Computing Reviews
Today's Issue Hot Topics Search Browse Recommended My Account Log In
Review Help
Search
Gate arrays: design techniques and applications
Read J. (ed), McGraw-Hill, Inc., New York, NY, 1985. Type: Book (9789780070512863)
Date Reviewed: Apr 1 1986

This book is intended as a primer in the understanding and application of semicustom semiconductor circuit components known as logic arrays, or, in some contexts, gate arrays. Such semicustom integrated circuits are of considerable value in the replacement of Transistor-Transistor Logic (TTL) and/or Metal-Oxide Silicon (MOS)/complementary MOS (CMOS) circuit components, offering potential savings in weight, size, power, and costs. For example, a single gate array in one package may replace up to 20 through 50 Small-Scale Integrated (SSI) or Medium-Scale Integrated (MSI) circuit packages. Although logic arrays as such perform digital functions, similar arrays of analog only and combined analog and digital circuit components do exist. Despite its title, this book addresses both types of single-package array families of semicustom integrated circuit components.

Chapter 1 provides an introduction and background to the underlying integrated circuit technology; it attempts to summarize the various technological developments and trends that have made semicustom integrated circuit components both possible and desirable. Chapter 2 considers bipolar logic arrays. These are useful historically but limited in application owing to the increasing availability of MOS and CMOS gate arrays that are highly competitive in terms of (lower) cost, (lower) power consumption, and (improved) dissipation levels. Bipolar arrays do offer improved speed over MOS/CMOS arrays, but the emergence of gallium-arsenide (GaAs) gate array technology permits improvements in this aspect also. Chapter 3 addresses these MOS and CMOS logic arrays and provides an excellent presentation of relatively state-of-the-art MOS/CMOS cell-based design techniques. The level of detail provided is commenda- ble, even though one would expect that the typical high-level gate array applications user would not really require such an extensive insight.

Chapter 4 presents a discussion of analog/linear master-slice gate arrays. It is the only chapter in the text specifically devoted to analog functional arrays. The author gives an abbreviated treatment, and one would suspect that many analog integrated circuit designers would require more information. A reference list is provided, but the most recent entry is from early 1983.

Chapter 5 deals with computer-aided design techniques and tools for the fabrication of semicustom gate arrays. Chapter 6 provides an overview of the gate array manufacturing processes involved in both wafer (slice) processing and assembly of tested circuits into packages. A summary of a typical gate array prototype development cycle is given, along with a comparison to equivalent production cycle times. Chapter 7 discusses the testing of the finished gate array, and seems like an unusually brief overview of this critically important aspect involving provision of testability into gate array circuit design.

Chapter 8 is a three-part presentation (by three different authors) containing example applications and user experiences in actual implementation of gate array circuits. This presentation style is decidedly mixed; however, the several pitfalls and potholes encountered in these applications experiences as described should be of some benefit to the novice user of gate array technology.

The concluding chapter is a short discussion on future trends in gate array technology considering the rapidly evolving technologic/economic dynamics and tradeoffs. The issues are focused more on gate arrays as the leading edge of semicustom integrated circuit technology than on gate array applications in particular. Such a criticism could also be made in regard to much of the text material, which, as a whole, tends to come across as 11 relatively independent essays on various aspects of this technology by ten different authors. There are a number of references provided for each chapter that offer a further (albeit dated) introduction to the many issues discussed. All in all, this book is strongly recommended as a useful snapshot of gate array technology in the early 1980s. It deserves a place on both the student’s and the practitioner’s bookshelf.

Reviewer:  A. G. Larson Review #: CR110121
Bookmark and Share
 
Types And Design Styles (B.7.1 )
 
 
Design Aids (B.6.3 )
 
 
Reliability And Testing (B.7.3 )
 
Would you recommend this review?
yes
no
Other reviews under "Types And Design Styles": Date
Three-dimensional integrated circuit layout
Harter A., Cambridge University Press, New York, NY, 1992. Type: Book (9780521416306)
Jan 1 1993
Integrated circuits in digital electronics (2nd ed.)
Barna A., Porat D., Wiley-Interscience, New York, NY, 1987. Type: Book (9789780471011453)
Feb 1 1988
How circuits work
de Kleer J. (ed) Artificial Intelligence 24(1-3): 205-280, 1984. Type: Article
Sep 1 1985
more...

E-Mail This Printer-Friendly
Send Your Comments
Contact Us
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.   Copyright 1999-2024 ThinkLoud®
Terms of Use
| Privacy Policy