Basic Notions on the Design of Digital Circuits and Systems

Summary

This chapter focuses on several aspects of the design of digital circuits and systems. It discusses the history of VLSI circuit design, including prediffused circuit, field‐programmable gate array, elementary pre‐characterized circuit, and full custom circuit. The silicon compilation approach starts from the most abstract entity of the system to be designed (often a functional description of the application, in algorithmic form) and ends with the finer details (mask layout), passing through successive design levels. It aims to increase the probability of the system operating properly at low design levels. The chapter focuses on the types of components involved in register transfer level, module design level, gate design level, and transistor level. It provides a discussion on synthesis of interconnections, including buffer insertion and clock distribution, as well as synthesis of networks‐on‐chip.