Assignment

Subject:
Digital Signal Processing

Submitted by:

Junaid Alvi 2012-EE-38

Submitted to:
Mam Sumayya

Department of Electrical Engineering UCE&T Bahauddin Zakariya

University Multan
The beginning:
Microprocessors are essential to many of the products we use every day such as TVs, cars, radios, home
appliances and of course, computers. Transistors are the main components of microprocessors.

At their most basic level, transistors may seem simple. But their development actually required many
years of painstaking research. Before transistors, computers relied on slow, inefficient vacuum tubes
and mechanical switches to process information. In 1958, engineers managed to put two transistors
onto a Silicon crystal and create the first integrated circuit, which subsequently led to the first
microprocessor.

History and evolution:

In 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built the Apple II, the first personal computer in a garage in
California.

Then, in 1981, IBM introduced its first personal computer. The personal computer was such a
revolutionary concept and was expected to have such an impact on society that in 1982, "Time"
magazine dedicated its annual "Man of the Year Issue" to the computer. The other feature of the
microprocessor is its versatility. Whereas previously the integrated circuit had had to be manufactured
to fit a special purpose, now one microprocessor could be manufactured and then programmed to meet
any number of demands. Soon everyday household items such as microwave ovens, television sets and
automobiles with electronic fuel injection incorporated microprocessors.

The 1980's saw an expansion in computer use in all three arenas as clones of the IBM PC made the
personal computer even more affordable. The number of personal computers in use more than doubled
from 2 million in 1981 to 5.5 million in 1982. Ten years later, 65 million PCs were being used. Computers
continued their trend toward a smaller size, working their way down from desktop to laptop computers
(which could fit inside a briefcase) to palmtop (able to fit inside a breast pocket).

Why VLSI?
 Integration improves the design
o Lower parasitic = higher speed
o Lower power consumption
o Physically smaller
 Integration reduces manufacturing cost - (almost) no manual assembly
 Introduction

Very-large-scale integration:
(VLSI) is the process of creating an IC by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip.
VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were
being developed. The microprocessor is a VLSI device. Before the introduction of VLSI
technology most ICs had a limited set of functions they could perform. An electronic circuit
might consist of a CPU, ROM, RAM and other glue logic. VLSI lets IC makers add all of these into
one chip.
By the 1980's, very large scale integration (VLSI) squeezed hundreds of thousands of
components onto a chip. The ability to fit so much onto an area about half the size of a U.S.
dime helped diminish the size and price of computers. It also increased their power, efficiency
and reliability. Marcian. Hoff invented a device which could replace several of the components
of earlier computers, the microprocessor. The microprocessor is the characteristic of fourth
generation computers, capable of performing all of the functions of a computer's central
processing unit. The reduced size, reduced cost, and increased speed of the microprocessor led
to the creation of the first personal computers. Until now computers had been the almost
exclusively the domain of universities, business and government.

IC:
Integrated Circuits, many transistors on one chip
VLSI:
Very Large Scale Integration, a modern technology of IC design flow
MOS:
Metal-Oxide-Silicon transistor (also called device)
CMOS:
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor
 Moore’s Law
Gordon Moore: co-founder of Intel Predicted that the number of transistors per chip would
grow exponentially (double every 18 months) Exponential improvement in technology is a
natural trend:
E.g. Steam Engines - Dynamo – Automobile

Technology Background
What is a Silicon Chip?
A pattern of interconnected switches and gates on the surface of a crystal of semiconductor
(typically Si) these switches and gates are made of
Areas of n-type silicon
Areas of p-type silicon
Areas of insulator
Lines of conductor (interconnects) joining areas together
Aluminum, Copper, Titanium, Molybdenum, polysilicon, tungsten
The geometry of these areas is known as the layout of the chip Connections from the chip to the
outside world are made around the edge of the chip to facilitate connections to other devices
Semiconductors and Doping:
•Adding trace amounts of certain materials to semiconductors alters the crystal structure and
can change their electrical properties.
In particular it can change the number of free electrons or holes
•N-Type
semiconductor has free electrons
dopant is (typically) phosphorus, arsenic, antimony
•P-Type
semiconductor has free holes
dopant is (typically) boron, indium, gallium
Dopants are usually implanted into the semiconductor using Implant Technology, followed by
thermal process to diffuse the dopants .
 Silicon Lattice
 Transistors are built on a silicon substrate
 Silicon is a Group IV material
 Forms crystal lattice with bonds to four neighbors

Dopants
 Silicon is a semiconductor
 Pure silicon has no free carriers and conducts poorly
 Adding dopants increases the conductivity
 Group V: extra electron (n-type)
 Group III: missing electron, called hole (p-type)

