Integrated circuit development

Integrated circuit development

The integrated circuit (IC) development process is complex and arduous. The high level process for developing an integrated circuit starts with defining product requirements, progresses through architectural definition, implementation, bringup and finally productization. The various phases of the integrated circuit development process are described below. Although the phases are presented in a straightforward fashion it should be noted that in reality there is iteration and these steps may occur multiple times.

Requirements

Before an architecture can be defined some high level product goals must be defined. The requirements are usually generated by a cross functional team that addresses market opportunity, customer needs, and much more. This phase should result in a product requirements document.

Architecture

The "architecture" defines the fundamental structure, goals and principles of the product. It defines high level concepts and the intrinsic value proposition of the product. Architecture teams take into account many variables and interface with many groups. People creating the architecture generally have a significant amount of experience dealing with systems in the area for which the architecture is being created. The work product of the architecture phase is an architectural specification.

Micro-architecture

The micro-architecture is a step closer to the hardware. It implements the architecture and defines specific mechanisms and structures for achieving that implementation. The result of the micro-architecture phase is a micro-architecture specification which describes the methods used to implement the architecture.

Implementation

In the implementation phase the design itself is created using the micro-architectural specification as the starting point. This involves low level definition and partitioning, writing code, entering schematics and verification. This phase ends with a design reaching tapeout.

Bringup

After a design is created, taped-out and manufactured, actual hardware, 'first silicon', is received which is taken into the lab where it goes through "bringup". Bringup is the process of powering, testing and characterizing the design in the lab. Numerous tests are performed starting from very simple tests such as ensuring that the device will power on to much more complicated tests which try to stress the part in various ways. The result of the bringup phase is documentation of characterization data (how well the part performs to spec) and errata (unexpected behavior).

Productization

Productization is the art of taking a design from engineering into mass production manufacturing. Although a design may have successfully met the specifications of the product in the lab during the bringup phase there are many challenges that face product engineers when trying to mass produce those designs. The IC must be ramped up to production volumes with an acceptable yield. The goal of the productization phase is to reach mass production volumes at an acceptable cost.

Sustaining

Once a design is mature and has reached mass production it must be sustained. The process must be continually monitored and problems dealt with quickly to avoid a significant impact on production volumes. The goal of sustaining is to maintain production volumes and continually reduce costs until the product reaches end of life.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • integrated circuit development — integrinių grandynų sukūrimas statusas T sritis radioelektronika atitikmenys: angl. integrated circuit development vok. Entwicklung integrierter Schaltkreise, f; Schaltkreisentwicklung, f rus. разработка интегральных схем, f pranc. développement… …   Radioelektronikos terminų žodynas

  • Integrated circuit — Silicon chip redirects here. For the electronics magazine, see Silicon Chip. Integrated circuit from an EPROM memory microchip showing the memory blocks, the supporting circuitry and the fine silver wires which connect the integrated circuit die… …   Wikipedia

  • integrated circuit — Electronics. a circuit of transistors, resistors, and capacitors constructed on a single semiconductor wafer or chip, in which the components are interconnected to perform a given function. Abbr.: IC Also called microcircuit. [1955 60] * * * ▪… …   Universalium

  • Three-dimensional integrated circuit — In electronics, a three dimensional integrated circuit (3D IC, 3D IC, or 3 D IC) is a chip in which two or more layers of active electronic components are integrated both vertically and horizontally into a single circuit. The semiconductor… …   Wikipedia

  • Photonic integrated circuit — A photonic integrated circuit (PIC) or integrated optical circuit is a device that integrates multiple photonic functions and as such is analogous to an Electronic Integrated Circuit. The major difference between the two is that a photonic… …   Wikipedia

  • Application-specific integrated circuit — An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is an integrated circuit (IC) customized for a particular use, rather than intended for general purpose use. For example, a chip designed solely to run a cell phone is an ASIC.In contrast, the… …   Wikipedia

  • Custom Integrated Circuit Conference — IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference is an international conference devoted to IC development, showcasing original, first published technical work and circuit techniques that tackle practical problems. CICC is a forum for circuit, IC, and… …   Wikipedia

  • Circuit diagram — Comparison of pictorial and schematic styles of circuit diagrams …   Wikipedia

  • Circuit Switched Data — (CSD) is the original form of data transmission developed for the time division multiple access (TDMA) based mobile phone systems like Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). CSD uses a single radio time slot to deliver 9.6 kbit/s data… …   Wikipedia

  • développement de circuit intégré — integrinių grandynų sukūrimas statusas T sritis radioelektronika atitikmenys: angl. integrated circuit development vok. Entwicklung integrierter Schaltkreise, f; Schaltkreisentwicklung, f rus. разработка интегральных схем, f pranc. développement… …   Radioelektronikos terminų žodynas

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”