EE4415:
Integrated Circuits Design
Associate Professor Lian Yong
Dept. of ECE, NUS
Email: eleliany@[Link]
Office : E4-05-38
Phone : 65162993
Course Websites & Ref. Books
z [Link]
z Jan M. Rabaey, Anantha Chandrakasan, and Borivoje
Nikolic, “Digital Integrated Circuits”, 2E, Prentice-Hall.
z Sung-Mo Kang, and Yusuf Leblebici, “CMOS Digital
Integrated Circuits: Analysis and Design”, 3E, McGraw
Hill.
z Himanshu Bhatnagar, “Advanced ASIC Chip Synthesis
Using Synopsys Design Compiler,Physical Compiler,
and PrimeTime”, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2002.
z Stephen Brown Zvonko Vranesic, “Fundamentals of
Digital Logic with Verilog Design”, McGraw Hill.
1
Topics Covered
The first part covers the digital IC
design including:
z Introduction to IC design
z ASIC Design Methodology
z Synthesis Basics using Synopsys
z Design exercises = 30% CA
What Is IC Design ?
IC design is a process of the
transformation of an idea into a
manufacturable device that carries
out an intended function.
2
Design Classification
z Analog design.
z Mixed-Signal design.
z Digital design.
RF front-end Baseband
Analog-to-digital digital-to-analog
converter converter
Semiconductor Industry
3
Introduction to Digital IC
Design
z Why is designing digital ICs different
today than it was before?
z Will it change in future?
The First Computer
The Babbage
Difference Engine
(1832)
25,000 parts
cost: £17,470
4
ENIAC :
The first electronic computer (1946)
The Transistor Revolution
First transistor
Bell Labs, 1948
5
The First Integrated Circuits
Bipolar logic
1960’s
ECL 3-input Gate
Motorola 1966
Intel 4004 Micro-Processor
1971
1000 transistors
1 MHz operation
6
Intel Pentium (IV) microprocessor
The Trend in IC Design
z System integration : moving from board to
chip Æ System-on-Chip (SoC)
z What is SoC ?
7
The Challenges
z The algorithmic driving force Ædesign complexity
Moore’s Law
z In 1965, Gordon Moore noted that the
number of transistors on a chip doubled
every 18 to 24 months.
z He made a prediction that semiconductor
technology will double its effectiveness every
18 months
8
Number of Transistors per Die
Source: ISSCC 2003 G. Moore “No exponential is forever, but ‘forever’ can be delayed”
Moore’s Law
Year of introduction Transistors
z 4004 1971 2,250
z 8008 1972 2,500
z 8080 1974 5,000
z 8086 1978 29,000
z 286 1982 120,000
z 386™ 1985 275,000
z 486™ DX 1989 1,180,000
z Pentium® 1993 3,100,000
z Pentium II 1997 7,500,000
z Pentium III 1999 24,000,000
z Pentium 4 2000 42,000,000
9
Microprocessor Clock Frequency
10000
Doubles every
1000 2 years
Frequency (Mhz)
P6
100
Pentium ® proc
486
10 8085 386
8086 286
1 8080
8008
4004
0.1
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Courtesy of Intel
Die Size Growth
100
Die size (mm)
P6
10 486 Pentium ® proc
386
286
8080 8086
8085 ~7% growth per year
8008
4004 ~2X growth in 10 years
1
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Courtesy of Intel
10
Evolution in Complexity
Power Dissipation
100
P6
Pentium ® proc
Power (Watts)
10
486
8086 286
386
8085
1 8080
8008
4004
0.1
1971 1974 1978 1985 1992 2000
Year
Courtesy of Intel
11
Power: a Major Problem
100000
18KW
10000 5KW
1.5KW
Power (Watts)
1000 500W
Pentium® proc
100
286 486
10 8086 386
8085
8080
8008
1 4004
0.1
1971 1974 1978 1985 1992 2000 2004 2008
Year
Courtesy of Intel
Power Density
10000
Rocket
Power Density (W/cm2)
Nozzle
1000
Nuclear
Reactor
100
8086
10 4004 Hot Plate P6
8008 8085 386 Pentium® proc
286 486
8080
1
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Year
Courtesy of Intel
12
The Power Crisis
1200
15 mm Die
1000 Leakage
800 Active
Power (W)
600
400
200
0
0.25u 0.18u 0.13u 90nm 65nm 45nm
Technology Scaling
z Technology shrinks by ~0.7 per generation
z With every generation can integrate 2x more
functions on a chip; chip cost does not increase
significantly
z Cost of a function decreases by 2x
z But …
z How to design chips with more and more
functions?
z Design engineering population does not double
every two years…
z Hence, a need for more efficient design methods
z Exploit different levels of abstraction
13
Design Abstraction Levels
SYSTEM
MODULE
+
GATE
CIRCUIT
Vin Vout
DEVICE
G
S D
n+ n+
Considerations in IC Design
z Chip size (cost)
z Operation speed (value)
z Power consumption (energy efficiency)
z Manufacturability
z Testability
z Reliability
z Time-to-market
z Constrains in design
14
