring flexible, ultra- thin ICs to enable seamless integration into devices. TFT technology shows great potential to be an enabling technology for Internet of Things (IoT) applications. TFT is currently used and a dominant technology for switching circuits in flat- panel displays and are the main candidates for IoT applications in the near future because of its flexible structure, low cost. It is possible to design different kinds of Application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) with flexible TFTs. Logic gates are considered as the basic building blocks of a digital circuit.
    [Show full text]
  • The Effects of Globalization on the Fashion Industry– Maísa Benatti
    ACKNOLEDGMENTS Thank you my dear parents for raising me in a way that I could travel the world and have experienced different cultures. My main motivation for this dissertation was my curiosity to understand personal and professional connections throughout the world and this curiosity was awakened because of your emotional and financial incentives on letting me live away from home since I was very young. Mae and Ingo, thank you for not measuring efforts for having me in Portugal. I know how hard it was but you´d never said no to anything I needed here. Having you both in my life makes everything so much easier. I love you more than I can ever explain. Pai, your time here in Portugal with me was very important for this masters, thank you so much for showing me that life is not a bed of roses and that I must put a lot of effort on the things to make them happen. I could sew my last collection because of you, your patience and your words saying “if it was easy, it wouldn´t be worth it”. Thank you to my family here in Portugal, Dona Teresinha, Sr. Eurico, Erica, Willian, Felipe, Daniel, Zuleica, Emanuel, Vitória and Artur, for understanding my absences in family gatherings because of the thesis and for always giving me support on anything I need. Dona Teresinha and Sr. Eurico, thank you a million times for helping me so much during this (not easy) year of my life. Thank you for receiving me at your house as if I were your child.
    [Show full text]
  • An Automated Flow for Integrating Hardware IP Into the Automotive Systems Engineering Process
    An Automated Flow for Integrating Hardware IP into the Automotive Systems Engineering Process Jan-Hendrik Oetjens Ralph Görgen Joachim Gerlach Wolfgang Nebel Robert Bosch GmbH OFFIS Institute Robert Bosch GmbH Carl v. Ossietzky University AE/EIM3 R&D Division Transportation AE/EIM3 Embedded Hardware-/ Postfach 1342 Escherweg 2 Postfach 1342 Software-Systems 72703 Reutlingen 26121 Oldenburg 72703 Reutlingen 26111 Oldenburg Jan-Hendrik.Oetjens Ralph.Goergen Joachim.Gerlach nebel@informatik. @de.bosch.com @offis.de @de.bosch.com uni-oldenburg.de Abstract during system integration is possible in an earlier stage of the systems engineering process. This contribution shows and discusses the require- Most of the companies’ system development processes ments and constraints that an industrial engineering follow – at least, in their basic principals – the well- process defines for the integration of hardware IP into known V model [1]. In our specific case, there is running the system development flow. It describes the developed an additional boundary through that V model. It partitions strategy for automating the step of making hardware de- the process steps into tasks to be done within our semi- scriptions available in a MATLAB/Simulink based system conductor division and tasks to be done within the corre- modeling and validation environment. It also explains the sponding system divisions (see Figure 1). The prior men- transformation technique on which that strategy is based. tioned acts as a supplier of the hardware parts of the over- An application of the strategy is shown in terms of an all system for the latter. Such boundaries also exist in industrial automotive electronic hardware IP block.
    [Show full text]
  • Design for Manufacturing (Dfm) in Submicron Vlsi Design
    DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING (DFM) IN SUBMICRON VLSI DESIGN A Dissertation by KE CAO Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2007 Major Subject: Computer Engineering DESIGN FOR MANUFACTURING (DFM) IN SUBMICRON VLSI DESIGN A Dissertation by KE CAO Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Chair of Committee, Jiang Hu Committee Members, Weiping Shi Duncan Walker Vivek Sarin Head of Department, Costas N. Georghiades August 2007 Major Subject: Computer Engineering iii ABSTRACT Design for Manufacturing (DFM) in Submicron VLSI Design. (August 2007) Ke Cao, B.S., University of Science and Technology of China; M.S., University of Minnesota Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. Jiang Hu As VLSI technology scales to 65nm and below, traditional communication between design and manufacturing becomes more and more inadequate. Gone are the days when designers simply pass the design GDSII file to the foundry and expect very good man- ufacturing and parametric yield. This is largely due to the enormous challenges in the manufacturing stage as the feature size continues to shrink. Thus, the idea of DFM (Design for Manufacturing) is getting very popular. Even though there is no universally accepted definition of DFM, in my opinion, one of the major parts of DFM is to bring manufacturing information into the design stage in a way that is understood by designers. Consequently, designers can act on the information to improve both manufacturing and parametric yield.
