Abstract:
As process technology scales, the design effort and nonrecurring engineering (NRE) costs associated with the development of integrated circuits is becoming extremely high...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
As process technology scales, the design effort and nonrecurring engineering (NRE) costs associated with the development of integrated circuits is becoming extremely high. Structured ASICs offer one solution to these problems. However, to realize their full potential, their performance and cost advantages, architectures, and CAD must be fully understood. We believe that this can lead to wider adoption of structured ASICs. In this paper, we take a step in this direction and investigate the area, delay, power, and cost tradeoffs in metal-programmable structured ASICs (MPSAs). In particular, we quantify the impact of the number of user-defined (custom) metal mask layers on these metrics. Results indicate that for lowest cost, the number of custom layers should be minimized, especially for small die sizes (e.g., less than 100 {\hbox {mm}}^{2}). Delay and power, however, can be improved by a few additional custom layers. With two custom metal layers, MPSAs can be 2\times–10\times cheaper than cell-based ICs (CBICs).
Published in: IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems ( Volume: 19, Issue: 12, December 2011)
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Usman Ahmed received the B.Eng. degree in computer systems engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2001, the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 2005, and is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
In 2000, h...Show More
Usman Ahmed received the B.Eng. degree in computer systems engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2001, the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 2005, and is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
In 2000, h...View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Guy G. F. Lemieux (S'91–M'04–SM'08) received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
In 2003, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now an Associate Professor. He is co-author of the book Design of Interconnection Networks for Programmable Logic (Kluwer, 2004). His research inte...Show More
Guy G. F. Lemieux (S'91–M'04–SM'08) received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
In 2003, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now an Associate Professor. He is co-author of the book Design of Interconnection Networks for Programmable Logic (Kluwer, 2004). His research inte...View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Steven J. E. Wilton (S'86–M'97–SM'03) received the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
In 1997, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now a Professor. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of...Show More
Steven J. E. Wilton (S'86–M'97–SM'03) received the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
In 1997, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now a Professor. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of...View more
Contents Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Usman Ahmed received the B.Eng. degree in computer systems engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2001, the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 2005, and is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
In 2000, he joined a California-based startup company, Avaz Networks, where he worked until 2003. During his stay at Avaz, he worked on the design and verification of different entities for a carrier class VoIP processor. His current research interests include structured ASIC and FPGA architectures, CAD algorithms, VLSI, and SoC design.
Usman Ahmed received the B.Eng. degree in computer systems engineering from the National University of Sciences and Technology, Rawalpindi, Pakistan, in 2001, the M.A.Sc. degree in electrical and computer engineering from Ryerson University, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 2005, and is currently pursuing the Ph.D. degree in electrical and computer engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
In 2000, he joined a California-based startup company, Avaz Networks, where he worked until 2003. During his stay at Avaz, he worked on the design and verification of different entities for a carrier class VoIP processor. His current research interests include structured ASIC and FPGA architectures, CAD algorithms, VLSI, and SoC design.View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Guy G. F. Lemieux (S'91–M'04–SM'08) received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
In 2003, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now an Associate Professor. He is co-author of the book Design of Interconnection Networks for Programmable Logic (Kluwer, 2004). His research interests include FPGA architectures, computer-aided design algorithms, VLSI and SoC circuit design, and parallel computing.
Dr. Lemieux was a recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology.
Guy G. F. Lemieux (S'91–M'04–SM'08) received the B.A.Sc., M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
In 2003, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now an Associate Professor. He is co-author of the book Design of Interconnection Networks for Programmable Logic (Kluwer, 2004). His research interests include FPGA architectures, computer-aided design algorithms, VLSI and SoC circuit design, and parallel computing.
Dr. Lemieux was a recipient of the Best Paper Award at the 2004 IEEE International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology.View more
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
Steven J. E. Wilton (S'86–M'97–SM'03) received the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
In 1997, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now a Professor. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Computing, Imperial College, London, U.K, and at the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center (IMEC), Leuven, Belgium. He is a cofounder of Veridae Systems, which supplies post-silicon validation architectures and tools. His research focuses on the architecture of FPGAs, and the CAD tools that target these devices.
Dr. Wilton was the Program Chair for the ACM International Symposium on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays in 2005 and the program co-chair for the International Conference on Field Programmable Logic and Applications. He received best paper awards at the International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology in 2003, 2005, and 2007, respectively, and at the International Conference on Field-Programmable Logic and Applications in 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2008, respectively. In 1998, he won the Douglas Colton Medal for Research Excellence for his research into FPGA memory architectures. He is currently an Associate Editor of the ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems.
Steven J. E. Wilton (S'86–M'97–SM'03) received the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
In 1997, he joined the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, where he is now a Professor. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Computing, Imperial College, London, U.K, and at the Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center (IMEC), Leuven, Belgium. He is a cofounder of Veridae Systems, which supplies post-silicon validation architectures and tools. His research focuses on the architecture of FPGAs, and the CAD tools that target these devices.
Dr. Wilton was the Program Chair for the ACM International Symposium on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays in 2005 and the program co-chair for the International Conference on Field Programmable Logic and Applications. He received best paper awards at the International Conference on Field-Programmable Technology in 2003, 2005, and 2007, respectively, and at the International Conference on Field-Programmable Logic and Applications in 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2008, respectively. In 1998, he won the Douglas Colton Medal for Research Excellence for his research into FPGA memory architectures. He is currently an Associate Editor of the ACM Transactions on Reconfigurable Technology and Systems.View more
