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27th Sept 2008
ST Engineer's book on
Domino Logic
ST Microelectronics' engineers have revealed how to use
domino logic; a very fast logic circuit design style used
in the high performance custom designs, in an automated
framework. The book "High Performance ASIC Design:
Using Synthesizable Domino Logic in An ASIC Flow" written
by Razak Hossain, a Senior Principal Engineer working at
ST Microelectronics describes in detail the methodology
for using domino logic in a standard automated design flow.
Domino Logic techniques allow digital designs to be completed
in less time and with fewer designers than custom design
techniques.
Domino logics speed up circuits, take less physical space,
and reduce parasitic capacitance. If a legacy design needs
to be made to run faster, it can be done with domino logic
without incurring the cost of re-designing the micro-architecture
and porting the software. Another application of high-speed
digital logic is in scaled CMOS mixed signal applications
where it can be used to control analog and radio frequency
(RF) circuitry. The judicious use of domino logic in critical
blocks minimizes the power overhead in its use, while maximizing
the performance of any process technology.
"High speed digital logic is critically important
for radio frequency (RF) application designed in advanced
CMOS processes as this part of the wireless modem is increasingly
relying on digital signal processing," said Thierry
Arnaud, Director of RF Design at ST-NXP Wireless. "Automated
design techniques provides for improved productivity, time
to market, and overall design quality."
The book titled "High Performance ASIC Design: Using
Synthesizable Domino Logic in An ASIC Flow, published by
Cambridge University Press, starts with an overview of design
techniques to achieve high speed in ASIC designs.
The design and characterization of domino logic standard
cell libraries and an advanced domino logic synthesis flow
are described in detail.
Actual results achieved by using automated domino logic
design techniques, including silicon measurements, are presented
to validate the methodology, whilst real-world design examples,
such as the implementation of the execution unit of a microprocessor
and Viterbi decoder, show how the techniques are applied
in practice.
This book is ideal for graduate students and researchers
in electrical and computer engineering, and also for circuit
designers and EDA engineers in industry.
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