Painless ASIC design in the system environment

ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) have been successfully designed at the component level using engineering workstations (EWS) since the early eighties. Although many workstations allow 'right-first-time' chips to be produced, they do not always offer system designers a secure link for the incorporation of these chips into the overall system. The author explores the needs, features and benefits of future workstation products for which the ASIC design process is an integral part of the system design activity.<
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