Complexity and Design

 Creating a design team provides a realistic approach to approaching a VLSI project, as it allows
each person to study small sections of the system
o Needing hundreds of engineers, scientists, and technicians
o Needing hierarchy design and many different “Level Views”
o Everyone of each level depends upon the Computer- Aided Design (CAD) tools
 Design Hierarchy (1/2)
 System specifications: is defined in both general and specific terms, such as functions, speed,
size, etc.
 Abstract high-level model: contains information on the behavior of each block and the
interaction among the blocks in the system
 Logic synthesis: To provide the logic design of the network by specifying the primitive gates and
units needed to build each unit
 Circuit design: where transistors are used as switches and Boolean variables are treated as vary
voltage signals
 Physical design: the network is built on a tiny area on a slice of silicon
 Manufacturing: a completed design process is moved on to the manufacturing line
 Design Hierarchy (2/2)
 Hierarchical design
o Top-down design
the initial work is quite abstract and theoretical and there is no direct connection to
silicon until many steps have been completed
Acceptable in modern digital system design
Co-design with combining HW/SW is critical
Similar to Cell-based Design Flow
o Bottom-up design
starts at the silicon or circuit level and builds primitive units such as logic gates, adders,
and registers as the first steps
Acceptable for small projects
Similar to Full-custom Design Flow
 An example of a design hierarchy in Figure 1.3
o An instruction design of a microprocessor Figure 1.3 A simple design flow for a
microprocessor
Register _X← A+B
 VLSI Chip Types
 At the engineering level, digital VLSI chips are classified by the approach used to implement and
build the circuit
o Full-custom Design:
Where every circuit is custom designed for the project
Extremely tedious
Time-consuming process
o Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs):
Using an extensive suite of CAD tools that portray the system design in terms of
standard digital logic constructs
Including state diagrams, functions tables, and logic diagram
Designer does not need any knowledge of the underlying electronics or the physic of
the silicon chip
Major drawback is that all characteristics are set by the architectural design
o Semi-custom Design:
Between that of a full-custom and ASICs
Using a group of primitive predefined cells as building blocks, called cell library.

Integrated Circuits
 SSI – Small-Scale Integration (0-10^2 )---1960
 MSI – Medium-Scale Integration (10^2 -10^3 )---1967
 LSI – Large-Scale Integration (10^3 -10^5 )---1972
 VLSI – Very Large-Scale Integration (10^5 -10^7 )---1978
 ULSI – Ultra Large-Scale Integration (>=10^7 )---1989
 GSI _ Giant Scale Integration (>=10^9 )---2000
 Why Make Ic s?

o Integration improves
size
speed
power
o Integration reduce manufacturing costs
(almost) no manual assembly

IC Evolution (1/3)
 SSI – Small Scale Integration (early 1970s)
o contained 1 – 10 logic gates
 MSI – Medium Scale Integration
o logic functions, counters
 LSI – Large Scale Integration
o first microprocessors on the chip
 VLSI – Very Large Scale Integration
o now offers 64-bit microprocessors, complete with cache memory (L1 and often L2),
floating-point arithmetic unit(s), etc.
 Bipolar technology
o TTL (transistor-transistor logic)
o ECL (emitter-coupled logic)

IC Evolution (2/3)

 MOS (Metal-oxide-silicon)
o although invented before bipolar transistor, was initially difficult to manufacture
 o nMOS (n-channel MOS) technology developed in 1970s required fewer masking steps,
was denser, and consumed less power than equivalent bipolar ICs => an MOS IC was
cheaper than a bipolar IC and led to investment and growth of the MOS IC MARKET.
o aluminum gates for replaced by polysilicon by early 1980
o CMOS (Complementary MOS): n-channel and p-channel MOS transistors => lower
power consumption, simplified fabrication process
 Bi-CMOS - hybrid Bipolar, CMOS (for high speed)
 GaAs - Gallium Arsenide (for high speed)
 Si-Ge - Silicon Germanium (for RF)

Chips
 Integrated circuits consist of:
o A small square or rectangular “die”, < 1mm thick
Small die: 1.5 mm x 1.5 mm => 2.25 mm2
Large die: 15 mm x 15 mm => 225 mm2
o Larger die sizes mean:
More logic, memory
Less volume
Less yield
o Dies are made from silicon (substrate)
Substrate provides mechanical support and electrical common point

Current Processors
 References:-
1. AUTHOR STREAM:
http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/aSGuest43958-383515-vlsi-
spdas1vlsibput-education-ppt-powerpoint/

2. SLIDE SHARE:
http://www.slideshare.net/illpa/introduction-to-vlsi

3. ENGINEERS GARAGE: -
http://www.engineersgarage.com/articles/vlsi-design-future
4. FORCEPERFECT:
http://www.forcedperfect.net/hardware/cards/applepowermacintoshupgradecar
d/images/applepowermacintoshupgradecard-vlsi.jpg
5. Uyemura, John P.
Introduction to VLSI Circuits and Systems
6. http://www.cs.sun.ac.za/museum/gen4.html
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hO455B9d7zY