Asynchronous design using commercial HDL synthesis tools

Abstract

New design technologies rely on truly reusable IP blocks with simple means of assembly. Asynchronous methodologies could be a promising option to implement these requirements. Promotion of asynchronous design strongly depends upon the "level of service" delivered to the designer. Current asynchronous design tools require a significant re-education of designers and their capabilities are far behind synchronous commercial tools. One solution to these problems, which we advance in this paper, is to stick to a conventional design flow as closely as possible and to use commercial design tools as much as possible. The paper considers a particular subclass of asynchronous circuits (Null Convention Logic or NCL) and suggests a design flow which is completely based on commercial CAD tools. It argues about the trade-off between the simplicity of design flow and the quality of obtained implementations.