VLSI ASIC design for MAC video processing integration in SGS-Thomson microelectronics chip set

The paper shows how the methodology of design and the CAD solution are important in the development of VLSI circuits. The system maker know-how also appears very important and must be associated with a full custom approach. The authors describe the different development steps mainly from the design methodology point of view. As HDMAC is chosen to be the future European HDTV standard, this chip-set must follow the compatibility between the MAC standard and the HDMAC. SGS-Thomson has developed advanced technologies in CMOS and BICMOS which can easily migrate towards denser ones without any significant changes of the ICs. For these reasons, SGS-Thomson has undertaken the development of a chip-set composed of three dedicated ICs for MAC decoders: acquisition circuit TV3810, video processing circuit TV3820, and data processing circuit TV3830.<>