Design and Implementation of VLSI Systems

lecture01

Lecturer: Dr. Nguyễn Vũ Thắng

Use document from Brown University
And document from COASIA
Lecture 01: the big picture
• Introduction
• History
• Tour of VLSI Design and Implementation
• IC market
• Design flow
Objectives of the class

• Learn fundamental knowledge on IC design: design flow,

fabrication
• How to use commercial design software
• How to code Verilog
• Learn how to design a simple VLSI systems that implement
required functionalities.

• Syllabus
Course information
• Instructor: Nguyễn Vũ Thắng [email protected]

• Books: CMOS VLSI design, Weste and Harris, 4th edition.

• Grade:
-Homeworks: 10%
-Midterm exam: 30%
-Practical works and Project: 60%
Introduction

• A VLSI (Very Large Scale Integration) system integrates

millions of “electronic components” in a small area (few
mm2 → few cm2).

• What are the design metrics?

• Circuit Speed / Performance
• Power consumption
• Design Area
• Yield
The Transistor Revolution

First transistor
Bell Labs, 1948
Integrated Circuits
• 1958: Jack Kilby makes the first IC
• 1961: TI and Fairchild introduce the first logic ICs ($50 in quantity)
• 1962: RCA develops the first MOS transistor
• 1965: the Moores Law
Fairchild bipolar RTL Flip-Flop RCA 16-transistor MOSFET IC

Introduction Slide 7
Computer-Aided Design

• 1967: Fairchild develops the “Micromosaic” IC using

CAD
– Final Al layer of interconnect could be customized for different
applications

• 1968: Noyce, Moore leave Fairchild, start Intel

Introduction Slide 8
RAMs

• 1970: Fairchild introduces 256-bit Static RAMs

• 1970: Intel starts selling1K-bit Dynamic RAMs

Fairchild 4100 256-bit SRAM Intel 1103 1K-bit DRAM

Introduction Slide 9
The Microprocessor

• 1971: Intel introduces the first Microprocessor: 4004

– General purpose programmable computer instead of custom
chip for Japanese calculator company

1000 transistors
1 MHz operation

Introduction Slide 10
Intel Pentium (IV) microprocessor
The Microprocessor

• 1975: the first Personal computer and the birth of

Microsoft
• 1976: the birth of Apple

Introduction Slide 12
Die Cost

Single die

Wafer

Going up to 12” (30cm)

From http://www.amd.com
Microprocessor data trend
Cost per 100M transistors
 Yield
No. of good chips per wafer
Y= 100%
Total number of chips per wafer
Wafer cost
Die cost =
Dies per wafer Die yield
  (wafer diameter/2)2   wafer diameter
Dies per wafer = −
die area 2  die area
Defects

−
 defects per unit area  die area 
die yield = 1 + 
  
 is approximately 3

die cost = f (die area) 4

Defects

−
 defects per unit area  die area 
die yield = 1 + 
  
 is approximately 3

die cost = f (die area) 4

Design
Cost
Cost
Cost
Scaling
• Technology shrinks by 0.7/generation
• With every generation can integrate 2x more
functions per chip; chip cost does not increase
significantly
• Cost of a function decreases by 2x
• But …
– How to design chips with more and more functions?
– Design engineering population does not double every two
years…
• Hence, a need for more efficient design methods
– Exploit different levels of abstraction
Design Abstraction Levels
SYSTEM

MODULE
+

GATE

CIRCUIT

DEVICE
G
S D
n+ n+
Design Metrics
• How to evaluate performance of a
digital circuit (gate, block, …)?
– Cost
– Reliability
– Scalability
– Speed (delay, operating frequency)
– Power dissipation
– Energy to perform a function
Analog Signal Processing vs Digital
Signal Processing in VLSI
Comparing Analog and Digital IC
Analog Circuits Digital Circuits
Signals are continuous in amplitude and can Signal are discontinuous in amplitude and time
be continuous or discrete in time – binary signals have 2 amplitude states
Designed at the circuit level Designed at the systems level
Components must have a continuum of Component have fixed values
values
Customized Standard
CAD tools are difficult to apply CAD tools have been extremely successful
Requires precision modeling Timing models only
Performance optimized Programmable by software
Irregular block Regular blocks
Difficult to route automatically Easy to route automatically
Dynamic range limited by power supplies Dynamic range unlimited
and noise (and linearity)
What are VLSI systems composed of?
1.Transistors 2. Wires

nMOS

=
design
pMOS

Circuits

CMOS logic gates

How does an IC look like from the inside?

wires

transistors

R. Noyce J. Kilby
Technology scaling
Moore’s Law. The number of transistors in an integrated
circuit doubles every 2 years.
Technology scaling

