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Answer 4

The document discusses concepts related to regularity, modularity, and locality in digital system design. It defines regularity as resulting in similar and simple blocks through hierarchical decomposition. Modularity means functional blocks have well-defined interfaces and can be designed independently. Locality ensures internal details remain local and connections are between neighboring modules to avoid long distances.

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Mohit Singh
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91 views6 pages

Answer 4

The document discusses concepts related to regularity, modularity, and locality in digital system design. It defines regularity as resulting in similar and simple blocks through hierarchical decomposition. Modularity means functional blocks have well-defined interfaces and can be designed independently. Locality ensures internal details remain local and connections are between neighboring modules to avoid long distances.

Uploaded by

Mohit Singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Concepts of Regularity

 The hierarchical design approach reduces the design complexity by dividing the
large system into several sub-modules.
 Usually, other design concepts and design approaches are also needed to
simplify the process.

 Regularity means that the hierarchical decomposition of a large system should


result in not only simple, but also similar blocks, as much as possible.

 A good example of regularity is the design of array structures consisting of


identical cells - such as a parallel multiplication array, PAL, PLA, PROM.

 Regularity can exist at all levels of abstraction:


 At the transistor level, uniformly sized transistors simplify the design.
 At the logic level, identical gate structures can be used, etc.

 If the designer has a small library of well-defined and well-characterized basic


building blocks, a number of different functions can be constructed by using
this principle.

 Regularity usually reduces the number of different modules that need to be


designed and verified, at all levels of abstraction.
Darshana Sankhe
Concepts of Modularity
 Modularity in design means that the various functional blocks
which make up the larger system must have well-defined
functions and interfaces.

 Modularity allows that each block or module can be designed


relatively independently from each other, since there is no
ambiguity about the function and the signal interface of these
blocks.

 All of the blocks can be combined with ease at the end of the
design process, to form the large system.

 The concept of modularity enables the parallelization of the


design process, reduces development time.

 It also allows the use of generic modules in various designs -


the well-defined functionality and signal interface allow
plug-and-play design. Darshana Sankhe
Concepts of Locality
 By defining well-characterized interfaces for each module in the
system, we effectively ensure that the internals of each module
become unimportant to the exterior modules.

 Internal details remain at the local level.

 The concept of locality also ensures that connections are mostly


between neighboring modules, avoiding long-distance
connections as much as possible.

 This last point is extremely important for avoiding excessive


interconnect delays.

 Time-critical operations should be performed locally, without


the need to access distant modules or signals.

 If necessary, the replication of some logic may solve this


problem in large system architectures.
Darshana Sankhe
Full Custom Design :
 Full-custom design is a methodology for designing IC’s wherein the
layout, geometry, orientation and placement of every transistor is
done individually by the designer.

 Design productivity is very low – typically few tens of transistors


per day per design.

 Full-custom design potentially maximizes the performance of the


chip, and minimizes its area, but is extremely labor-intensive to
implement.

 Full-custom design is limited to ICs that are to be fabricated in


extremely high volumes, notably certain microprocessors (Intel
Pentium µp chip) and a small number of ASICs.

 The main factor affecting the design and production of ASICs is the
high cost of mask sets and the requisite EDA design tools.

 The mask sets are requiredDarshana


in orderSankhe
to transfer the ASIC designs
onto the wafer.
Semi-Custom Design : Standard Cell
 All commonly used logic cells are developed, characterized and
stored in the standard cell library.

 Library may contain few hundred cells like inverters, NAND, NOR
gates, complex AOI gates, DFF, counters…..

 Each gate type can be implemented in several versions to provide


adequate driving capability(fan-out) – inverter gate can have
standard size, double size and quadruple size. Chip designer can
choose one of it, to meet high current, speed and layout density
requirements.

 Designer sends schematic to the fabricator who prepares mask, if


the cells are from his library.

 Hence it is captivated by the company. Larger the library, larger will


be the cost.

 Standard cell guarantees that design will work.


Darshana Sankhe
Semi-Custom Design : Gate array
 A gate array circuit is a prefabricated chip/circuit with no
particular function, in which transistors and other active
devices are placed (unconnected) at regular predefined
positions and manufactured on a wafer, usually called as
master slice.

 Only masks for metallization needs to be created.

 Interconnection pattern for basic logic gates can be stored


in a library for further chip customization.

 This layer is analogous to the copper layer of a printed


circuit board (PCB).

 Gate array master slices are usually prefabricated and


stockpiled in large quantities regardless of customer
orders.
Darshana Sankhe

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