A Reuse-based framework for the design of analog and mixed-signal ICs

Despite the spectacular breakthroughs of the semiconductor industry, the ability to design integrated circuits (ICs) under stringent time-to-market (TTM) requirements is lagging behind integration capacity, so far keeping pace with still valid Moore's Law. The resulting gap is threatening with slowing down such a phenomenal growth. The design community believes that it is only by means of powerful CAD tools and design methodologies -and, possibly, a design paradigm shift-that this design gap can be bridged. In this sense, reuse-based design is seen as a promising solution, and concepts such as IP Block, Virtual Component, and Design Reuse have become commonplace thanks to the significant advances in the digital arena. Unfortunately, the very nature of analog and mixed-signal (AMS) design has hindered a similar level of consensus and development. This paper presents a framework for the reuse-based design of AMS circuits. The framework is founded on three key elements: (1) a CAD-supported hierarchical design flow that facilitates the incorporation of AMS reusable blocks, reduces the overall design time, and expedites the management of increasing AMS design complexity; (2) a complete, clear definition of the AMS reusable block, structured into three separate facets or views: the behavioral, structural, and layout facets, the two first for top-down electrical synthesis and bottom-up verification, the latter used during bottom-up physical synthesis; (3) the design for reusability set of tools, methods, and guidelines that, relying on intensive parameterization as well as on design knowledge capture and encapsulation, allows to produce fully reusable AMS blocks. A case study and a functional silicon prototype demonstrate the validity of the paper's proposals.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia TEC2004-0175

Méthodologie de développement d'une bibliothèque d'IP-AMS en vue de la conception automatisée de systèmes sur puces analogiques et mixtes: application à l'ingénierie neuromorphique

Les travaux de cette thèse apportent une contribution à l'automatisation du flot de conception analogique et mixte, en termes de méthodologies de réutilisation. Des méthodologies de développement et d'exploration de bibliothèques d'IPs (Intellectual Property) analogiques sont développées : définition et caractérisation d'un IP analogique, création et exploration d'une base de données d'IPs, aide à la réutilisation destinée au concepteur. Le circuit utilisé pour l'application de ces méthodologies est un système neuromimétique c'est-à-dire qu'il reproduit l'activité électrique de neurones biologiques. Ces applications montrent à travers trois exemples, l'efficacité et la souplesse de notre méthodologie. Ces travaux proposent également une méthodologie de redimensionnement de circuits analogiques CMOS lors d'une migration technologique