Gate level simulations and Static Timing Analysis (a method of validating the timing performance of a design by checking all possible paths for timing violations without having to simulate) are also done to make sure that the gate-level design meets the timing requirements for correct design operations. The file produced at the output of the layout is the GDSII (GDS2) file which is the file used by the foundry to fabricate the silicon. This is followed by routing in which exact paths for the interconnection of standard cells and macros and me/O pins are determined. Clock tree synthesis is a process that makes sure that the clock gets distributed evenly to all sequential elements in a design to fix the timing violations. The next step in the ASIC Design flow is Placement and Routing which involves arranging approximate locations of a set of modules that need to be placed on a layout. All the works till this stage are normally called as the Frontend of VLSI design and are executed by Frontend Engineers. DFT is a structural technique that facilitates a design to become testable after production. This stage is followed by Synthesis – a process of transforming the HDL design into a technology-specific gate-level netlist, given all the specified constraints and optimization settings. The design is refined until the HDL model is proved to be meeting the specifications.
HOW TO PIN A DOCUMENT TO THE FRONT VERIFICATION
The Functional Verification stage starts with a verification plan and a corresponding verification environment that describes and implements the method of proving the design correctness, using different Verification techniques. The architectural design is then modeled using a Hardware description language like Verilog/VHDL/System Verilog, which is the RTL design stage. The architectural design involves designing the functional blocks and the communication protocol between them and translating them into actual modules that contain FSMs, combinational and sequential circuits, etc. It is followed by translating the specification to Architectural design.
The following diagram shows a typical design flow for an ASIC or SOC.Īs it shows the design flow starts with a specification document that lists out the technical requirements needed in the chip design. The classification is based on the different steps involved in a typical ASIC design flow.
HOW TO PIN A DOCUMENT TO THE FRONT HOW TO
Are you confused about how to how to choose Frontend VS Backend?
VLSI frontend and backend are nothing but two different domains in the field of VLSI.