Computer Aided Design for Large-Scale Integrated Circuits

The complexity of integrated circuits has increased steadily over the past several years from circuits consisting of simple gates through Medium Scale Integration (MSI) and Large Scale Integration (LSI). Fabrication techniques for LSI have evolved from well-established integrated circuit technology. Because of the large physical size and the large number of components on the individual silicon die, production techniques have been substantially improved in order to maintain reasonable yields. However, the most significant effects of LSI on the semiconductor manufacturer are in the areas of design and testing; techniques used in the past for simpler integrated circuits are inadequate for LSI.