CREATE-LIFE: a modular design approach for high performance ASICs

CREATE-LIFE (Compiler for REgular ArchiTEcture, Long Instruction Format Engine) is an architecture-specific design approach for CMOS VLSI based on block modularity and architecture regularity. It takes as input a description of the function to be performed by a VLSI circuit using general-purpose. Pascal-like programming language and a description of the particular LIFE architecture instance. The output is the CMOS layout of a very high-performance (micro) programmed architecture tailored for that specific function. The LIFE architectures generated in the design environment are the single-chip implementations of an improved form of a very long instruction work (VLIW) architecture that uses both parallelism and pipelining. With this approach, an experimental general-purpose processor which performs in the 50 to 100 VAX equivalent range has been designed.<>