Towards an Integrated, Minicomputer based LSI Design System

The traditional design procedure of an integrated circuit involves the intensive use of nonlinear circuit analysis programs at transistor level and an interactive or automatic graphic layout system. These software tools become more and more insufficient in handling the ever growing LSI circuits. A fully integrated systems design demands for a wide range of computer aids : circuit analysis programs, logic simulators, timing simulators, automatic layout systems, graphic design assistants, test pattern generators, ... Although each of these tools can be used independently, their efficiency is highly increased by linking them together in an integrated LSI design system. Such a system consists of a series of procedures interactively or automatically - which assists and controls the development of an integrated circuit from the global system concepts to the mask generation. To reduce both design time and cost, an in-house-minicomputer should form the basic hardware configuration. However, coupling with a main frame increases the systems capability : the minicomputer acts as an intelligent terminal which handles input and output, while compute-bound tasks are send to the large computer. The designer-design system communication goes through a structural input description language, leading to a common data base for the entire design system.