NATO Science Series E

Synthesis is a crucial component of future CAll s;ystems. The competitive edge of IC desiBn will most probcbly come frc·'1l the use of effective synthesis tools. A complete synthesis system should generate layout masks from a high-level algorithmic, behavioral or functional des­ cription of a VLSI systen, [1 description of the target tech­ nology and a description of the constraints and cost func­ tions. The design should be completed in reasonable time and with the quality a human designer could obtain. Working designs have been produced with silicon compilers, but the quality of the design has always been a problem. ~n1ile for a restricted class of designs, such 2S Digital Signal Processors (DSP) , the use of a fixed floor-plan has been successful, its use for less constrp.ined applications results in inefficient utilizstion of areE and poor perfor­ mance. In addition, the structure of the control logic is of­ ten too rigid end not optimized, thus yielding F: slm'! and large chip. The present trend is to bre8t: the synthesis pro­ cess into stages, end to use tools thet optimize rep.l estate Bnd/or performance to go from one stege to the next. This book covers most of the topics in the design of di­ gital VLSI Circuits, 2nd focuses on theory, as well as algo­ rithms and co~puter implementations of desiGn systems.