DESIGN OF A CUSTOM ASIC INCORPORATING CAN™ AND 1 ...

CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
An ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) is a collection of memory and logic
circuits on an individual silicon die. ASICs are custom designed by end-customers to perform a
specific function and thereby meet the specific needs of their application. The use of ASICs
improves performance over general-purpose CPUs, because ASICs are “hardwired” to do a
specific job and do not incur the overhead of fetching and interpreting stored instructions.
Customers implement their designs in a single silicon die by mapping their functions to a set of
predesigned, preverified logic circuits typically provided by the ASIC vendor. ASICs are used in
an assortment of products ranging from everyday consumer products such as personal
computers, automobiles, digital cameras and video games, to high-end technology products such
as workstations and supercomputers [1].
ASICs are usually classified into one of three categories: full custom, semi-custom, and
structured or platform ASICs. Full-custom ASICs are those that are entirely tailor-fitted to a
particular application from the very start and are the most costly. This means that a full custom
ASIC cannot be modified to suit different applications, and is generally produced as a single,
specific product for a particular application only. Semi-custom ASICs can be partly customized
to serve different functions within its general area of application. Unlike full-custom ASICs,
semi-custom ASICs are designed to allow a certain degree of modification during the
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