There is life left in ASICs

Standardcellshavelongbeenanexcellentabstractionoftechnology. ASIC design styles allowed logic designers toveryrapidlytakeadvantageofmajor advantagesinsilicontechnology. For the last few years however, many peoplehavebeenpredictingthedeathofASICs. Theyarguethatthey are too difficult to design, that the gap between theprocess technology and theASICis growing, andthat thecostwillmakethemeconomicallyinfeasible. Inthispresen-tation we will argue that there is a lot of life left in yourASIC.Specifically,thereisstillplentyofroomforimprove-mentindesigntoolstoensurewestayclosetoMoore’scurveindesignperformancedespitebaseprocesstechnologyslow-down. Similarly,costcanbeloweredsignificantlybybetteroptimization,analysisandverification.AlternativeslikeFPGAsorfullyprogrammablestandardproducts have been proposed. However, both are signifi-cantly more inefficient in their use of power than ASICs,anddonotmeetperformancerequirementsformanyappli-cations underapowerbudget. Sincefew attractivesiliconimplementationalternativesareavailabletostandardcells,itisimportantthatthedesigntoolswillstepuptothetask.