VLSI design methodology the problem of the 80's for microprocessor design

The rapid evolution of semiconductor technology continues to make possible increasingly sophisticated electronic systems on single chips of silicon. By 1982, a single silicon chip is projected to have well over 100,000 transistors. This level of complexity represents a major problem for the VLSI designer in the 1980's. Unless there is a fundamental change in design methodology, this level of VLSI technology will be grossly under-utilized due to the problems of design, layout and checking. With present design methods, the mask set for a 100,000 transistor MOS chip will take 60 man years to lay out and another 60 man years to debug.