Lucent and Chip Express team up on ASICs
By Ron Wilson
BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. - Lucent Technologies and Chip Express Corp. (Santa Clara, Calif.) have announced a joint effort to slash design times for complex, system-level ASICs. The two companies will work together in a number of parallel paths, all of which should lead to expanded opportunities for both companies' customers.
Under the agreement, Lucent will exchange access to its 0.25-micron CMOS processes and standard-cell libraries for Chip Express' unique laser-programmed gate array technology. In addition, Lucent will take a minority position in privately held Chip Express.
As a result, Lucent will be able to offer standard-cell chips with areas of Chip Express laser-programmable or one-mask programmable logic on them. This would permit, for example, a LAN switch designer to create a chip with all the necessary complex cores - codecs, CPU and so forth - already on the die as standard cells and diffused cores. Then by programming an area of laser-programmed array, the designer could customize the part to a particular application with a turn-around time of a few days.
In addition, Lucent will use Chip Express technology for prototyping work in its own core development program.
Chip Express, for its part, will use Lucent as its provider for 0.25-micron laser-programmed arrays.
The two companies are already well along on initial feasibility studies, and have found no major compatibility problems between Lucent's process road map and Chip Express' unusual topology. The two are now beginning the process of unifying their design flows, so that the same tools can be used on both cell-based and laser-programmed portions of a design. Library compatibility will be undertaken as well, to make it easier for customers to move from partially laser-programmed to fully standard-cell designs and back again.
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