1971: Intel 4004 – 2300 transistors – 10um tech

1979: Motorola 68000 – 68000 trans – 3.5um tech
1982: Intel 80286 – 134k trans – 1.5um tech
1989: Intel 80486 – 1180k trans – 1um tech
1999: AMD K7 – 22M trans – 250nm tech
2002: Intel – Itanium – 220M trans – 180nm tech
2010: Sun/Oracle – 16 core Sparc T3 – 1B trans – 40nm tech
2015: Oracle - 32-core Sparc M7 – 10B trans – 20nm tech
2017: AMD - 32-core AMD Epyc – 19.2B trans – 14nm tech
2020: Graphcore - DLP – 59B trans
2023: Apple M2 ultra chip – 134B trans
2024: Nvidia – GPU B100 – 208B trans
Feature sizes

Human Hair
~75 m

. 0.18 m
180 nm
. feature

~40,000 (65-nm node) transistors could fit on cross-section

[C. Keast]
IC market
Xếp hạng của 10 công ty thiết kế Chíp lớn nhất
thế giới [4].
4Q22 4Q22 3Q22
3Q22
Rank Company Country Revenue Market Revenue
Market share
(mil USD) share (mil USD)
1 Qualcomm US 7,892 23.20% 9,904 26.50%
2 Broadcom Mỹ 7,102 20.90% 6,936 18.60%
3 Nvidia Mỹ 5,931 17.50% 6,093 16.30%
4 AMD Mỹ 5,599 16.50% 5,565 14.90%
5 MediaTek Taiwan 3,449 10.20% 4,675 12.50%
6 Marvell Mỹ 1,458 4.30% 1,531 4.10%
7 Novatek Taiwan 715 2.10% 643 1.70%
8 Realtek Taiwan 694 2.00% 979 2.60%
9 Cirrus Logic Mỹ 591 1.70% 541 1.40%
Will
10 China 531 1.60% 518 1.40%
Semiconductor
IC market
IC market
2017
2017 2016 2017 Market 2016 2016-2017 Growth
Rank Rank Vendor Revenue Share (%) Revenue (%)
Samsung
1 2 61,215 14.6 40,104 52.6
Electronics
2 1 Intel 57,712 13.8 54,091 6.7
3 4 SK Hynix 26,309 6.3 14,700 79.0
Micron
4 6 23,062 5.5 12,950 78.1
Technology
5 3 Qualcomm 17,063 4.1 15,415 10.7
6 5 Broadcom 15,490 3.7 13,223 17.1
Texas
7 7 13,806 3.3 11,901 16.0
Instruments
8 8 Toshiba 12,813 3.1 9,918 29.2
Western
9 17 9,181 2.2 4,170 120.2
Digital
10 9 NXP 8,651 2.1 9,306 -7.0
Others 174,418 41.6 157,736 10.6
Total Market 419,720 100.0 343,514 22.2
Source: Gartner (January 2018)
IC market

Revenue: in US billions
1.Samsung Electronics (005390.KS) 202.2
2.NVIDIA Corp. ( NVDA) 79.8
3.Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
(TSM) 71.5
4.Intel Corp. (INTC) 55.2
5.Broadcom Inc. ( AVGO) 42.6
6.Qualcomm Inc. ( QCOM) 36.4
7.SK Hynix Inc. ( 000660.KS) 28.7
8.ASML Holding NV (ASML) 28.3

Source: Gartner (January 2018)

IC market
IC market
Silicon wafer size
Silicon wafer size
Silicon wafer size
Silicon wafer size
IC industry Revenue

Nguyen Vu Thang - FET

- HUT
IC revenue vs Market by region
Regional shift in Market force

Nguyen Vu Thang - FET

- HUT
Business models for IC companies

Nguyen Vu Thang - FET

- HUT
IC development

• World:
– Fabrication to Asia
– Outsource to Asia, especially to South East of
Asia
=> Vietnam

Nguyen Vu Thang - SET - HUT

IC design in Vietnam
• Hanoi:
– Analog IC: Qrvo (Active Semiconductor), ETA, Viettel
– Layout, RTL, verification: Dolphin
– Digital: Coasia
– Service: FPT LSI, Toshiba
– Related: Panasonic R&D, Toshiba, Samsung, Viettel,
VNPT Tech, VP9
• HCM city:
– Renesas, ACMM
– Arrive Technologies, ESilicon …
– ICDREC

