MicroN ews MicroNews features information of interest to professionals in the microcomputer/microprocessor industry. Send information for inclusion in MicroNews one month before cover date to Managing Editor, IEEE Micro, 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, Los Alamitos, CA 90720-25 78. LSSCC 86: "We must simplify design."~ "By 1990 we expect to see 10 million transistors on one chip," reported James E. Solomon in his keynote address at the 1986 IEEE International Solid-State Cir- cuits Conference this February in Ana- heim, California. "But, of even more sig- nificance," Solomon went on to say, "is that by the year 2000 we can expect 250 million on a chip. Calling for improved CAD tools, Solo- mon continued, "But, with this explosion in IC complexity comes a problem: IC design methods that have served us well for 20 years are becoming seriously inade- quate. We need r-!& design styles and tools and more automatic methods. We must simplify design. "Complicating this situation is anlother issue: At the million-transistor level, chips will become very specialized. ASICs will become a major force in the industry, and fabrication uniqueness will have less ap- peal." Drawing a standing-room-only crowd for his address, IEEE Fellow Solomon set the tone for the 33rd meeting of ISSCC: concentration on future technological progress. The move toward ever-increas- ing complexity in VLSI systems and the global nature of the progress were readily apparent in the 114 technical papers, one half of which were from Japan and Europe. T echnical sessions The conference presented 19 technical sessions and 10 of its traditionally well- received evening panels devoted to discus- sions of controversies and trends. One technical session-on microprocessors/ coprocessors-provided descriptions of several new products. Sperry Micro Products Development designers presented details of a 36/72-bit CMOS micro-mainframe chip set. Six VLSI chips with 786,000 transistor sites were fabricated with a 1 .2-,um N-well, double-layer-metal CMOS process. The design process employed a combination of structured semicustom (macrocell library), structured custom, and true custom techniques. A multidisciplined team started the project in January 1983 and grew to a peak of 22 engineers, pro- grammers, and technicians before com- pletion in June 1985. An IBM presentation described a 32-bit single-chip microprocessor in a 2-JLm, single-poly, double-level metal, silicon gate NMOS process. The chip was imple- mented by a top-down macro design and has been tested for functional operations up to 16 MHz. IBM authors also discussed a bipolar 32-bit processor chip for compiled code execution. The chip itself provides the ap- propriate instruction set and parallel data paths for improved performance. The ex- perimental bipolar process optimized for large-cost-performance RAM was used for maximum yield. The 64-bit floating-point chip set de- tailed by Hewlett-Packard is a high-speed implementation of the IEEE 754 Binary Floating Point Arithmetic standard. The three-chip set was built in a l.5-ytm NMOS process and can deliver from one to 12 MFLOPS of performance in a variety of systems. Two sessions were needed to present all the papers in the rapidly growing area of digital signal processing. Philips in The Netherlands and West Germany reported on its 2-,uim CMOS digital signal pro- cessor. The processor contains 230,000 transistors and is capable of 8 MIPS and up to six concurrent operations in each in- struction. The results were obtained by using a highly parallel architecture with high-speed data handling capability. Another account from the NEC Cor- poration in Japan described a CMOS dig- ital signal processor featuring a 32-bit floating-point parallel multiplier and a 55-bit floating-point ALU, implemented in a 1.5-am rule double-metal-layer CMOS technology. The 370,000-transistor device is suggested for applications in high-speed data modems, low-bit-rate speech coding, and audio signal processing. Further information on the technical sessions can be obtained from the 1986 ISSCC Digest of Technical Papers avail- able from the IEEE Publication Sales De- partment at (212) 705-7900. Awards ISSCC 86 was also the scene for the presentations of three special awards. The Cledo Brunetti Award was presented to Richard M. White for outstanding contri- butions in the field of miniaturization in the electronics arts. William Hittinger ac- cepted The Frederick Philips Award for leadership in electronics research and de- velopment. Barrie Gilbert received The Solid-State Circuits Council 1986 Out- standing Development Award in recogni- tion of his contributions to the design of analog integrated circuits. Korea challenges Japan's share of US memory market The Korean Semiconductor Industry discusses that country's foray into world semiconductor markets, a campaign ex- pected to result in a one-year, fourfold increase in Korean overseas sales-from US$47 million to US$203 million. Korea's primary target is the memory market. Korea, the report predicts, could cap- ture up to 7 percent of the US MOS memory business by the end of the year, largely at the expense of Japanese ven- dors. The country ranks third behind the US and Japan in terms of value added by country, after overtaking West Ger- many at the end of 1985. The 200-page report was researched in South Korea through a series of factory visits and interviews with senior man- agers in six indigenous manufacturing concerns. lt analyzes Korea's semi- conductor manufacturing capabilities, its future prospects, and the threats and op- portunities presented to the established world industry. Those wishing to obtain copies of the $1250 report can contact Benn Elec- tronics Publications Limited, P0 Box 28, Luton, LU2 OED, Beds, UK. 74 IE IR IEEE MICRO
Transcript
MicroNewsMicroNews features information of interest to professionals in the microcomputer/microprocessor industry. Send information forinclusion in MicroNews one month before cover date to Managing Editor, IEEE Micro, 10662 Los Vaqueros Circle, LosAlamitos, CA 90720-2578.
