Using IC prototyping to optimize design implementation

摘要

As IC'design size continues to escalate, time-to-market windows tighten, design requirements become more stringent, and device geometries shrink to nanometer proportions. Because of these constraints, employing prototyping early in the design cycle is gaining in significance. Problems lurk within these increasingly complex ICs. These problems can kill a project if you find them too late in the design cycle. Although IC prototyping solves these problems, there are as many definitions of this approach as there are techniques for its execution. This article focuses on defining prototyping for modern designs, including key requirements and useful techniques for putting prototyping into practice.