Keynote Speaker

Addressing the Challenges of System-On-A-Chip Design

Glenn House
Vice President and General Manager
Silicon Systems Division
Mentor Graphics Corporation
8005 SW Boeckman Road
Wilsonville, OR 97070-7777
(503) 685-7000
Abstract
While systems-on-silicon products can range from cellular phones to 200-pound avionics
communications and navigation systems, they present common problems to the EDA and
semiconductor industries. First, SOS applications demand very high levels of integration and
functionality, which can only be met through new sub-micron IC technologies. Second, they
embrace both the digital and analog domains with equal complexity, and demand tools that
integrate these domains into a single silicon chip. Third, to deliver the required bandwidths, SOS
applications must run at very high clock speeds and often operate in the RF realm, with all its
attendant design challenges.
House will show how current EDA methodologies and tool technologies will evolve to fit the
system on silicon paradigm. In the course of this evolution, the EDA resources used to
implement rapid time-to-market designs-top-down synthesis into FPGA or ASIC formats-will
migrate into the realm of more complex, full-custom designs that embrace entire electronic
systems. This migratory pattern will not be without its challenges. Top-down design flows for
FPGAs and ASICs have matured into highly integrated processes that reconcile the creation,
synthesis, and physical layout phases of the design cycle. As these same EDA tools migrate into
the custom IC arena of systems on silicon, they must retain the integrity of their processes and
flows-even though they are now dealing with unprecedented levels of complexity, and
integrating software development tools. Further, they must provide an effective means of
preserving and exploiting intellectual property for design re-use.
In addition, House will address such issues as the role of power management, integrated design
flow, and deep submicron physical effects that are associated with successfully overcoming the
challenges of system-on-silicon design.
Glenn House, Mentor Graphics Vice-president and General Manager of the Silicon Systems
Division, most recently led the development of the SOS InitiativeTM. SOS refers to the
companys long-term system-on-silicon strategy to address single-chip solution requirements.
With over 20 years of design and management experience in high-technology, House is one of
the industrys leading experts on SOS technology.
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