Industry Expert Blogs

As an IC designer I absolutely loved embarking on a new design project, starting with a fresh, blank slate, not having to use any legacy blocks. In the early 1980's we really hadn't given much thought to re-using semiconductor IP because each new project typically came with a new process node, so there was no IP even ready for re-use, at least not at the IDM that I worked at. In 2018 by stark contrast we now have a thriving IP economy providing IC designers with everything starting from simple logic functions at the low-end, all of the way up to processors at the high-end, plus every kind of AMS function that you can imagine. My former Intel co-worker Chris Rowen once famously stated, "The processor is the new NAND gate."

So let's say that your next SoC has a power budget, timing specifications and thermal reliability metrics, so you naturally want to have PVT (Process, Voltage, Temperature) monitors placed around your chip in strategic locations so that you can measure and control everything, but should you create your own IP from scratch or just buy something off the shelf? Great question.

Let's make a quick list of what it might take to develop your own PVT blocks and start using them:

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