DESIGN OF A VLSI CAD FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER TO LOW POWER CMOS TOOLS

ONLY A FRACTION OF UNIVERSITY RESEARCH IN VLSI CAD IS SUCCESSFULLY TRANSFERRED TO THE COMMERCIAL MARKET. WEAK USER INTERFACE OF THE UNIVERSITY RESEARCH IS ONE OF THE REASONS PREVENTING TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER. WE PROPOSE TO DEVELOP A FRAMEWORK TO BE DESIGNED AS A SHELL ON TOP OF EXISTING LOW POWER CMOS UNIVERSITY DESIGN TOOLS. THIS FRAMEWORK WILL BE A CONSISTENT, INTERACTIVE, GRAPHICAL USER INTERFACE FOR THE DESIGN TOOLS. THE TOOL WILL ALSO ADD SIGNIFICANT FUNCTIONALITY IN THREE AREAS: 1) THE USER WILL BE ABLE TO QUERY DESIGN DATA IN A "HYPERTEXT-LIKE" FASHION. THIS QUERY CAPABILITY WILL BE VALUABLE FOR THE PREPARATION OF DESIGN DOCUMENTATION. 2) THE USER WIIL HAVE A GRAPHICAL SHELL TO CONTROL THE EXECUTION OF DESIGN TOOLS. 3) THE SYSTEM WILL PERFORM DESIGN MANAGEMENT TO INSURE THAT DESIGNS ARE COMPLETE AND CONSISTENT. ANTICIPATED BENEFITS/POTENTIAL COMMERCIAL APPLICATIONS - PREPARE LOW POWER CMOS UNIVERSITY VLSI CAD TOOLS FOR THE COMMERCIAL MARKET BY BRINGING THEM UNDER A GRAPHICAL FRAMEWORK WHICH IMPROVES THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THE TOOLS. KEY WORDS - LOW POWER, CMOS, VLSI, CAD, TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER.