SOC Design Lecture 1 Overview of SOC

SOC Design is about Understanding SOC Concept. Learning SOC Design Methodology. Practicing Key Elements Design for SOC.

Terms for ICs IC (Integrated Circuit) LSI (Large Scale Integrated Circuit) VLSI (Very Large Scale Integrated Circuit) ULSI (Ultra Large Scale Integrated Circuit) ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) SOC (System On a single Chip)

What is SOC? SOC stands for System On a single Chip System means “A Mixture of Many Things to Do Something” Many things may include CPU, Memory, Video/Audio Processor, Peripheral Controllers such as USB, etc. Mixture of analog and digital hardware is a Hybrid (or Mixed-Mode) chip, not SOC.

Why SOC is Important? IC design, specially digital IC design, is a key technology in the past, present and future. Specially, the popularity and the challenge for SOC is ever increasing. That means, everybody needs SOC technology but not everybody has SOC technology.

How about ASIC and ASSP? ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) and ASSP (Application Specific Standard Product) are for specific applications. ASSPs are for multiple companies, so almost standard. ASICs are for a single company. About 20% of ICs are ASSP/ASICs and others are general-purpose. Trend is toward more application-specific products. So, ASIC/ASSP is about application and SOC is about structure of ICs. People call a chip without CPU an ASIC and we will do too. (but note that it is wrong).

SOC Pros. Cheaper (in total price for a system) Smaller Less Power Consuming (mostly) Robust (if well-made) Convenient to Use (if well-made)

SOC Cons. Design time is longer. Design complexity is higher. Design cost is higher. Design skill requirement is higher.

Key of SOC SOC design is like designing a city while ASIC design is like designing a building. SOC design is about “Integration” even including SW. Now we need the term “IP” which we have to integrate for an SOC.

IP IP stands for Intellectual Property so it is originally a legal term. In digital world, IP means a module in hardware or software form. IP examples are USB controller, PCI controller, SDRAM Controller, Audio Codec, Video Codec, AD/DA converter, etc.

Why IPs are important for SOC? There are so many functions for an SOC. In old days, one company does everything by themselves. But these days, no single company can design every IP because IP design needs much experience, time, effort and money Most IP verification requires more time, effort and money than design So, SOC company prefers to buy and integrate proven IPs.

IP Providers Popular and classical IPs such as AD/DA converters and peripheral controllers are provided by foundries. IPs with high value and performance like Video Codecs are provided by expert IP companies.

So SOC is a state-of-the art area with many cool stuff. We will start learning about SOC design using video codec as an example.