3 Challenges Of Delivering Configurable Semiconductor IP
Commercially useful IP is orders of magnitude more difficult to create than fixed-configuration IP.
Over time, commercial IP products have morphed from single function blocks to 100% configurable IPs where no two instances are the same. In this article I point out the challenges of creating configurable IP, and the best-known practices to address them.
IP Configurability Spectrum
Throughout the history of chip design, there has been a spectrum of configurability that has been built into internally developed and commercial semiconductor design IP. In the early days of chip design, sections of chip designs (i.e. IP blocks) were mostly fixed-function and therefore were not configurable. We still see this today, with standards-based IP, where there is a very limited set of functionality that is configurable, or even no configurability at all.
Related Semiconductor IP
- Mesochronous Bridge for PCIe/CXL
- AI-native GPU
- OpenGMSL Verification IP
- OpenGMSL Leaf IP
- FlexGen Multi-Die Smart Network-on-Chip (NoC) IP
Related Blogs
- The Blind Spot of Semiconductor IP Sales
- AI Semiconductor Design at 3nm and 2nm: Silicon-Proven IP
- MIPI CSI3 Verification - Top 3 Challenges
- JEDEC UFS Verification - Top 3 Challenges
Latest Blogs
- Automated, Faster Specification to Sign-Off with IDS-AI
- NovaTech Automation Crius PIU: Bringing Conventional Instrument Transformers onto the IEC 61850 Process Bus
- Single Pair Ethernet and TSN: The In-Robot Network Behind the Next Humanoid Robots
- A design path to success exists for ultra-low-voltage SoCs
- Where Routine Flow Ends Veriest Formal Expertise Begins