IDE system seeks cut in ASIC development time

Electronic News, August 12, 1996

Mountain View, Calif.--NEC Electronics and Microsystem Synthesis Inc. today will introduce a development tool that integrates user-defined logic, standard macros and microcontroller cores into a single application specific integrated circuit (ASIC).

The jointly-developed tool, dubbed the K0-Integrated Development Environment system (K0-IDE system), is said to enable system integration/emulation capabilities that can reduce system development time up to three or four months, NEC said.

"Basically what we have found is that our customers wanted ASICs with their microcontrollers," said James Goodhart, NEC product marketing manager for 4- and 8-bit microcontrollers. "However, as we started to dig into creating the device we found a huge wall between the ASIC world and the microcontroller world."

Mr Goodhart explained the basis for creating the K0-IDE system was that this "wall" prevented the integration of the two technologies--ASICs are software driven, while microprocessors have given cores and are easy to emulate. The K0-IDE tool ostensibly allows a designer to now integrate both technologies together.

According to Hotaek Rhim, principal (equivalent to president) of Microsystem Synthesis, the IDE system combines rapid-turn system prototype capability and real-time hardware emulation with in-circuit emulator (ICE) functions. Configuration and reconfiguration are done through programmable logic devices (PLDs), said Mr. Rhim, enabling 30,000-gates of user logic--without jumpers and switches--to be utilized.

"We are using Lattice's 3256 in-system programmable (ISP) device," said Mr. Rhim. "The device can be erased over 1,000 times so you are allowed to make 1,000 mistakes before finding the right design."

Mr. Goodhart added this erasable function allows a designer to pick its own peripherals, emulate them, have them wired to the box, and work with the software engineers long before they submit a design for silicon.

"We were interested in emulating and verifying the K0 core along with peripherals and user cores into one unit," said Mr. Rhim. "We want to make sure the integration works the first time, instead of doing it multiple times."