Reconfigurable SoC - What Will it Look Like?

The argument against ASIC SoCs is that they have always taken too long and cost too much to design. As new process technologies come on line, the issue of inflexible, unyielding designs fixed in silicon becomes a serious concern. Without the flexibility of reconfigurable logic, will standard cell ASICs disappear and go the way of gate arrays? Will ASIC manufacturers lose their edge in providing intellectual value and become mere purveyors of square die area? The argument in favor of FPGAs is that they have always provided great design flexibility because they were configurable. The argument against FPGAs is that compared to ASICs they have always been larger, slower and more expensive. Will FPGAs ever become efficient enough to replace ASICs in volume production applications? ASSPs can be designed with partial reconfigurability. Will they become the norm? Or, will new reconfigurable logic cores change the SoC game completely? The answers to these questions will clearly impact system d...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2002
• Where: DATE
• Authors: J. Bryan Lewis, Ivo Bolsens, Rudy Lauwereins, Chris Wheddon, Bhusan Gupta, Yankin Tanurhan
• Keywords: Asics, DATE 2002, FPGAs, Hardware, Reconfigurable Logic