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Full-chip integration at On Semi — Parallax Forums

Full-chip integration at On Semi

I've been at ON Semiconductor in Pocatello all week to help get Prop2 through some hoops.

This is actually the same plant that built the chips for the Atari video game consoles in the late 1970s. Of course, the fab has gone through many renovations and expansions since then.

I brought the layout here after making many edits to it after Treehouse quit working on it.

Nathan, the layout guy here, had our layout into his tool on Monday morning and had that thing whipped into shape in a few minutes. He's like a shark with layout, pushing it through design-rule checks and netlist comparisons, fixing things, iterating again, and getting it clean. He is extremely fast and can buffer a whole slew of edits in his head, getting them done maybe 50x faster than I could. He could have been a vicious lawyer:

20180228_182252.jpg

Bryan is the guy who is running the Innovus tool which places all the cell instances and routes them together, automatically moving them around, as needed. Nathan's work is done, so now Bryan is the critical path:

20180228_182508.jpg

Here is a closer pic of a preliminary place-and-route run:

20180228_143018.jpg

You can see the big hub RAMs laid against the interior of the cell area, while the cog register RAMs and lookup RAMs are nestled into the interior side of the hub RAMs. This process is iterative until the final metrics and scripts are established.
2048 x 1152 - 673K
2048 x 1152 - 692K
2048 x 1152 - 1M
«13456715

Comments

  • Peter JakackiPeter Jakacki Posts: 10,193
    edited 2018-03-01 07:06
    Great great news, and thanks for the insight into the design process too.
    Thanks to Nathan the shark, and place'n'route Bryan! (n Bryan Baker junior egging Dad on)
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,066
    Excellent news Chip. Shame you weren't using these guys before now. Probably would have saved lots of time/money and stress.
  • Cool! :cool:
    Thanks for the update Chip!
  • Nice! There's something aesthetically pleasing about the general symmetry of the design.
  • Thanks for the look at how things get made Chip.

    This design looks a lot less scary than that more organic looking one did.

  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    I notice 16 smaller equal sized RAM cells - I guess that means LUT RAM is the same number of ports as COG RAM ?

    With the trial P & R, do you get any MHz values reported yet ? How does OnSemi expect those MHz to converge on the target ?
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    Oh boy. Nathan looks like he could intimidate any chip design into working just by giving it the stare. I'm sure he's a nice guy really.

    Way to go Nathan and Bryan!

  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    jmg wrote: »
    I notice 16 smaller equal sized RAM cells - I guess that means LUT RAM is the same number of ports as COG RAM ?

    With the trial P & R, do you get any MHz values reported yet ? How does OnSemi expect those MHz to converge on the target ?

    Yes, cog RAM and LUT RAM instances are the same memory cell.

    No timing, yet. We have a problem, though. That P&R run that Bryan was doing had only 334k cells in it. Before, we had been dealing with 724k cells. The trouble was that the last set of files I had sent to Wendy (who does the synthesis at ON in Texas) had the #define not commented out which gets rid of the CORDIC. I don't think the CORDIC takes half the logic, by a long shot, though. Wendy is recompiling now and doing a new synthesis run which should be back up to 724k cells. It's looking like it will NOT fit, though we knew that it would be okay, earlier. Something's amiss that we will figure out shortly.
  • TonyB_TonyB_ Posts: 2,099
    edited 2018-03-01 20:59
    cgracey wrote: »
    Here is a closer pic of a preliminary place-and-route run:

    <image snipped>

    You can see the big hub RAMs laid against the interior of the cell area, while the cog register RAMs and lookup RAMs are nestled into the interior side of the hub RAMs. This process is iterative until the final metrics and scripts are established.

    Is the ROM at about 10 o'clock? What are the red blocks and spikes?

  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    cgracey wrote: »
    No timing, yet. We have a problem, though. That P&R run that Bryan was doing had only 334k cells in it. Before, we had been dealing with 724k cells. The trouble was that the last set of files I had sent to Wendy (who does the synthesis at ON in Texas) had the #define not commented out which gets rid of the CORDIC. I don't think the CORDIC takes half the logic, by a long shot, though. Wendy is recompiling now and doing a new synthesis run which should be back up to 724k cells. It's looking like it will NOT fit, though we knew that it would be okay, earlier. Something's amiss that we will figure out shortly.

