What is custom ASIC?

Key Takeaways

• Custom ASICs: Highly specialized and tailored integrated circuits designed for specific applications, addressing limitations of off-the-shelf solutions.

• Benefits: Enhanced performance, power efficiency, cost reduction, size optimization, and customization for unique requirements.

• Applications: Diverse industries, including automotive, aerospace, medical, and industrial automation, where standard chips don’t meet specific requirements.

• Design Process: Involves specification, RTL design, synthesis, simulation, layout, verification, and testing, often requiring collaboration between multiple teams.

• Cost-Effectiveness: While initial development costs may be higher, custom ASICs can offer long-term cost savings through reduced component count, power consumption, and improved performance.

• Complex but Rewarding: Custom ASIC design is a complex and challenging process, but the rewards can be significant in terms of innovation and competitive advantage.

What is a Custom ASIC?

A custom application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to meet the specific requirements of a particular application. Unlike general-purpose integrated circuits (ICs) that are mass-produced for a wide range of uses, custom ASICs are designed and fabricated specifically for a single customer or application.

ASICs are often used in situations where off-the-shelf ICs cannot meet the performance, cost, size, or power requirements of the target application. By eliminating unnecessary features and optimizing the design for the specific application, custom ASICs can provide significant advantages over standard chips.

Benefits of Custom ASICs

The primary benefits of using custom ASICs include:

• Enhanced Performance: Custom ASICs can be designed to deliver higher performance than off-the-shelf ICs by optimizing the circuit layout and reducing latency.

• Power Efficiency: By eliminating unnecessary features and reducing the number of transistors, custom ASICs can consume less power than standard chips, resulting in longer battery life and lower operating costs.

• Cost Reduction: Over the long term, custom ASICs can offer significant cost savings through reduced component count, lower power consumption, and improved performance, leading to a lower total cost of ownership (TCO).

• Size Optimization: Custom ASICs can be designed to be smaller than standard ICs, which is critical for applications where space is limited, such as in mobile devices and wearable electronics.

• Customization: Custom ASICs allow for the integration of unique features and functionalities that are not available in off-the-shelf ICs, enabling the creation of products that are tailored to specific customer needs.

• Improved Reliability: Custom ASICs can be designed to meet specific reliability requirements, such as high temperature operation or resistance to radiation, making them suitable for use in harsh environments.

Applications of Custom ASICs

Custom ASICs are used in a wide range of applications, including:

• Automotive: Custom ASICs are used in automotive applications such as engine control, transmission control, and infotainment systems, where they provide enhanced performance, power efficiency, and reliability.

• Aerospace: Custom ASICs are used in aerospace applications such as navigation systems, communication systems, and radar systems, where they provide high reliability and resistance to harsh environmental conditions.

• Medical: Custom ASICs are used in medical applications such as patient monitoring, diagnostic equipment, and implantable devices, where they provide high precision, low power consumption, and biocompatibility.

• Industrial Automation: Custom ASICs are used in industrial automation applications such as robotics, machine vision, and process control, where they provide high speed, precision, and reliability.

• Telecommunications: Custom ASICs are used in telecommunications applications such as base stations, routers, and switches, where they provide high bandwidth, low latency, and reliability.

• Consumer Electronics: Custom ASICs are used in consumer electronics applications such as smartphones, tablets, and gaming consoles, where they provide high performance, power efficiency, and small size.

Custom ASIC Design Process

The custom ASIC design process typically involves the following steps:

1. Specification: The first step is to define the requirements and specifications for the custom ASIC, including its functionality, performance, power, size, and cost constraints.

2. RTL Design: The next step is to create a register-transfer level (RTL) design of the ASIC using a hardware description language (HDL) such as Verilog or VHDL.

3. Synthesis: The RTL design is then synthesized into a gate-level netlist, which is a more detailed representation of the circuit.

4. Simulation: The gate-level netlist is then simulated to verify its functionality and performance.

5. Layout: The next step is to create a physical layout of the ASIC, which specifies the placement and routing of the transistors and other components on the chip.

6. Verification: The physical layout is then verified to ensure that it matches the original design and meets the performance requirements.

7. Testing: Once the ASIC is fabricated, it is tested to verify its functionality and performance.

Cost-Effectiveness of Custom ASICs

While the initial development cost of a custom ASIC can be higher than that of an off-the-shelf IC, the long-term cost savings can be significant.

By eliminating unnecessary features, reducing the component count, and optimizing the performance, custom ASICs can offer lower power consumption, reduced operating costs, and improved reliability.

In addition, the long-term cost savings of custom ASICs can be further increased through volume production, as the cost per unit decreases as the production volume increases.