    [Show full text]
  • Design for Manufacturability and Reliability in Extreme-Scaling VLSI
    SCIENCE CHINA Information Sciences . REVIEW . June 2016, Vol. 59 061406:1–061406:23 Special Focus on Advanced Microelectronics Technology doi: 10.1007/s11432-016-5560-6 Design for manufacturability and reliability in extreme-scaling VLSI Bei YU1,2 , Xiaoqing XU2 , Subhendu ROY2,3 ,YiboLIN2, Jiaojiao OU2 &DavidZ.PAN2 * 1CSE Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, NT Hong Kong, China; 2ECE Department, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712,USA; 3Cadence Design Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA 95134,USA Received December 14, 2015; accepted January 18, 2016; published online May 6, 2016 Abstract In the last five decades, the number of transistors on a chip has increased exponentially in accordance with the Moore’s law, and the semiconductor industry has followed this law as long-term planning and targeting for research and development. However, as the transistor feature size is further shrunk to sub-14nm nanometer regime, modern integrated circuit (IC) designs are challenged by exacerbated manufacturability and reliability issues. To overcome these grand challenges, full-chip modeling and physical design tools are imperative to achieve high manufacturability and reliability. In this paper, we will discuss some key process technology and VLSI design co-optimization issues in nanometer VLSI. Keywords design for manufacturability, design for reliability, VLSI CAD Citation Yu B, Xu X Q, Roy S, et al. Design for manufacturability and reliability in extreme-scaling VLSI. Sci China Inf Sci, 2016, 59(6): 061406, doi: 10.1007/s11432-016-5560-6 1 Introduction Moore’s law, which is named after Intel co-founder Gordon Moore, predicts that the density of transistor on integrated circuits (ICs) roughly doubles every two years.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 8 – Timing Closure VLSI Physical Design
    © KLMH Chapter 8 – Timing Closure VLSI Physical Design: From Graph Partitioning to Timing Closure Original Authors: Andrew B. Kahng, Jens Lienig, Igor L. Markov, Jin Hu VLSI Physical Design: From Graph Partitioning to Timing Closure Chapter 8: Timing Closure 1 Lienig Chapter 8 – Timing Closure © KLMH 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Timing Analysis and Performance Constraints 8.2.1 Static Timing Analysis 8.2.2 Delay Budgeting with the Zero-Slack Algorithm 8.3 Timing-Driven Placement 8.3.1 Net-Based Techniques 8.3.2 Embedding STA into Linear Programs for Placement 8.4 Timing-Driven Routing 8.4.1 The Bounded-Radius, Bounded-Cost Algorithm 8.4.2 Prim-Dijkstra Tradeoff 8.4.3 Minimization of Source-to-Sink Delay 8.5 Physical Synthesis 8.5.1 Gate Sizing 8.5.2 Buffering 8.5.3 Netlist Restructuring 8.6 Performance-Driven Design Flow 8.7 Conclusions VLSI Physical Design: From Graph Partitioning to Timing Closure Chapter 8: Timing Closure 2 Lienig 8.1 Introduction © KLMH System Specification Partitioning Architectural Design ENTITY test is port a: in bit; end ENTITY test; Functional Design Chip Planning and Logic Design Circuit Design Placement Physical Design Clock Tree Synthesis Physical Verification DRC and Signoff LVS Signal Routing ERC Fabrication Timing Closure Packaging and Testing Chip VLSI Physical Design: From Graph Partitioning to Timing Closure Chapter 8: Timing Closure 3 Lienig 8.1 Introduction © KLMH • IC layout must satisfy geometric constraints and timing constraints − Setup (long-path) constraints − Hold (short-path) constraints • Chip designers must complete timing closure − Optimization process that meets timing constraints − Integrates point optimizations discussed in previous chapters, e.g., placement and routing, with specialized methods to improve circuit performance VLSI Physical Design: From Graph Partitioning to Timing Closure Chapter 8: Timing Closure 4 Lienig 8.1 Introduction © KLMH Components of timing closure covered in this lecture: • Timing-driven placement (Sec.
