What is SOC (source derived from http://www.elenchina.com/bbs.do? Method = view & id = 1440 & code = plate02)

• SOC Technology Development
  

The development of integrated circuits is now 40
It has been following Moore's instructions and is now in the deep sub-micron stage. Due to the demand of the information market and the development of microelectronics, the feature size of the integrated circuit is constantly reduced.
Small) is the main feature of the development of a variety of process integration technologies and application-oriented system-level chips. As the semiconductor industry enters the era of ultra-deep sub-micron and even nano-processing, a complex
Miscellaneous electronic systems, such as cell phone chips, digital TV chips, and DVD chips. Over the next few years, hundreds of millions of transistors and tens of millions of logic gates are expected to be implemented on a single chip. SOC (
System-on-chip) Design Technology began in the middle of 1990s. With the development of semiconductor technology,
IC designers are able to integrate more and more complex functions into a single silicon wafer. SOC is produced in a broad and downward manner by the transformation from an integrated circuit (IC) to an integrated system (is. 1994
Flex released by Motorola
Core System (used to make custom microprocessor based on 68000 and PowerPC) and SOC designed by lsilogic for Sony in 1995, may be based on IP (
Intellectual
Property) Core completed the first report of SOC design. Because SOC can make full use of existing design accumulation and significantly improve the design capability of ASIC, the rapid development has caused the industry
And academic circles.

• 
  SOC Basic Concepts

SOC can be defined in a variety of ways. Due to its rich connotation and wide application scope, it is difficult to provide accurate definitions. Generally,
SOC is called a system-level chip or an on-chip system. It is a product and an integrated circuit with a specific purpose. It contains the complete system and all the content of embedded software. It is also a technology,
It is used to implement the entire design process from determining system functions to dividing software/hardware. In a narrow sense, it is the core chip integration of information systems. It is to integrate key components of the system into one chip.
Broadly speaking,
SOC is a tiny system. If the CPU is the brain, SOC is a system that includes the brain, heart, eyes, and hands. Domestic and foreign academic circles tend to define SOC
The processor, analog IP core, Digital IP core, and memory (or external storage control interface) are integrated into a single chip, which is generally customized by the customer or a standard product for specific purposes.

The basic content of SOC definition is mainly manifested in two aspects: one is its composition, and the other is its formation process. The system-level chip can be a system-level chip control logic module, microprocessor/Microcontroller
CPU kernel module, digital signal processor DSP module, embedded memory module, interface module for external communication, including ADC/DAC
Analog Front-end module, power supply and power management module. For a wireless SOC, there are RF front-end modules and user-defined logic (it can be composed of FPGA
Or ASIC implementation) and Microelectronics mechanical module, more importantly, a SoC
The chip is embedded with basic software (rdos, cos, and other application software) modules or user software that can be loaded. The system-level chip formation or generation process includes the following three aspects:

1) software/hardware collaborative design and Verification Based on a monolithic integrated system;
2) The use of logical area technology and the proportion of production capacity can effectively improve the development and research of IP Core generation and reuse technology, especially the repeated application of large-capacity storage module embedding;
3) Design Theory and Technology of udsm and nano-integrated circuits.

　　

• Key Technologies of SOC design
  

Specifically,
Key Technologies of SOC design include bus architecture technology, IP Core reusable technology, software and hardware collaborative design technology, SOC verification technology, testability design technology, low power design technology, ultra-deep sub-micron circuit implementation
In addition to embedded software transplantation and development research, it is a new interdisciplinary research field.

• 
  SOC development trends and problems

At present, the chip design industry is facing a series of challenges. The system chip SOC has become the focus of the IC design industry,
The SOC performance is getting stronger and larger. The scale of the SoC chip is generally much larger than that of ordinary ASIC. At the same time, the complexity of SOC design is greatly improved due to the difficulties in designing the deep sub-micron process.
High. In SOC design, simulation and verification are the most complex and time-consuming process in the SOC design process, accounting for about 50% of the entire chip development cycle ~ 80%
Using Advanced Design and Simulation Verification methods becomes the key to the success of SOC design. The Development Trend of SOC technology is based on the SoC Development Platform. The platform-based design can achieve maximum system reuse.
Integration-oriented design, sharing the results of IP core development and system integration, and continuously reorganizing the Value Chain. Based on the focus on area, latency, and power consumption, the product yield rate, reliability, and Emi
Noise, cost, ease of use, and so on, enable rapid development of system-level integration capabilities.