LSSCC 86: "We must simplify design."~"By 1990 we expect to see 10 million
transistors on one chip," reported JamesE. Solomon in his keynote address at the1986 IEEE International Solid-State Cir-cuits Conference this February in Ana-heim, California. "But, of even more sig-nificance," Solomon went on to say, "isthat by the year 2000 we can expect 250million on a chip.
Calling for improved CAD tools, Solo-mon continued, "But, with this explosionin IC complexity comes a problem: ICdesign methods that have served us wellfor 20 years are becoming seriously inade-quate. We need r-!& design styles andtools and more automatic methods. Wemust simplify design.
"Complicating this situation is anlotherissue: At the million-transistor level, chipswill become very specialized. ASICs willbecome a major force in the industry, andfabrication uniqueness will have less ap-peal."
Drawing a standing-room-only crowdfor his address, IEEE Fellow Solomon setthe tone for the 33rd meeting of ISSCC:concentration on future technologicalprogress. The move toward ever-increas-ing complexity in VLSI systems and theglobal nature of the progress were readilyapparent in the 114 technical papers, onehalf of which were from Japan andEurope.
sessions and 10 of its traditionally well-received evening panels devoted to discus-sions of controversies and trends. Onetechnical session-on microprocessors/coprocessors-provided descriptions ofseveral new products.
Sperry Micro Products Developmentdesigners presented details of a 36/72-bitCMOS micro-mainframe chip set. SixVLSI chips with 786,000 transistor siteswere fabricated with a 1 .2-,um N-well,double-layer-metal CMOS process. Thedesign process employed a combinationof structured semicustom (macrocelllibrary), structured custom, and truecustom techniques. A multidisciplined
team started the project in January 1983and grew to a peak of 22 engineers, pro-grammers, and technicians before com-pletion in June 1985.An IBM presentation described a 32-bit
single-chip microprocessor in a 2-JLm,single-poly, double-level metal, silicongate NMOS process. The chip was imple-mented by a top-down macro design andhas been tested for functional operationsup to 16 MHz.IBM authors also discussed a bipolar
32-bit processor chip for compiled codeexecution. The chip itself provides the ap-propriate instruction set and parallel datapaths for improved performance. The ex-perimental bipolar process optimized forlarge-cost-performance RAM was usedfor maximum yield.The 64-bit floating-point chip set de-
tailed by Hewlett-Packard is a high-speedimplementation of the IEEE 754 BinaryFloating Point Arithmetic standard. Thethree-chip set was built in a l.5-ytm NMOSprocess and can deliver from one to 12MFLOPS of performance in a variety ofsystems.Two sessions were needed to present all
the papers in the rapidly growing area ofdigital signal processing. Philips in TheNetherlands and West Germany reportedon its 2-,uim CMOS digital signal pro-cessor. The processor contains 230,000transistors and is capable of 8 MIPS andup to six concurrent operations in each in-struction. The results were obtained byusing a highly parallel architecture withhigh-speed data handling capability.
Another account from the NEC Cor-poration in Japan described a CMOS dig-ital signal processor featuring a 32-bitfloating-point parallel multiplier and a55-bit floating-point ALU, implementedin a 1.5-am rule double-metal-layer CMOStechnology. The 370,000-transistor deviceis suggested for applications in high-speeddata modems, low-bit-rate speech coding,and audio signal processing.
Further information on the technicalsessions can be obtained from the 1986ISSCC Digest of Technical Papers avail-able from the IEEE Publication Sales De-partment at (212) 705-7900.
