The design of a competitive ASIC for the consumer market using the PIRAMID design system

Architecture synthesis tools have been used to design a commercial ASIC for the consumer market. The IC was subject to stringent time-to-market and efficiency constraints. The PIRAMID design system was used to meet both constraints. The integration of state-of-the-art architecture synthesis, test pattern generation, layout generation, and design verification techniques is shown to be of crucial importance to increase design speed. The design of a top-of-the-line multifunctional bit-stream stereo digital audio filter using the PIRAMID silicon compiler is described