    [Show full text]
  • A Design & Verification Methodology for Networked Embedded Systems
    Francesco Stefanni A Design & Verification Methodology for Networked Embedded Systems Ph.D. Thesis April 7, 2011 Università degli Studi di Verona Dipartimento di Informatica Advisor: Prof. Franco Fummi Co-Advisor: Assistant Professor Davide Quaglia Series N◦: TD-04-11 Università di Verona Dipartimento di Informatica Strada le Grazie 15, 37134 Verona Italy Γνωθι˜ σǫαυτoν,´ ǫνˇ o´ιδα oτιˇ oυδ´ ǫν` o´ιδα. Abstract Nowadays, Networked Embedded Systems (NES’s) are a pervasive technology. Their use ranges from communication, to home automation, to safety critical fields. Their increas- ing complexity requires new methodologies for efficient design and verification phases. This work presents a generic design flow for NES’s, supported by the implementation of tools for its application. The design flow exploits the SystemC language, and consid- ers the network as a design space dimension. Some extensions to the base methodology have been performed to consider the presence of a middleware as well as dependabil- ity requirements. Translation tools have been implemented to allow the adoption of the proposed methodology with designs written in other HDL’s. Contents 1 Introduction ................................................... ..... 1 1.1 Thesisstructure ................................. ................ 5 2 Background ................................................... ..... 7 2.1 Networked Embedded Systems . ............ 7 2.1.1 Communicationprotocols ........................ .......... 8 2.2 SystemLevelDesign ............................... ............
    [Show full text]
  • Designing Digital Circuits a Modern Approach
    Designing Digital Circuits a modern approach Jonathan Turner 2 Contents I First Half 5 1 Introduction to Designing Digital Circuits 7 1.1 Getting Started . .7 1.2 Gates and Flip Flops . .9 1.3 How are Digital Circuits Designed? . 10 1.4 Programmable Processors . 12 1.5 Prototyping Digital Circuits . 15 2 First Steps 17 2.1 A Simple Binary Calculator . 17 2.2 Representing Numbers in Digital Circuits . 21 2.3 Logic Equations and Circuits . 24 3 Designing Combinational Circuits With VHDL 33 3.1 The entity and architecture . 34 3.2 Signal Assignments . 39 3.3 Processes and if-then-else . 43 4 Computer-Aided Design 51 4.1 Overview of CAD Design Flow . 51 4.2 Starting a New Project . 54 4.3 Simulating a Circuit Module . 61 4.4 Preparing to Test on a Prototype Board . 66 4.5 Simulating the Prototype Circuit . 69 3 4 CONTENTS 4.6 Testing the Prototype Circuit . 70 5 More VHDL Language Features 77 5.1 Symbolic constants . 78 5.2 For and case statements . 81 5.3 Synchronous and Asynchronous Assignments . 86 5.4 Structural VHDL . 89 6 Building Blocks of Digital Circuits 93 6.1 Logic Gates as Electronic Components . 93 6.2 Storage Elements . 98 6.3 Larger Building Blocks . 100 6.4 Lookup Tables and FPGAs . 105 7 Sequential Circuits 109 7.1 A Fair Arbiter Circuit . 110 7.2 Garage Door Opener . 118 8 State Machines with Data 127 8.1 Pulse Counter . 127 8.2 Debouncer . 134 8.3 Knob Interface . 137 8.4 Two Speed Garage Door Opener .
    [Show full text]
  • An Open-Source Design Flow for Asynchronous Circuits
    An Open-Source Design Flow for Asynchronous Circuits Rajit Manohar Computer Systems Lab Yale University New Haven, CT 06520 Email: [email protected] Abstract—There have been a number of small-scale and the clocked paradigm a poorer and poorer abstraction for chip large-scale technology demonstrations of asynchronous circuits, design. Modern application-specific integrated chips (ASICs) showing that they have benefits in performance and power- are designed as a collection of small clocked “islands” that efficiency in a variety of application domains. Most recently, asyn- chronous circuits were used in the TrueNorth neuromorphic chip communicate via interfaces that break the clocking abstraction. to achieve unprecedented energy-efficiency for neuromorphic We are developing a collection of electronic design automa- systems. However, these circuits cannot be easily adopted, because tion (EDA) tools that isolate the designer from the details commercially available design tools do not support asynchronous of the physical implementation technology, especially when logic. As part of the DARPA ERI effort, we are addressing this it comes to delays and timing uncertainty.1 The approach is challenge by developing a set of open-source design tools for asynchronous circuits. based on an asynchronous, modular and hierarchical design methodology for complex chips,and it permits component re- Keywords—asynchronous circuits; open-source EDA tools use from one technology to another with little or no modifi- cation. While individual (small) modules of the chip could be I. INTRODUCTION clocked, the overall system uses an asynchronous integration Scalable computer systems are designed as a collection of approach to achieve modular composition. modular components that communicate through well-defined II.
