Japanese ASIC Makers Prepare for System On Chip


JPN

For many years system-on-chip has been the dream of electronic engineers searching for ever more ways to miniaturize and integrate as many functions as possible onto one tiny sliver of silicon.

With the firm foundation of 0.35 micron CMOS technology this is now commercially possible with Fujitsu Ltd engaged in a major development program to put single chip systems in the hands of product designers.

The chip designed by Fujitsu in November 1995 is the CE61 series, which can be used to integrate different parts of a computer, such as a DSP, CPU cores, peripheral macros and memory, and integrate it all onto a single chip with up to 2 million gates. An example of a product which may one day use such a chip is the set-top-box with game machine and personal computer functionality built in. The chip for such a machine would be required to process image data such as decoding MPEG-2, peripheral controllers a microprocessor or microcontroller.

In addition, laptop computers loaded with functions are a promising area for these devices. "Mobile products need to be small and have low power consumption," said Yoshihisa Takayama, Manager of Fujitsu's ASIC Engineering Support Section, System LSI & ASIC Design Division.

Fujitsu is already being approached by a Japanese game machine maker for a system-on-chip that would incorporate Fujitsu's Sparc-lite 32-bit RISC microcomputer with various functions that might include the traditional computing functions, image processing such as MPEG-2 decoding, telephone and fax. Though Fujitsu didn't want to say which company it was in contact with on this matter, they already have developed a relationship with SEGA Enterprises, Ltd., currently in a very intense battle with Sony Corp., for the home game machine market. Making a set-top-box selling for less than US$500 could put them in the driver's seat again in that market.

Fujitsu isn't the only company putting their weight behind system-on-chip. NEC has begun production of 0.35 micron ASICs on its number 8 line at NEC Kyushu with a capacity of 30,000 8-inch wafers per month, of which about 18 to 20% will be for ASIC products. "This is nearly a $2 billion business for us," explained Mark Pearce, a spokesman for NEC.

He said that NEC was recently paid a high compliment when Sun Microsystems Inc asked NEC to produce their Ultra-Sparc microprocessor. "They're not even a partner [in NEC's microprocessor development program]," he said.

The path that will one day lead to development of supercomputers on a single chip, leads through set-top-box territory. However, challenges will remain in integrating everyday RAM onto the same chip and ensuring very high reliability so that a single malfunction in a minor area of chip does not render the entire thousand dollar chip worthless.

02/06/96



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