New Products: More Digital ICs/DSP - Cell Libraries

Feb. 2, 2004

Cell Library’s Power Islands Sandbag Chip Power Consumption
According to its manufacturer, the VIP PowerSaver standard cell library is the first commercially available library to support the creation of power islands. It can support customer production tape-outs on products targeted for the TSMC 130-nm process. By controlling the voltage and frequency of the power islands, designs can cut power consumption by up to 50%. This translates into longer operating battery life for portable systems. The company offers the VIP PowerSaver standard cells for the TSMC CL013G process technologies characterized for 0.8-, 1.0-, and 1.2-V operation. The VIP PowerSaver library comprises over 700 cells and incorporates many architectural features to improve design for manufacturability. Standard-cell design kits are available for immediate evaluation download on the company’s Web site.

Virtual Silicon Technology Inc. (408) 548-2700 www.virtual-silicon.com

Embedded-Memory Blocks Trim Leakage Currents By A Factor Of 2
A range of embedded-memory blocks to help system-on-a-chip designers reduce leakage in 130-nm designs complements the company’s existing high-density, low-leakage 1T-SRAM-M and 1T-SRAM-MQ memory technologies. Available as compilers, these blocks’ low-leakage 6T-SRAM-R memories offer lower leakage currents that are as much as twice as low as other six-transistor embedded memories. In addition to leakage suppression, the 6T-SRAM-R compiler eliminates memory soft errors and the need for laser repair. This is possible by the optional inclusion of the company’s Transparent Error Correction technology, which is already used in the 1T-SRAM-R and 1T-SRAM-Q memory technologies. Single- and dual-port compilers covering 1- to 512-kbit arrays are available.

Mosys Inc. (408) 731-1800 www.mosys.com

About the Author

Dave Bursky | Technologist

Dave Bursky, the founder of New Ideas in Communications, a publication website featuring the blog column Chipnastics – the Art and Science of Chip Design. He is also president of PRN Engineering, a technical writing and market consulting company. Prior to these organizations, he spent about a dozen years as a contributing editor to Chip Design magazine. Concurrent with Chip Design, he was also the technical editorial manager at Maxim Integrated Products, and prior to Maxim, Dave spent over 35 years working as an engineer for the U.S. Army Electronics Command and an editor with Electronic Design Magazine.