Page 17 - A Practical Guide from Design Planning to Manufacturing

Preface

Reading This Book
Microprocessor design isn’t hard, but sometimes it seems that way. As
processors have grown in complexity and processor design teams have
grown in size, individual design engineers have become more special-
ized, focusing on only one part of the design process. Each step in the
design flow has its own jargon; today it is not at all hard to be working
on a processor design team and still not have a clear understanding of
aspects of design that don’t involve you personally. Likewise, most text-
books focus on one particular aspect of processor design, often leaving
out information about what steps came before or what will happen after-
ward. The intent of this book is to provide an overall picture of the
microprocessor design flow, from the initial planning of a processor
through all the steps required to ship to customers.
Covering the entire design flow in a single book means that only the
most important aspects of each step are covered. This book provides the
key concepts of processor design and the vocabulary to enable the reader
to learn more about each step. Students may use this book to gain a broad
knowledge of design and to decide which area they are most interested
in pursuing further. Engineers already working in design will find out how
their specialty fits into the overall flow. Nonengineers who interact with
design teams, such as managers, marketers, or customers, will learn the
jargon and concepts being used by the engineers with whom they work.
The flow of the book follows the life of a microprocessor design. The
first two chapters cover the concepts required before a design really
begins. Chapter 1 discusses transistors and how their evolution drives
processor design. Chapter 2 describes some of the other components
with which the processor will communicate. Chapter 3 begins the proces-
sor design flow with planning, and the following chapters take the
design through each of the needed steps to go all the way from an idea
to shipping a finished product.

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