Nguyen Vu Thang - SET - HUT

 Semiconductor Suply Chain

Design Manufacturing
Front-end: Wafer Fabrication Back-end: Packaging & Testing
R&D 50% Value Added 24% Value Added 6% value added
92B Logic with technology
Processors: CPU, GPU, DSP, FPGA node <10nm OSAT
Wireless Communication: RFIC,
Baseband Logic with technology
Analog IC: ADC, Switcher, ... node > 10nm

RAM Memory
Value
Add
290B
Design Software & IP Cores Machine and Tools Material
4% Value Added 11% Value Added 5% Value Added

EDA 23 types Photoresist, Mask

CAP
EX 12 types Wafers, Packaging Material
IP Cores (ARM)
108B
3 types (EUV) Gases

4
9
 Semiconductor

Design Fabrication Packaging & Testing Application

Processors: CPU, GPU, FPGA,

DSP Software, Tools: Board
Baseband, RFIC Analog, Mixed- Support Package
Signal, Power, Wafer Fabrication OSAT (Toolchain, Development
Switch, Kit, Turn-key Solutions)
Memory: DRAM, SRAM

4
Việt Nam – Semiconductor Industry

5
1
 Human Resources
Company Revenue Employee Women Avg. Entry Electrical Computer Computer
(B) s Ratio Salary Level Engineering Business Science
($)/Year Salary Engineering EE Technology
Intel 54.2 121100 2 94208 67000 29% 13.40% 12% 7.50% 6.00%
7
%
TSMC 45.5 75000 37.10% 87646 57000 NA NA NA NA NA
Qualcomm 35.82 41000 2 111934 81000 34.90% 10.10% 13% 9.80% 4.80%
8
%
Nvidia 27 18100 1 138575 101000 NA NA NA NA NA
9
%
AMD 23.6 15500 3 109546 79000 32.60% 14.90% 9.20% 7.70% 5.30%
0
%
Texas 20 29888 2 100326 67000 36.50% 11.90% 8.80% 3.70% 6.00%
Instruments 8
%
MediaTek 11 17554 2 113963 78000 48% 6.30% 11.60% 9.80% 0.90%
9
%
STMICROELECTR
5
ONICS 11 4600023% 110014 76000 42.20% 10.60% 2
6.70% 5.60% 5.60%
Microchip 8.5 19500 3 74596 49000 38.10% 16.80% 5.90% 3.10%
0
%
Broadcom 8.4 15000 2 121218 85000 40.70% 9.80% 11.10% 10.90% 4.70%
 IC Designers (TOP Companies)
• United State of America:
• 94 000
• 60% in US, 40% Outside US
• 90% Bachelors, Masters; 10% Doctors
• Increasing Rate: 1%
• WW:
• Europe: 8000
• Korean: 7000
• Japan: 7000
• India: 35000
• China: 2000
• Taiwan: 10000
• RoW: 11000

5
3
Việt Nam
• 5500 Engineers (mainly physical designer, verifier, logic, anaalog designer)
• Increase: 10-15% per year

5
4
 Job Positions

Packaging &
Design & RnD Fabrication Application
Testing

Design, Simulation, Verification

Development Operations Chip test, ATE Packaging
Manufacturing Process Tool chain, Firmware,
Research & Developments: Material Quality
Management Development Kits
Material, Process, Tools

Bachelor: Electrical,
Electronic Engineers Master: Bachelor/Master: Bachelor and College
Bachelor: Electrical,
VLSI, IC Design, Material Electrical, Electronic, Degree: Electrical,
Electronic, Computer
Doctor: Semicoductor, Material, Physic Electronics, Material,
Engineering
Material, Physics, Chemical Engineers Physics, Chemical

5
5
System on a Chip
Source: ARM
What does it take to design VLSI systems?
What does it take to design VLSI systems?
1. Applications / Ideas
2. Specifications
• Instruction set
• Interface (I/O pins)
• Organization of the system
• Functionality of each unit in
the and how it to
communicate to other unit
3/4/5. Design, Code, Compile
VHDL / Verilog / SystemC

compilation/
synthesis

design

• Design development is
facilitated using design schematics
Computer-Aided Design
(CAD) tools
6. Layout

mask layout patterns find wire routes device layout

• Design development is facilitated using Computer-Aided Design

(CAD) tools
6. Fabrication

tapeout

mask layout patterns mask writer masks

printing
test and
packaging
dice

chip die
wafer
7. Evaluate design and compare to model.

• Check signal integrity

• Power consumption
• Input/output behavior

• Does the chip function as it is

supposed to be?
• Does it work at desired clock
frequency? (can we overclock?)

board
What are we going to cover in this class?

• Overview of VLSI CMOS fabrication

• MOS transistor theory
• VLSI Layout design
• Circuit analysis and performance estimation
• Computer-aided design and analysis tools
• Design project
Textbooks

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