Essential Electronic Design Automation (EDA)

System-on-Chip and IP Trends

A major CEO recently noted that his company was designing three times more complex chips in only two-thirds of the time, compared to only a few years previously. Trends in system-on-chip (SoC) and IP development which affect EDA tools include:

System-on-Chips (SoCs). Larger complex chips now include most of the system electronics. This is an increasing trend. System chips usually include multiple memory blocks, one or more microprocessors, logic, and several I/O interfaces on the same chip. (See Appendix F for more on SoCs and IP.)

Design Re-use. The requirements of short TTM have driven the increased re-use of existing design blocks. Integrating these blocks into SoCs is changing the design methodology. (See Appendix ...