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CVT: A centralized variety of tools
177
INTEGRATION News
The day the testers came to Canada June 7, 1984 marks a special day to the Canadian University VLSI scene. On that day the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation sponsored a tutorial on testing integrated circuits to inaugurate the CMC test station. The CMC is presently loaning such stations to twelve universities and will soon be considering the purchase and subsequent loan of additional ones. As several university groups have already had their chips fabricated through the VLSI Implementation Centre, test facilities will greatly enhance their capability to assess chip performance. The tutorial focusses on practical aspects of testing with one day of presentations and informal discussions followed by an opportunity of actually doing it. The presentations will cover topics such as circuit testing, test considerations during the design phase, and a description of the test station: HP8180/8182/ 4145/ 9816 (generator/ analyser/ parameter analyser/ controller) instrument package and Wentworth prober. One may expect more CMC sponsored tutorials on testing, as this subject needs even more tutoring and communication than CAD does.
CVT: A centralized variety of tools After a trial period of 1 year, the EEC-funded CVT projecthas been approved. So early April 1984 the veil could be removed and the details were presented at a 2-days colloquium. The overall objective of the CVT project is to implement an integrated CAD system to be used by system designers, with particular reference to the requirements of the Telecommunication field. It has been recognized that the main requirements from the user would be (1) simplicity and transparancy for the average system designer, and (2) speed and security for the hardware products. Hence, a modular system architecture is assumed built around a centralized database and data management system. It has (1) to take advantage of existing tools, (2) to be flexible enough to cope with future changes, and (3) to be toolkit oriented so any user can assemble his personal environment. In other words the CVT project is primarily aimed to define and implement the kernel of an North-Holland INTEGRATION.
the VLSI journal
0167-9260/84/$3.00
0 1984, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)
2 (1984) 177-179
178
Integration
News
integrated CAD system (the design data base system and the user interface). Secondary it is to originate a complete set of tools for description, analysis to aid the designer during the architectural design phase , going from the initial specifications to floor plans. In addition a set of coherent criteria must be defined for designing complex fault-tolerant (possibly self-repairing) architectures. Ensuing one needs symbolic layout tools and device models to arrive in the far future (around 1987) at a knowledge based system, the’second generation of integrated CAD systems. Such an ambitious program cannot be carried by a simple institution, not even by a few. It takes 28 partners, who either in collaboration or individually tackle the 36 subtasks, divided into the task groups (1) architecture, (2) language and data structure, (3) testing, and (4) device modelling.
Small is beautiful On March 30, 1984 the EEC-funded ICD project was first presented to the press. But the underlying liaisons had already started years before, when the three Dutch technical universities (at Delft, Eindhoven and Twente) started to meet twice a year to exchange research results in the area of computer-aided design of integrated circuits. When the opportunity arose to intensify the cooperation with money, personnel and equipment by attracking EEC funds, the ICD project was defined. Under the name NELSIS it is partially subsidized by the Dutch government. ICD aims to design an intelligent VLSI design workstation, stressing independence of the workstations hardware and independence of the semiconductor manufacturer. The implementation medium is UNIX, which comes as no surprise, and software is strongly biased towards its inherent hierarchical filesystem. The programming languages are C and LISP. In the EEC project the universities were soon joined by PCS (a minicomputer manufacturer from Munich, Germany), ICS/ICN (a software and chip design house of Dutch origin) and BTRL (the British Telecom Research Laboratories from Ipswich, England). Such a cooperation can only work on a rigid division of tasks, which was decided to be as follows: Subtask Ia : A file-oriented hierarchical and multilevel database. Subtask Ib : A consistent set of description languages. Subtask II : A foundry interface and acceptance procedures. Subtask III : A hierarchical design-rule checker and extraction. Subtask IV : A piecewise linear mixed-mode simulator. Subtask V : A library of cell generation programs. Subtask VI : A highly structured topology-based VLSI design system. Subtask VII : A workstation architecture for fast CAD/CAM operations.
