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Electronic design automation (EDA), also referred to as electronic computer-aided design (ECAD), [1] is a category of software tools for designing electronic systems such as integrated circuits and printed circuit boards. The tools work together in a design flow that chip designers use to design and analyze entire semiconductor chips.
In computer engineering, a hardware description language (HDL) is a specialized computer language used to describe the structure and behavior of electronic circuits, usually to design application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and to program field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
To design any electrical circuit, either analog or digital, electrical engineers need to be able to predict the voltages and currents at all places within the circuit. [1] Linear circuits, that is, circuits wherein the outputs are linearly dependent on the inputs, can be analyzed by hand using complex analysis. Simple nonlinear circuits can ...
When inexpensive computer processing became available in the 1970s, computer programs were written to simulate circuit designs with greater accuracy than practical by hand calculation. The first circuit simulator for analog ICs was called SPICE (Simulation Program with Integrated Circuits Emphasis).
In Electrical Engineering, the process of circuit design can cover systems ranging from complex electronic systems down to the individual transistors within an integrated circuit. One person can often do the design process without needing a planned or structured design process for simple circuits.
IC programming [1] is the process of transferring a software or firmware into an integrated circuit (IC), typically to enable the chip to perform specific tasks or functions. The process of IC programming usually requires an IC programmer, also known as a chip programmer, device programmer, or PROM writer, which is an electronic device used to ...
Technology files and design rules are essential building blocks of the integrated circuit design process. Their accuracy and robustness over process technology, its variability and the operating conditions of the IC—environmental, parasitic interactions and testing, including adverse conditions such as electro-static discharge—are critical in determining performance, yield and reliability.
The tool flow is usually controlled with the help of a scripting language, a simplified computer language that can invoke the software design tools in the right order. Tool flows for large logic systems such as microprocessors can be thousands of commands long, and combine the work of hundreds of engineers.