    [Show full text]
  • Digital IC Design Flow
    Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU DDigiigittaall IICC DDesesiigngn FFllowow Lecturer: Chihhao Chao Advisor: Prof. An-Yeu Wu Date: 2006.3.8 ACCESS IC LAB Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU OuOuttlliinene vIntroduction vIC Design Flow vVerilogHistory vHDL concept pp. 2 Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU Moore’s Law: Driving Technology Advances v Logic capacity doubles per IC at regular intervals (1965). v Logic capacity doubles per IC every 18 months (1975). pp. 3 Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU PPrroocesscess TTecechhnolnolooggyy EEvvoluoluttionion pp. 4 Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU CChiphipss SSiizzeses Source: IBM and Dataquest pp. 5 Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU SShhrrininkkiningg PPrrooduducctt CCyycclleses v Shrinking product cycles PCS: Personal Communication Services v Shrinking development turnaround times v Need for productivity increase (remember the “design gap”) pp. 6 Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU DDesesignign PPrrododuuccttiivviittyy CCrriissisis v Human factors may limit design more than technology. v Keys to solve the productivity crisis: v Design techniques: hierarchical design, SoCdesign (IP reuse, platform-based design), etc. v CAD: algorithms & methodology pp. 7 Graduate Institute of Electronics Engineering, NTU InIncreascreasinging PPrroocesscessinging PPoowwerer v Very high performance circuits in today’s technologies. v Gate delays: ~27ps for a 2-input Nandin 0.13um process v Operating frequencies: up to 500MHz for SoC/Asic, over 1GHz for customdesigns v The increase in speed/performance of circuits allowed blocks to be reused without having to be redesigned and tuned for each application v Enhanced Design Tools and Techniques v Although not enough to close the “design gap”, tools are essential for the design of today’s high-performance chips pp.
    [Show full text]
  • LAMDA: Learning-Assisted Multi-Stage Autotuning for FPGA Design Closure
    LAMDA: Learning-Assisted Multi-Stage Autotuning for FPGA Design Closure Ecenur Ustun∗, Shaojie Xiang, Jinny Gui, Cunxi Yu∗, and Zhiru Zhang∗ School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA feu49, cunxi.yu, [email protected] 12.5 12.30 Abstract—A primary barrier to rapid hardware specialization Default Timing with FPGAs stems from weak guarantees of existing CAD 12.0 11.66 tools on achieving design closure. Current methodologies require 11.5 11.29 extensive manual efforts to configure a large set of options 11.16 11.13 across multiple stages of the toolflow, intended to achieve high 11.0 quality-of-results. Due to the size and complexity of the design 10.5 space spanned by these options, coupled with the time-consuming 10.0 9.93 9.91 9.86 9.68 evaluation of each design point, exploration for reconfigurable 9.50 9.5 computing has become remarkably challenging. To tackle this Critical Path (ns) challenge, we present a learning-assisted autotuning framework 9.0 8.76 called LAMDA, which accelerates FPGA design closure by 8.66 8.5 8.52 8.37 utilizing design-specific features extracted from early stages of the 8.22 8.0 design flow to guide the tuning process with significant runtime 8.8 8.9 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 savings. LAMDA automatically configures logic synthesis, tech- Timing Target (ns) nology mapping, placement, and routing to achieve design closure Fig. 1. Timing distribution of bfly for various tool settings and timing efficiently. Compared with a state-of-the-art FPGA-targeted auto- constraints – x-axis represents target clock period (ns), and y-axis represents tuning system, LAMDA realizes faster timing closure on various critical path delay (ns).
    [Show full text]