System on Chip Overview
As the microelectronic and VLSI technologies matured, the number of components on a single silicon chip also increased, reaching a point in which a complete electronic system fits in a single integrated circuit. At that moment, the System on Chip was born.
This trend in electronics (and computers) can be described in evolution periods. From 1960 to 1975, it was the mainframe computer age, where integrated circuits where designed looking only on performance. In the next 15 years, the network age occurred; in this time the VLSI technologies evolved considerably because the main design objective was cost/performance oriented. Finally, since 1995 we’ve been seeing the downsizing age, in which system-on-chip technology is applied for specific applications.
The industry seeks for SoC design not only because of the smaller form factor, but also lower overall cost and power, higher integration levels and faster development.
In the SoC engineer perception, it means the extensive use of reusable IP blocks and hardware and software like programmable processor, embedded memory, DSP, system bus and several interfaces plus analog components.
For example, in order to handle multiple inputs/outputs required by these new applications, SoC devices can be based on RISC processors (like the ARM7 family). Always looking to integrate predefined components to reduce the total development time of the system.
Figure 1: Block diagram of ARM7 architecture.
The extensive use of “plug & play” IP blocks is what really set SoC apart from IC design in general; moving away from a block based design to a platform based one. This allows reusability of the components and reduces the time necessary to develop a new product.
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Summarizing, SoC designs allows to create products in shorter time frames by reducing the amount of work by using preexisting modules, requiring less power consumption and smaller sizes.
Works Cited
[1] ARM. (2008). ARM7 Architecture. Available: http://www.arm.com/products/CPUs/ARM7TDMI.html. Last accessed 9 October 2009.
[2] Goh Ban Hok; Xu Bing Tao, “Low Cost Approach for System on Chip”. Integrated Circuits, 2007. ISIC '07. 2007.
[3] K. Mori; H. Yamada; S. Takizawa, “System on Chip Age”. VLSI Technology, Systems, and Applications. Proceedings of Technical Papers. 1993
[4] L. Benini and G. De Micheli, “Networks on Chip: A New SoC paradigm,” IEEE Computer, January 2002.
[5] Maurelli, A.; Belot, D.; Campardo, G., “SoC and SiP, the Yin and Yang of the Tao for the New Electronic Era”. Proceedings of the IEEE Volume 97, Issue 1, Jan. 2009
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