300 MHz design methodology of VU for emotion synthesis

With advance in silicon technology and system integrating technology, utmost care for RC-delay must be taken in high performance LSI design. This paper describes the new design method applied to the Vector Unit (VU) implemented in the recently announced high-performance 3D-graphics engine, ´Emotion Engine´. The key features of the design method are the following: careful functional design of the VU architecture; design hierarchy consistency between RTL descriptions and floor plan; accurate estimation of wire load in pre-layout static timing analysis. With these design features, the VU is has achieved the operating frequency of 300 MHz.