Arranging 1/0 in a matrix array over the core circuitry of an IC generally provides 5-10 times more 1/0 than the traditional method of restricting pads to the periphery. This approach also minimizes overall die size. This method was pioneered by IBM over thirty years ago and has recently become attractive for new designs requiring several hundred I/O. I n this paper we describe the development of a new area-array pad router which differs from other approaches in that no additional metal layer is added (unless needed) and no redistribution is required. W e describe the design guideline definition, data preparation, pad placement, pad assignment, pad routing, and output padframe generation of this technique. The results of applying this router are shown for sample designs requiring 112, 298 and 485 I/Os.
Custom design of integrated circuits is required for the development of digital standard-cell and bit-slice libraries, analog circuits, and other specialized circuits that are not commercially available. Teaching students the design and verification flow at this physical level is valuable in that it provides the understanding and skills they will need to perform these functions in their subsequent employment. Moreover, experiencing custom design provides an appreciation of the tasks involved for those whose primary job functions will involve synthesis using vendor-supplied libraries. This paper describes the goals, content and experiences of a semester graduate course in which projects are verified not only with simulations but also with measurements on prototypes fabricated via MOSIS. A standard-cell library and test circuitry that are compatible with the Cadence toolset and AMIS-0.6 micron process are described. These are available at no charge to anyone via the world-wide web.
The Summer 2023 Issue. Ploughshares is an award-winning journal of new writing. Since 1971, Ploughshares has discovered and cultivated the freshest voices in contemporary American literature, and now provides readers with thoughtful and entertaining literature in a variety of formats. Find out why the New York Times named Ploughshares "the Triton among minnows." The Summer 2023 Issue, guest-edited by Tom Perrotta, features poetry and prose by Marianne Leone, Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, Andre Dubus III, Fabio Morabito, Jen Trynin, Olufunke Grace Bankole, and Jess Walter, among others.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.