AwardsISSCC 86 was also the scene for the
presentations of three special awards. TheCledo Brunetti Award was presented toRichard M. White for outstanding contri-butions in the field of miniaturization inthe electronics arts. William Hittinger ac-cepted The Frederick Philips Award forleadership in electronics research and de-velopment. Barrie Gilbert received TheSolid-State Circuits Council 1986 Out-standing Development Award in recogni-tion of his contributions to the design ofanalog integrated circuits.
Korea challengesJapan's share ofUS memory market
The Korean Semiconductor Industrydiscusses that country's foray into worldsemiconductor markets, a campaign ex-pected to result in a one-year, fourfoldincrease in Korean overseas sales-fromUS$47 million to US$203 million.Korea's primary target is the memorymarket.
Korea, the report predicts, could cap-ture up to 7 percent of the US MOSmemory business by the end of the year,largely at the expense of Japanese ven-dors. The country ranks third behind theUS and Japan in terms of value addedby country, after overtaking West Ger-many at the end of 1985.The 200-page report was researched in
South Korea through a series of factoryvisits and interviews with senior man-agers in six indigenous manufacturingconcerns. lt analyzes Korea's semi-conductor manufacturing capabilities, itsfuture prospects, and the threats and op-portunities presented to the establishedworld industry.Those wishing to obtain copies of the
Magazine extends international content of Editorial Board
Continuing his efforts to ensure diver-sified participation in IEEE Micromagazine, Editor-in-Chief James J. Far-rell III recently welcomed five newmembers from Israel, Italy, West Ger-many, the US, and Japan to the Editor-ial Board. Shmuel Ben-Yaakov, DanteDel Corso, Karl E. Grosspietsch, VarishPanigrahi, and Ken Sakamura will begintheir new duties immediately.
Shmuel Ben-Yaakov is a professor inthe Department of Electrical and Com-
puter Engineering at: _ ~~the Ben-Gurion
1 0 0 ~University of theW85^> > Negev, Beer Sheva,iT^ Israel, and serves as a
w l! ^ chairman of that1 l11 r department. His
- s l l r Bresearch interests in-.-'.ll'-,x- clude signal process-i-)S 9>;$ ing and application of
microprocessors inadvanced instrumentation, control, andon-line optimization. He has publishedapproximately 65 papers and chapters inbooks.Ben-Yaakov received his BSc in elec-
trical engineering from the Technion inHaifa, Israel, in 1961 and his MS andPhD in engineering from the Universityof California, Los Angeles, in 1967 and1970. He currently serves as a director ofEuromicro.
Dante Del Corso is a professor in theDepartment of Electronics at the Politec-
design techniques. Heis the author or coauthor of about 70publications, including books on micro-processors, bus design, and electronics.
Del Corso received the DrEng degreein electronic engineering from thePolitecnico di Torino in 1970. He is amember of IEEE, IEEE Computer So-ciety, and Euromicro.
Karl E. Grosspietsch is a scientist atthe German national research institute
for mathematics and
L_^L ~data processing, the,_( ~~Gesellschaft fuertDt A ~Mathematik und Da-; _ ~~~tenverarbeitung, in
St. Augustin, West~~~~Germany. He is in-- ~~~~terested in computer[ 5 _ ~~~architecture, fault-fl̂ _ ~~tolerant computing,
VLSI architecture anddesign, and system modeling.
Grosspietsch received his diploma incomputer science in 1974 from theUniversity of Hamburg and his PhD in1979 from the University of Bonn. He isa member of the German computing so-ciety, Gesellschaft fuer Informatik,where he currently serves as the vicespeaker of the Fault-Tolerant Com-puting interest group.
Varish Panigrahi is a senior engi-neering manager at Digital Equipment
Corporation in Marl-boro, Massachusetts.He is responsible forCAD/CAT/CAM
a applications and de-velopment in the Low
E End Systems and[ ~~~Technology Division._ ~~~~His interests include_ _ ~~~the architecture and
applications of micro-processors, peripherals, and memory andapplications of value-added and localarea networks, IC device modeling andsimulation, and expert systems.
Panfigrahi received a BS in electronicsand communications engineering fromthe Indian Institute of Technology,Kharagpur. He holds MS and PhD de-grees in electrical engineering from theUniversity of Illinois, Urbana.
