A knowledge-based approach to VLSI-design in an open CAD-environment

A knowledge-based approach is suggested to assist a designer in the increasingly complex task of generating VLSI-chips from abstract, high-level specifications of the system. The complexity of designing VLSI-circuits has reached a level where computer-based assistance has become indispensable. Not all of the design tasks allow for algorithmic solutions. AI technique can be used, in order to support the designer with computer-aided tools for tasks not suited for algorithmic approaches. The approach described in this paper is based upon the underlying characteristics of VLSI design processes in general, comprising all stages of the design. A universal model is presented, accompanied with a recording method for the acquisition of design knowledge - strategic and task-specific - in terms of the design actions involved and their effects on the design itself. This method is illustrated by a simple design example: the implementation of the logical EXOR-component. Finally suggestions are made for obtaining a universally usable architecture of a knowledge-based system for VLSI-design

Loading and testing a light scattering cell with a binary fluid mixture near its critical composition

Critical phenomena has been the subject of physics research for many years. However, only in recent years has the research effort become intense. The current intensity has caused the study of critical phenomena to be grouped into a previous older era and a present contemporary era. Turbidity cell filling with methanol cyclohexane is one of the first steps toward a further understanding of critical phenomena. Work performed during the research period is outlined. During this period, research was spent developing apparatus and techniques that will make it possible to study critical phenomena through turbidity measurements on methanol cyclohexane. Topics covered range from the orientation of turbidity cell parts for assembly to the filling apparatus and procedure used when th cell is built. The last section will briefly cover some of the observations made when viewing the cell in a controlled water bath. However, before mention is made of the specifics of the summer research, a short introduction to critical phenomena and turbidity and how they relate to this experiment is provided