Efficient design methodology for Application Specific Integrated Algorithm Systems (ASIAS)

Abstract

There is a confluence of customer demand and technical semiconductor manufacturing capabilities that are speeding up the development and deployment of system solutions on chips. We refer to these `system solutions' as Application Specific Integrated Algorithm Systems (ASIAS). Quite often these systems need to use a mix of floating-point and fixed-point data, necessitating the need for quantization analysis that can often slow down the development cycle. This paper focuses on a design approach that aims to dramatically cut down the time spent on quantization analysis issues with tools that are readily available. By helping to simplify the overall design process we hope to move us closer to the day when producing working ASIAS silicon will be almost as simple as current manufacturing processes using 3D printing.