Category Archives: ASIC Design

Demystifying Analog & Mixed-Signal ASICs

Application Specific Integrated Circuits, ASICs, typically conjure up the notion of massively complex logic chips containing tens or hundreds of thousands (even millions) of transistors configured to solve a customer’s unique set of problems. Unlike multi-function standard product ICs such as a micro-controller that can find its way into

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AnySilicon is operating a truly unbiased semiconductor blog focused on ASIC design and manufacturing topics. We welcome individuals and companies to take part in our knowledge ecosystem and submit technical or marketing articles in the following areas:
 

IC design
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Beyond RTL part 2: Domain-Specific Languages

This is the second part of my “Beyond RTL” series, where I examine alternatives to Register Transfer Level (RTL). The first part talks mostly about High-Level Synthesis, its genesis, and the state of the art of free and commercial tools that transform C/C++/SystemC to RTL. I highlighted the fundamental limitations that these

Beyond RTL part 1: High-Level Synthesis

Let’s say for a minute that you believe that it is finally time to drop RTL (maybe it was my previous post that convinced you). What can I say? I’m glad! You now have to pick among several competing technologies, each with its pros and cons, each of course claiming to be the best,

Corner-based Timing Signoff and What Is Next?

The corner-based timing signoff approach is a historical and traditional method that has justified a development and enhancements of conventional STA tools and signoff flows. The number of signoff corners exponentially grows along with an increase of variation sources, their magnitude, and timing margins. It becomes a bottleneck in

Wireless Transceivers RF CMOS Front Ends

During the last decades, important advances in microelectronic techniques and technologies had been fueling the introduction of new wireless enabled products accessible to a large number of people around the world. Without the competitive price offered by CMOS, the widespread use of wireless enabled engineering complex devices, e.g. smartphones, tablets, etc. would certainly have been delayed.