High performance SOC for mobile applications

The area of mobile applications is observing a big shift in its foundation. Traditionally, mobile applications emphasized low power consumption at the cost of low performance. However, the recent spread of “smart” mobile devices (e.g., smartphone) asks for very high computing performance of underlying chips. This paper describes key technical factors - including silicon processing technology, architecture design, packaging and software - in developing high-performance, low-power computing SOCs. We will introduce a new challenge of finding an optimal solution over the wide spectrum of technical issues. In addition, we will present an example of successful development of high-performance mobile SOC via a close collaboration of people with diverse engineering expertise.