Ken Sakamura is an assistant pro-fessor in the Department of Information
Science at the Univer-~~~~sity of Tokyo. He_ ~~~started and continues
_t w ~~~todirect Tron, a joint_ F q ~~~project of university
_ F\'t ~and computer manu-_ i
facturers for the_ design of future of-fice workstations and_ w ~~VLSI 32-bit CPUchips for such work-
stations. He has published numeroustechnical papers and books on com-puters.Sakamura received the BS, ME, and
PhD degrees in electrical engineeringfrom Keio University at Yokohama in1974, 1976, and 1979. He chairs severalcommittees of the Japan Electronics In-dustry Development Association and theInformation Processing Society ofJapan.
Motorola drops8-bit chips
Motorola Microprocessor ProductsGroup is discontinuing the manufactureof all packaged versions of a dozen8-bit chips. According to a companyrepresentative, closeout prices anddelivery schedules will be announcedsoon.
Destined for phase out are theMC6803E microprocessor, theMC6805P4 microcomputer, and theXC68120 and XC68121 intelligentperipheral controllers. Also to bediscontinued are the MC6822 industrialinterface adapter, the XC6829 MMU,the MC6835 CRT controller, theMC6839 floating-point ROM, theMC6846 ROM-I/O timer, theMC6847YP and MC6847TI videodisplay generator parts, the MC6808MPU, and the MC6845RI CRTcontroller.
Legal text aidscomputer pros,lawyers
The Law of Computer Technology byRaymond T. Nimmer is a basic referencefor lawyers specializing in computer legalissues and for MIS directors, data pro-cessing specialists, and other computerprofessionals wishing information aboutpotential legal problems.The 688-page book incorporates and
explains the laws enacted at the end ofthe 1984 congressional session in theareas of joint research, semiconductorprotection, cable privacy, and criminalmatters.
Persons interested in purchasing the$79.50 text can contact the publishers,Warren, Gorham & Lamiont, Inc., 1633Broadway, New York, NY 10019; (212)977-7400.
April 1986 775
MiCRoNEWS
Open systemspromoted bymulticompany teamTo integrate data processing and
telecommunications resources into acohesive, enterprise-wide network is thegoal of a new team of vendors and users.The Corporation for Open Systems is
a nonprofit organization founded in1985 to speed up the introduction of in-teroperable, multivendor products andservices. Operation is encouraged underOSI, Integrated Services Digital Net-work, and related international stan-dards to assure widespread customeracceptance of an open network architec-ture in world markets.COS plans to support established stan-
dards organizations, expedite the adop-tion of those international interconnectstandards throughout the industry, andprovide a single, consistent set of testmethods and certification procedures.
Jack St. Clair Kilby, a pioneer in thedevelopment of the monolithic inte-grated circuit, received the 1986 Medalof Honor from The Institute of Elec-trical and Electronics Engineers at itsAnnual Awards Program held this Feb-ruary in San Jose, California.An independent consultant and inven-
tor based in Dallas, Kilby holds more
The 17 cofounders of COS includeAmdahl, AT&T, Bell CommunicationsResearch, Burroughs, Control Data,Digital Equipment, Harris, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, NCR, NationalSemiconductor, Northern Telecom,Sperry, Tandem Computers, Telex Com-puter, Wang Laboratories, and Xerox.Together, these companies represent an-
than 50 US patents and the rank ofdistinguished professor of electricalengineering at Texas A&M University.His early working career was spent in thedesign and development of semiconduc-tor devices with ceramic-based, silk-screened circuits. In 1982 Kilby was in-ducted into the National Inventor's Hallof Fame.
nual computer and communicationsequipment and service revenues of morethan $80 billion.
Membership in COS is open to ven-dors and users of computer and telecom-munications products and services. Anyinterested party should contact one ofthe cofounders for further information.
Micro sales tied to after-sale support
Microcomputer vendors should payparticular attention to user service re-quirements, states INPUT, a computerand communications market researchfirm. Customer satisfaction (or dissatis-faction) with after-sales service and sup-port has a direct effect on the user's nextmicrocomputer purchase decision.
User Service Requirements: OfficeProducts describes INPUT's analysis ofthe current microcomputer service mar-ket as defined by service requirements
and projects how increased use of moresophisticated applications, such as LANsand other micro-host links, will affectuser satisfaction with present levels ofservice. The report also provides detailedinformation about microcomputer-man-ufacturers AT&T, Apple, Compaq,DEC, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, andTandy.The $995, 146-page report is available
from INPUT, 1943 Landings Drive,Mountain View, CA 94043.
