To meet the challenges of faster time to market and growing design complexity, a methodology and supporting infrastructure for advanced System-on-Chip design have been developed and applied to 0.13 micron technology designs.
The Islands of Synchronicity methodology uses locally synchronous islands to produce a timing-closure friendly design style that is widely applicable across different architectures. This approach enables a modular, hierarchical physical design strategy which significantly eases top-level timing closure problems. The resultant design flow is supported by the Skeleton of Reuse, a collection of IP generators and tools that automate many of the steps in SoC implementation.