SoC in nanoera: challenges and endless possibility

Summary form only given. The growth of the semiconductor industry has been driven by a series of electronic system applications (such as personal computers, home entertainment and mobile handsets), and, most recently, by the revolution of the information technology (IT) industry. The key word of this next revolution is "ubiquitous". As semiconductor technology is scaled into the nanometer regime, where hundreds of millions of transistors can be placed on a chip, designers are now incorporating their advanced system concepts into silicon. These systems include digital, analogue, and RF components. System-on-a-chip (SoC) enables the IT industry to realise various products that can comply with rapidly changing market requirements and with the unprecedented ubiquitous life style. However, SoC products in the ubiquitous era face challenges such as high performance, low-power, small-size and low-cost. These factors may jeopardise the success of SoC unless there is a breakthrough from system-level design to manufacturing technologies. Advanced EDA technology is indispensable to cope with the ever-increasing design complexity of gigascale integration and complicated physical effects inherent from the nanoscale technology. The author provides an overview of the key challenges with SoC developments, namely: issues in system-level design, low power, high performance, verification, and relevant nanometer technology. Solutions, including some of Samsung\´s recent R&D activities in those areas, are discussed. All of these issues challenge the endless possibilities of SoC.