Open-Silicon, MIPS and Virage Logic achieves 65nm ASIC processor design

Open-Silicon, MIPS and Virage Logic have jointly announced the co-development of test chips for building high-performance processor-based systems, and achieved 65 nm silicon testing of a processor test chip at 1.1GHz. They claim, it is one of the fastest processors built in a 65nm ASIC.

This team is also working on a follow-on 40nm device targeting frequencies >2.5GHz and a performance >5000 DMIPS. Both efforts utilize Open-Silicon's CoreMAX technology and the superscalar MIPS32 74K processor core, a fully synthesizable processor core used in high-end digital consumer devices, set top boxes, and networking solutions.

The 65nm test chip includes the 74K processor core that is complemented with 32KB L1 instruction and data caches, a 512KB L2 cache, and system and memory controller blocks, and was implemented using TSMC's 65nm GP process with 10 track libraries and Virage Logic's SiWare Memory compilers.

The advanced SiWare Memory compilers and a triple Vt process option, allowed final design worst-case timing closure across all corners at 1.1GHz with standard ASIC margins.

The 40nm test chip in development is planned to reach silicon in the first quarter of 2010.

"Open-Silicon was proud to work with our partners MIPS Technologies and Virage Logic to demonstrate our performance optimization technology," stated Dr. Naveed Sherwani, CEO and president of Open-Silicon. "Open-Silicon's CoreMAX has been used across more than 50 customer designs to gain an extra 10% of performance, giving them a competitive edge in their markets. It is a testament to the Open-Silicon technology to take a blazingly fast MIPS processor, use mainstream TSMC standard cell libraries, and achieve a new level of performance."

"For more than a decade, Virage Logic's embedded memories have been the IP of choice for high performance processor implementations," said Dr. Alex Shubat, CEO and president of Virage Logic. "We are excited to serve as Open-Silicon's and MIPS Technologies' trusted IP partner and provide them with silicon-proven high speed memory technology that helps remove system bottlenecks and delivers the highest levels of performance possible."

"MIPS Technologies has long been a performance leader in the processor IP industry, and we are continuing that tradition with these latest achievements," said John Bourgoin, CEO and president of MIPS Technologies. "The 74K core is popular as the primary CPU in DTV, IPTV and cable set-top boxes, networking applications and other applications requiring high levels of performance. As we continue to push the performance bar with new technologies and through collaboration with industry leaders like Open-Silicon and Virage Logic, MIPS Technologies' customers will enjoy the necessary processor headroom to support continued feature enhancement for years to come."