System On Chip (SOC)
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System on Chip (SoC) integrates processor, memory and other components onto a single chip. Advances in VLSI technology allow millions of transistors to be placed on a single die, enabling entire systems to be implemented as SoCs. This provides benefits like lower cost, power consumption and size compared to discrete components. However, designing highly complex SoCs presents challenges related to design time, verification and complexity. Reusing pre-designed and verified intellectual property (IP) cores is a solution that helps manage this complexity.
System On Chip (SOC)
- 1. System On Chip - SoC
- 2. Agenda • Introduction . • What is SoC/PSOC ? • SoC characteristics . • PSOC characteristics . • Benefits and drawbacks . • Solution . • Major SoC Applications . • Summary .
- 3. Introduction • Technological Advances – today’s chip can contains 100M transistors . – transistor gate lengths are now in term of nano meters . – approximately every 18 months the number of transistors on a chip doubles – Moore’s law . • The Consequences – components connected on a Printed Circuit Board can now be integrated onto single chip . – hence the development of System-On-Chip design .
- 4. What is SoC ? People A: The VLSI manufacturing technology advances has made possible to put millions of transistors on a single die. It enables designers to put systems-on-a-chip that move everything from the board onto the chip eventually. People B: SoC is a high performance microprocessor, since we can program and give instruction to the uP to do whatever you want to do. People C: SoC is the efforts to integrate heterogeneous or different types of silicon IPs on to the same chip, like memory, uP, random logics, and analog circuitry. All of the above are partially right, but not very accurate!!!
- 5. What is SoC ? SoC not only chip, but more on “system”. SoC = Chip + Software + Integration The SoC chip includes: Embedded processor ASIC Logics and analog circuitry Embedded memory The SoC Software includes: OS, compiler, simulator, firmware, driver, protocol stackIntegrated development environment (debugger, linker, ICE)Application interface (C/C++, assembly) The SoC Integration includes : The whole system solution Manufacture consultant Technical Supporting
- 6. What is PSoC? PSoC Devices Features: • Configurable Analog Blocks • Implement ADCs, DACs, filters, amplifiers, comparators, etc. • Configurable Digital Blocks • Implement timers, counters, PWMs, UART, SPI, etc. • 4KB to 32KB of Flash memory for program storage • 256B to 2KB of SRAM for data storage • M8C Microcontroller: 4 Million Instructions Per Sec
- 7. 16kFlash POR SROM M8 CPU BandGap RAM PUMP MAC PLL/Osc32K Osc Dec. GPIO CY8C27XXX – PSoC 1208 PSoC Die
- 8. System on Chip architecture Top Level Design Unit Block Design Integration and Synthesis Trial Netlists System Level Verification Timing Convergence & Verification Fabrication DVT DVT Prep 6 12 12 4 14 ?? 5 8 Time in Weeks Time to Mask order48 61 Unit Block Verification ASIC Typical Design Steps • Typical ASIC design can take up to two years to complete
- 9. System on Chip architecture Top Level Design Unit Block Design Integration and Synthesis Trial Netlists System Level Verification Timing Convergence & Verification Fabrication DVT DVT Prep 4 14 5 4 Time in Weeks Time to Mask order24 33 Unit Block Verification 4 2 • With increasing Complexity of IC’s and decreasing Geometry, IC Vendor steps of Placement, Layout and Fabrication are unlikely to be greatly reduced • In fact there is a greater risk that Timing Convergence steps will involve more iteration. • Need to reduce time before Vendor Steps. • Need to consider Layout issues up- front. SoC Typical Design Steps
- 10. How is a SoC implemented? ASIC – Application Specific IC, very integrated, yet very expensive FPGA – Cheaper to implement, field reprogrammable Programmable Devices – Off the shelf devices, quick to program, cheap.
- 11. Different IC’s
- 13. System on Chip cores • One solution to the design productivity gap is to make ASIC designs more standardized by reusing segments of previously manufactured chips. • These segments are known as “blocks”, “macros”, “cores” or “cells”. • The blocks can either be developed in-house or licensed from an IP company. • Cores are the basic building blocks .
- 14. The Benefits • There are several benefits in integrating a large digital system into a single integrated circuit . • These include – Lower cost per gate . – Lower power consumption . – Faster circuit operation . – More reliable implementation . – Smaller physical size . – Greater design security .
- 15. The Drawbacks • The principle drawbacks of SoC design are associated with the design pressures imposed on today’s engineers , such as : – Time-to-market demands . – Exponential fabrication cost . – Increased system complexity . – Increased verification requirements .
- 16. Design gap
- 17. Solution is Design Re-use • Overcome complexity and verification issues by designing Intellectual Property (IP) to be re-usable . • Done on such a scale that a new industry has been developed. • Design activity is split into two groups: – IP Authors – producers . – IP Integrators – consumers . • IP Authors produce fully verified IP libraries – Thus making overall verification task more manageable • IP Integrators select, evaluate, integrate IP from multiple vendors – IP integrated onto Integration Platform designed with specific application in mind
- 18. SoC Advantages Decreased power consumption Increased reliability Smaller board space Can be cheaper when using ready to go components
- 19. Major SoC Applications • Speech Signal Processing . • Image and Video Signal Processing . • Information Technologies – PC interface (USB, PCI,PCI-Express, IDE,..etc) Computer peripheries (printer control, LCD monitor controller, DVD controller,.etc) . • Data Communication – Wireline Communication: 10/100 Based-T, xDSL, Gigabit Ethernet,.. Etc – Wireless communication: BlueTooth, WLAN, 2G/3G/4G, WiMax, UWB, …,etc
- 20. Summary • Technological advances mean that complete systems can now be implemented on a single chip . • The benefits that this brings are significant in terms of speed , area and power . • The drawbacks are that these systems are extremely complex requiring amounts of verification . • The solution is to design and verify re-useable IP .
Editor's Notes
- #8: Here is photo of a PSoC die. Note that most of the die is taken up by the analog array, digital rows and memory. The micro controller is just a very small part of the PSoC die. This is because PSoC is much more then a micro controller. PSoC is a true mixed signal system-on-chip dynamically re-programmable solution.