Design of integrated circuits: directions and challenges

Several of the dimensions of IC CAE technology are discussed, focusing on two design styles: custom design, used for commodity products such as DRAMs, microprocessors, etc., where large volume production is planned and area reduction and performance maximization can be expected to return large dividends; and the design of application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), utilizing either very regular, prepatterned silicon arrays customized at the interconnect level or predesigned, parameterized libraries of cells that are usually arranged in rows and interconnected. The design research that will be required in order to attain the objectives of highly automated design systems and shorter product design cycles for integrated circuits are outlined. Metrics for design system performance are discussed.