• 
  What is SOC?
  
  

With the development of design and manufacturing technology, IC design has evolved from transistor integration to logic gate integration. Now it has evolved to IP integration, that is, SOC (system on a chip)
Design technology. SOC can effectively reduce the development cost of electronic/Information System products, shorten the development cycle, and improve the competitiveness of products. It will be the most important product development method used by the industry in the future. Although SOC
The term has appeared many years ago, but there are different sayings about what SOC is. After years of debate, experts agreed on the definition of SOC. Although this definition is not very strict
Clearly demonstrates the characteristics of SOC:

Implement the complex system function of the very large scale;

Adopting ultra-deep sub-micron technology;

Use more than one embedded CPU/Digital Signal Processor (DSP );

The chip can be programmed externally.

How to understand

SOC contains the microprocessor/microcontroller, memory and other dedicated functional logic, but not the chip that contains the microprocessor, memory and other dedicated functional logic is SOC. SOC Technology
The root cause of widespread acceptance is not how many transistors can be integrated into the SOC, but that the SOC can be designed in a short time. This is the main value of SOC-Shortening the product listing cycle,
Therefore, SOCA more reasonable definition is that SOC is on a chip because of the widespread use of the IP (Intellectual
Property) to quickly develop integrated circuits

.
In terms of design, SOC is a process of collaborative design of hardware and software that achieves high productivity through design reuse. From the perspective of methodology
See, SOC is a design methodology for a very large-scale integrated circuit, includes IP Core reusable design/test methods and interface specifications, system chip Bus integrated design methodology, system chip verification and test methodology.
SOC
It is a design concept that integrates modules that can be integrated into one chip. He draws on the concept of software reuse and inherits the concept. It can also be said that it includes more technologies such as design and testing.
A new design technology.

General Structure of SOC

In general, SOC includes:

1. Logical cores include CPU, clock circuit, timer, interrupt controller, serial parallel interface, other peripheral devices, I/O ports, and bonding logic between various IP cores;

2. memory cores include various types of memory such as easy to lose, non-easy to lose, and cacha;

3. The analog core includes ADC, DAC, PLL, and Analog Circuits Used in some high-speed circuits.

Current challenges of SOC

Today's SoC Development has at least met the following four insurmountable challenges:

1. The increasing variety and complexity of IP addresses and the lack of common interfaces make IP integration increasingly difficult;

Second. today's high-integration SOC design requires a more advanced technology below 90nm, which will make the power convergence and timing convergence more prominent, which will inevitably lead to a longer
Design verification time;

Third, it is difficult to integrate analog, hybrid signals, and digital circuits on the SOC;

Fourth, the NRE of advanced SoC Development costs tens of millions of dollars at will, and the development cycle is very long.

One of the key advantages of SOC technology is that it can reduce the performance limitations caused by the delay of signal entry and exit between multiple chips on the system board, it also improves system reliability and reduces total system costs.
In addition, in applications with extremely tight PCB space and low power consumption as the first design goal, such as mobile phones, SOC is often the only cost-effective solution.

What is a mass spectrometry: it integrates electronic components such as transistors, resistors, capacitors, and diodes into a chip. Due to the positive and small size of the integrated circuit, the distance between the electronic motion is greatly reduced, so fast
Extremely fast and highly reliable. The types of integrated circuits are generally classified by the number of electronic components including Transistors:

MSI (medium Integrated Circuit) with 100 Transistors ~ 1,000

LSI (large-scale integrated circuit) with 1,000 Transistors ~ 10,0000

Large-scale integrated circuits, with 100,000 Transistors ~

What is an IP Core: an IP core is a large-scale block that can be sold independently with complex system functions.