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System on Chip
Welcome back to our Clock Domain Crossing (CDC) series! In our first post, we introduced the critical challenges of CDC in digital designs. In this article, we focus on one of the most fundamental and effective techniques to tackle metastability, a core issue in CDC: the two-stage flip-flop synchronizer. Understanding metastability and how this simple synchronizer design…
In today’s complex digital systems, multiple clock domains are the norm rather than the exception. Whether you’re designing an FPGA, ASIC, or SoC, it’s almost guaranteed that different parts of your chip will operate on different clocks. This creates a critical design challenge known as Clock Domain Crossing (CDC). In this first post of our CDC…
Read More “Clock Domain Crossing (CDC) Fundamentals: What Every Digital Designer Should Know” »
Standard-Cell Libraries 101 taught you what they are; this 201 guide will teach you how to use them like a silicon pro. From achieving timing closure to shaving off nanowatts of leakage power, advanced knowledge of standard-cell libraries can make the difference between a passable design and a top-tier, power-optimized chip. In this article, we…
In VLSI design, power consumption is a critical concern, especially as chips become more complex and operate at higher frequencies. One of the biggest culprits behind dynamic power consumption is the Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS) process. But why does the clock tree consume so much power compared to other parts of the chip? In this post, we’ll…
Read More “Why Clock Tree Synthesis (CTS) Dominates Dynamic Power Consumption in VLSI Designs” »
Every modern chip—whether in your smartphone, laptop, or car—is built using one fundamental building block: the standard cell. While these cells operate in the background of every VLSI project, understanding them is essential to mastering digital design. In this article, we break down what standard-cell libraries are, how they impact power, performance, and area (PPA),…
Read More “Standard‑Cell Libraries 101: What They Are & How They Shape Your VLSI Design” »
More than 1000 cores on a commercial chip – seems unbelievable!!! However, the highly sophisticated manufacturing processes, unbelievably optimized design integration, and the RISC-V open-source hardware revolution have made this possible. Esperanto‘s ET-SoC-1 Chip is a Supercomputer-on-Chip that integrates more than 1000 RISC-V cores on a single die of 570 mm2 area. Dave Ditzel, Founder…
Integrated circuits (ICs) have revolutionized the world of electronics by enabling the creation of highly complex and compact devices. Two common types of ICs are system-on-chip (SoC) and test chip. While both types of ICs have a similar design, their purpose and applications are vastly different. System-on-Chip (SoC) A System-on-Chip (SoC) is a type of…
Read More “What are the Difference Between System-on-Chip (SoC) and Test Chip” »
In VLSI, an SoC is an integrated circuit that contains multiple functional blocks, such as processors, memory, interfaces, and peripherals, on a single chip. The main idea behind the SoC concept is to integrate as many components as possible into a single chip to reduce the size, power consumption, and cost of the final product….
A pilot project in VLSI refers to a small-scale, initial implementation of a large system with the aim of testing its feasibility, viability and to gather information on the system’s behavior. The objective of a pilot project is to minimize risk and ensure that the system will meet the needs of the end-users. This information…
A test chip is a small-scale integrated circuit that is specifically designed for testing purposes, feasibility checks and performance analysis. It serves as a platform for evaluating the functionality of individual circuit blocks, testing the reliability of manufacturing processes, and verifying the performance of the design before it is implemented in a larger chip. Test…