Chapter 2 - VLSI Design and Design Aid Requirements

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses very large scale integration (VLSI) design and design aid requirements. The Hewlett-Packard (HP) Company has had considerable experience with custom integrated-circuit design, fabrication, and manufacture. For several reasons, the experience within the company is not necessarily correlated with that of other large users of integrated circuits. Much of the work within Hp parallels that of the industry in terms of a fundamental need to have process and product development at the forefront of technology. This is a major reason for captive integrated-circuit facilities within the company, and it has been very successful as a strategy for many product areas. The goals listed in Section II for HP designers using workhorse technologies have been evolving for about a decade. At present, there are some four or five bipolar processes available throughout the company, with TTL, Schottky, ECL, EFL, and PL all characterized for each process. The processes may be structured for low noise and very low propagation delays for oscilloscope and signal analyzer preamplifiers or they may feature wide-dynamic-range line-driver and output-stage capability.