Quick-turnaround ASIC Design in VHDL

The authors show how VLSI chips can be rapidly designed within a VHDL-based synthesis environment using a pre-designed library of core components. The core library represents synthesizable units of behavior (function and control) that are both application-specific and organization-specific, empowering the chip designer with a competitive advantage. The key to the quick-turnaround is the high amount of systematic reuse utilized within the design methodology. The percolation of accurate power, speed, area, and timing information to higher levels of abstraction allows rapid and efficient exploration of the design space facilitating the optimization of these objectives individually or concurrently. System integration and test of ASICs into board-level designs is also facilitated.