Development of architecture and software technologies in high-performance low-power SoC design

For the success of an SoC design, a design platform and some key design technologies are needed. For this purpose, a research project in "Technology Development Program for Academia" was granted recently in Taiwan to develop the following technologies toward a high-performance low-power SoC design platform. First, a soft intellectual property (soft IP) and related RTOS, compiler, and integrated design environment (IDE) software of an Advanced Taiwan VLTW DSP Processor Core, which can be used as the Star IP of an SoC design platform, will be developed. Second, low-power and low-voltage digital and mixed-signal circuit design technologies will be developed based on the advanced MTCMOS process. Third, some key multimedia and communication soft or hard IPs will be developed. The developed advanced key technologies can be used as the technology driver to facilitate the design of SoC-based products, and they will also help to enhance the design capability of the Taiwan SoC industry. In this paper, we introduce the research project and focus on architecture and software technologies developing in one of the subitems.