Programmable Logic Cores Readied For Fabing

The design of these first-generation programmable logic cores (PLCs) has been completed for fabrication on TSMC’s 0.18-micron manufacturing process. The PLCs are embeddable programmable logic blocks that can be used to add flexibility to a design by providing reprogrammability to the chip for critical functions. The company’s software enables both the integration of programmable logic into the overall chip design and the mapping of synthesized RTL into the architecture; it also enables programming of the device. Last year, the company completed design of PLCs for manufacturing on LSI Logic’s 0.18-micron process. And it expects to release these devices for full production as embedded cores for system chips by the spring of 2001.