Interview: Harry Luan, Kilopass' CTO and VP of R&D, Addresses SoC Design Challenges

Harry Luan, Kilopass’ chief technology officer and vice president of R&D, has been a key member of the Kilopass team since its inception in 2002. He is an expert in CMOS/non-volatile memory (NVM) device physics, modeling, optimization and characterization for technology development, yield enhancement and failure analysis.

Writing in the Journal of VLSI Signal Processing Systems, authors Yen-Kuang Chen and S. Y. Kung, in their article, “Trend and Challenge on System-on-a-Chip Designs,” made the following observation. “By using existing and high-performance IP, SoC designers not only can save time and resources, but also can create a mind-blowing solution that users want… Furthermore, to sell silicon in today’s business environment, semiconductor companies must minimize risk and shorten time-to-market for their customers.” 

According to Harry, as process geometries continue to shrink to 28-nm now and 20-nm and below coming soon, system-on-chip (SoC) designs are increasing in size. This is creating increased demand for intellectual property (IP), especially since memory can comprise more than 50 percent of anSoC’s silicon area. Harry’s looked closely at the challenges facing SoC designers and how IP vendors are helping to overcome some of them.

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