Page 64 - System on Package_ Miniaturization of the Entire System

Intr oduction to System-on-Chip (SOC) 41

capabilities as well, and that is driving the next level of SOC integration. Moving
forward, the system will evolve into a “triple-play (data, voice, and video) residential
gateway” and that will drive SOCs that will integrate wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11)
components along with the DSL modem and voice and video processing engines.
Among the important targets for SOCs are the applications fueled by and fueling
the Internet era. These applications can be characterized as a convergence of
communication (both wireless and broadband wire-line) and consumer (digital
multimedia content). These applications also include domains such as telematics that
are driving the convergence in automotive space. Figure 2.2 shows a spectrum of these
applications.
Across these applications, signal processing is a key common function, and DSP
and analog form the key building blocks of these SOCs. In this chapter we will focus on
such SOCs, which are built using CMOS technology.
The rest of the chapter is organized as follows. We will start by discussing customer
requirements (cost, low power, performance, form factor, etc.) and highlight how SOCs
address them by integrating application-specific intellectual properties (IPs) and
embedded processor cores. We will present examples of such SOCs to illustrate this. We
will then present SOC design as a multidimensional optimization problem and discuss
how it can be addressed using concurrent engineering (hardware-software codesign,
chip-package codesign, etc.). While CMOS technology scaling enables higher levels of
integration, it poses unique challenges for SOC implementation. We will highlight these
implications and conclude by discussing trends that will look at optimal system
partitioning and hence link to SIPs and SOPs.

Digital audio
Smartphones
Wireless
infrastructure
Digital
still cameras
Bluetooth
PDAs
Broadband
Digital
camcorders
Signal Processing Wireless LANs
DSP and Analog
Digital TV

IP
phones 3G wireless
VoIP gateway

Converged Digital motor control Digital radio Digital video Disk drives
devices
recorder/server
FIGURE 2.2 SOC applications of the Internet era.