Ok cpu designed now what ? ;)

Aug 02, 2005 1 Replies
S

Ok,



Suppose I, somebody else or a group of people have just designed a CPU and maybe all other necessary chips like memory chips, controllers, what else (?), etc...



All this stuff is designed/programmed in VHDL (or verilog).



So now we have all these seperate chips.



Though probably still have to be stuck onto a motherboard with extra stuff needed to be designed etc so this probably requires Cam/Cam for motherboards etc ?



The VHDL compiler generates some kind of output ? maybe Cad/Cam stuff ?



Does this output have to be further refined ?



Finally after all this designing is done then what ?



Who do I, you, we go to to finally produce it lol ?



Are there people willing to produce a prototype for a small fee... ;) ?



In short... what's the path from design stage to production... ?



And what people/companies can help with that... etc ?



What's the technology used to produce it etc ?



Many questions as you can see...



Maybe I can find a nice website which explains this path.



Me go see ;)



Bye, Skybuck =D


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M

OK

Yes. CAM is probably not the phrase (Computer aided manufacture) at this point. CAD (CA design) - yes. You buy a PCB layout tool, enter lots of schematics, route the ciritcal stuff by hand, then point the autorouter at it and by magic you have some PCB files. You send them off to a PCB manufacturer and they send you back some slabs of FR-4 with copper glued onto them in just the shapes you asked for.... If you entered your constraints right, it might even work :-)

The VHDL compiler can generate something to be simulated.

Usually the tool that produces the output to "make a chip" with is called a "synthesi[sz]er". The output of this is a netlist, which is then passed on to a place-and-route tool, which produces the files needed to make your chip - either by a chip-fab (if you want an ASIC), or a bitstream to be programmed into an FPGA.

PCBs, yes - PCB Pool

FPGAs, well, they're cheap uncomitted logic you configure yourself (as described), and the small ones are cheap from DigiKey and the like.

ASIC - sort of - Mosis will produce small volumes for lowish-costs.

I don't think you want an ASIC to start playing with - go with an FPGA!

Does that help?

Cheers, Martin

martin.j.thompson@trw.com TRW Conekt, Solihull, UK http://www.trw.com/conekt
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