ANSI revises Cobol standard
The American National Standards In-stitute has revised the X3.23 Cobol pro-gramming language standard that hasbeen in use since 1974. Subsequently, theInternational Organization for Standar-dization adopted the 1985 revision,renaming it ISO 1989-1985.ANSI X3.23-1985 incorporates fea-
tures designed to make application pro-grams more portable and easier to devel-op and maintain. The 832-page standard
includes added facilities for structuredprogramming, data manipulation, andinput-output processing; additionalverbs; new ways of delimiting state-ments; and language modificationsaimed at clarifying ambiguities.
Copies of American National Stan-dardfor Programming Language Cobol,X3.23-1985, are available for $40 eachfrom the Institute's Sales Department,1430 Broadway, New York, NY 10018.
Newsletteradvocatesnonwesternlanguages
The Newsletterfor Asian and MiddleEastern Languages on Computer is aquarterly publication offering practicaland theoretical articles and informationabout the nonwestern languages. It wasstarted to help businessmen and academ-ics learn how to use these languages oncomputer and to provide a forum forsoftware and hardware developers tomarket their products.
Newsletter topics have included howto use the languages on the Apple Mac-intosh and the IBM PC, how existingword processing programs can work withthe languages, and how to print in thenormal scripts for these languages usingthe latest output devices.
For additional information about the$12 quarterly ($18 for institutions), writeto Bear River Systems, PO Box 1021,Berkeley, CA 94701; (415) 644-1738.
IEEE MICRO
IEEE honors pioneer indevelopment of IC
76
VLSI design centers thriveFYI
By 1990 regional VLSI IC designcenters will help over 60 percent of allsystem designers in developing applica-tion-specific integrated circuits, repre-senting 75 percent of the $7.2 billion inASIC sales, predicts an Electronic TrendPublications report.
Electronic system designers are beingdriven by several factors into VLSIdesign centers. Some of these factors in-clude R&D efforts to reduce productcosts, increase performance, and createmarket niches by tailoring systems tospecific user needs; an insufficient poolof IC design talent; and an unprece-dented structural shift in the worldwideelectronic industry toward emphasis onservice, design assistance, and regionalsupport.
Customizing VLSI Integrated CircuitsUpdate-A User's Guide to the IC De-
sign Center and ASICs examines themarket and technology trends influenc-ing the electronic systems OEM. Thereport attempts to help OEMs use the ICdesign expertise available at more than150 North American design centers byexploring the various types of centersand their roles within the OEM com-munity. The report compares andanalyzes gate arrays, standard cells, elec-trically programmable logic, and full-custom ICs. It also describes custom andsemicustom options available to theASIC user and ways these chips can betailored to meet specific price and per-formance criteria.
Interested system OEMs and siliconservices suppliers can purchase the275-page report for $985 from ElectronicTrend Publications, 10080 North WolfeRoad, Suite 372, Cupertino, CA 95014.
The June issue of IEEE Micro featurestelecommunications and networking.
Attract readers...Your ad in IEEE Micro will draw theattention of people directly involved inthe microcomputer/microprocessorindustry.
US, European computer lawscompared for vendors
Protecting computer products frompiracy, patent infringement, and imita-tion entails complex legal issues of in-creasing concern to hardware and soft-ware vendors. This is especially true inthe European market where legal ap-proaches to product protection differsignificantly from those in the UnitedStates and elsewhere.A recently published report provides
information about ways European lawmay be used to protect proprietary rightsto computer products and comparescomputer law in the United States to thatin Europe. The basis for legal protectionin the United Kingdom, Scandinavia,The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany,
and France is covered in terms of soft-ware, contract law and liability, com-puter data and privacy protection, andcomputer crime.
The 220-page report points out thatprotection should be a factor in the plan-ning of a product, in its production andpromotion, and even in its naming andpricing.
Legal Protection of Computer Hard-ware and Software Marketed in Europe:Patents, Copyrights, Contracts, TradeSecrets is available from Technology &Business Communications, Inc., PO Box915, Sudbury, MA 01776; (617)443-4671.
IEEEM a
Contact IEEE Computer Society,PO Box 80452, Worldway PostalCenter, Los Angeles, CA 90080
for 1984 and 1985 issues ofIEEE Micro.
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