INTEGRATION News
The day the testers came to Canada June 7, 1984 marks a special day to the Canadian University VLSI scene. On that day the Canadian Microelectronics Corporation sponsored a tutorial on testing integrated circuits to inaugurate the CMC test station. The CMC is presently loaning such stations to twelve universities and will soon be considering the purchase and subsequent loan of additional ones. As several university groups have already had their chips fabricated through the VLSI Implementation Centre, test facilities will greatly enhance their capability to assess chip performance. The tutorial focusses on practical aspects of testing with one day of presentations and informal discussions followed by an opportunity of actually doing it. The presentations will cover topics such as circuit testing, test considerations during the design phase, and a description of the test station: HP8180/8182/ 4145/ 9816 (generator/ analyser/ parameter analyser/ controller) instrument package and Wentworth prober. One may expect more CMC sponsored tutorials on testing, as this subject needs even more tutoring and communication than CAD does.
CVT: A centralized variety of tools After a trial period of 1 year, the EEC-funded CVT projecthas been approved. So early April 1984 the veil could be removed and the details were presented at a 2-days colloquium. The overall objective of the CVT project is to implement an integrated CAD system to be used by system designers, with particular reference to the requirements of the Telecommunication field. It has been recognized that the main requirements from the user would be (1) simplicity and transparancy for the average system designer, and (2) speed and security for the hardware products. Hence, a modular system architecture is assumed built around a centralized database and data management system. It has (1) to take advantage of existing tools, (2) to be flexible enough to cope with future changes, and (3) to be toolkit oriented so any user can assemble his personal environment. In other words the CVT project is primarily aimed to define and implement the kernel of an North-Holland INTEGRATION.
the VLSI journal
0167-9260/84/$3.00
0 1984, Elsevier Science Publishers B.V. (North-Holland)
2 (1984) 177-179
178
Integration
News
integrated CAD system (the design data base system and the user interface). Secondary it is to originate a complete set of tools for description, analysis to aid the designer during the architectural design phase , going from the initial specifications to floor plans. In addition a set of coherent criteria must be defined for designing complex fault-tolerant (possibly self-repairing) architectures. Ensuing one needs symbolic layout tools and device models to arrive in the far future (around 1987) at a knowledge based system, the’second generation of integrated CAD systems. Such an ambitious program cannot be carried by a simple institution, not even by a few. It takes 28 partners, who either in collaboration or individually tackle the 36 subtasks, divided into the task groups (1) architecture, (2) language and data structure, (3) testing, and (4) device modelling.
Small is beautiful On March 30, 1984 the EEC-funded ICD project was first presented to the press. But the underlying liaisons had already started years before, when the three Dutch technical universities (at Delft, Eindhoven and Twente) started to meet twice a year to exchange research results in the area of computer-aided design of integrated circuits. When the opportunity arose to intensify the cooperation with money, personnel and equipment by attracking EEC funds, the ICD project was defined. Under the name NELSIS it is partially subsidized by the Dutch government. ICD aims to design an intelligent VLSI design workstation, stressing independence of the workstations hardware and independence of the semiconductor manufacturer. The implementation medium is UNIX, which comes as no surprise, and software is strongly biased towards its inherent hierarchical filesystem. The programming languages are C and LISP. In the EEC project the universities were soon joined by PCS (a minicomputer manufacturer from Munich, Germany), ICS/ICN (a software and chip design house of Dutch origin) and BTRL (the British Telecom Research Laboratories from Ipswich, England). Such a cooperation can only work on a rigid division of tasks, which was decided to be as follows: Subtask Ia : A file-oriented hierarchical and multilevel database. Subtask Ib : A consistent set of description languages. Subtask II : A foundry interface and acceptance procedures. Subtask III : A hierarchical design-rule checker and extraction. Subtask IV : A piecewise linear mixed-mode simulator. Subtask V : A library of cell generation programs. Subtask VI : A highly structured topology-based VLSI design system. Subtask VII : A workstation architecture for fast CAD/CAM operations.