    Ouch, that's quite a jump(drop) in cell count. Hopefully there are no other #defines lurking in there !
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    It turns out that wasn't the problem. The right number of flops were in there, so no logic got disappeared, but there was no buffering for high speed, as in the earlier run. We are maximizing the cell block that contains all the auto-routed instances and will start anew with the LEF files that Nathan made for our pads. The LEF files allow the auto-router to ingest our pads and take a more holistic approach to placement and routing. Our pins and memories are tied down, but it can move the logic cells all over the place to minimize wire lengths. We'll have more results soon.
  • Thanks for sharing this Chip.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    edited 2018-03-03 00:24
    I'm heading home now from On Semi in Pocatello. They are a really well-run company.

    The trip went great. Things are on a super trajectory now. They just need fine-tune the place-and-route and meet timing.

    Since they are letting the Innovus tool assemble the pad ring, with it inserting filler power-ring cells, as needed, between pads, they'll be able to let the overall die size float to whatever it can optimally be, considering the internal cell-area requirement. This also means that by making a Verilog change, which would, in turn, affect the Innovus scripts, we could make any of the following without repeating the base effort:

    - 16 cogs, 1MB hub, 64 I/Os, TQFP-100
    - 4 cogs, 256KB hub, 32 I/Os, TQFP-52
    - 2 cogs, 128KB hub, 32 I/Os, TQFP-52
    - 1 cog, 64KB hub, 16 I/Os, TQFP-28

    It shouldn't cost much more to build any of those variants. We just need to prove the base design.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    edited 2018-03-03 00:29
    I've come to realize that any custom pad cells, beyond the standard digital I/O offerings from any foundry, represent a HUGE barrier to getting an otherwise-simple chip built. But nice analog pads can really blow things beyond what's possible with digital.

    We've got really nice pads. I hope it all works properly. It should.
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    edited 2018-03-03 00:39
    cgracey wrote: »
    I'm heading home now from On Semi in Pocatello. They are a really well-run company.

    The trip went great. Things are on a super trajectory now. They just need fine-tune the place-and-route and meet timing.
    Very good news.
    cgracey wrote: »
    Since they are letting the Innovus tool assemble the pad ring, with it inserting filler power-ring cells, as needed, between pads, they'll be able to let the overall die size float to whatever it can optimally be, considering the internal cell-area requirement. This also means that by making a Verilog change, which would, in turn, affect the Innovus scripts, we could make any of the following without repeating the base effort:

    Interesting. I had expected the outer PAD Ring to be quite locked down dimensionally.

    cgracey wrote: »
    - 16 cogs, 1MB hub, 64 I/Os, TQFP-100
    Wont that die be too large for the package ? - or did you mean not in 180nm ?
    cgracey wrote: »
    - 4 cogs, 256KB hub, 32 I/Os, TQFP-52
    - 2 cogs, 128KB hub, 32 I/Os, TQFP-52
    - 1 cog, 64KB hub, 16 I/Os, TQFP-28
    TQFP-28 does not really exit, but TQFP-32 is quite common popular, 7mm sq with 0,8mm pitch
    TQFP-52 is not common in USA, but Renesas offer MCU's in this, 10mm sq body, 0.65mm pitch
    I see one MCU in 52-VQFN (7x7), which looks to sneak 4 diagonal corner pins into a 48-QFN package. (0.5mm pitch)

    More common is a TQFP48, (& QFN48) with 7mm body, but die size may dictate what fits inside that, next common step from that is 64 LQFP 10mm x 10mm, 0.5mm pitch

    SiLabs QFN parts are cheaper than TQFP versions, so I guess that stems from a package price difference.
  • rjo__rjo__ Posts: 2,114
    Great to see the 1MB back. Anything over 80MHz will be pure gravy.

    Thanks Chip
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    rjo__ wrote: »
    Great to see the 1MB back. Anything over 80MHz will be pure gravy.
    I don't think that's quite what Chip meant - he was talking loosely about future P2 variants, mainly with a view to IO / COG differences.
    Pretty sure the P2 in layout is 512kB

  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    A 16-cog version would still be in a 100-pin package, but in a bigger-body package.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    What we are building now is 8 cogs with 512KB hub and 64 I/Os.
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,066
    edited 2018-03-03 02:57
    cgracey wrote: »
    What we are building now is 8 cogs with 512KB hub and 64 I/Os.
    What is this footprint now?

    A TQFP100 with 1MB and 16 cogs would be pure joy :)

    A TQFP52 with 256KB and 4cogs would be a nice sibling Ng too.

    BTW I have no problems with the TQFP52 package.
  • YanomaniYanomani Posts: 1,524
    edited 2018-03-03 05:44
    Amkor line card displays a nice package option:

    LQFP 100 + exposed pad = 101 pins at the land pattern

    14mm x 20mm body profile, 16mm x 22mm tip-to-tip dimensions

    1.4mm body thickness

    0.65 pin-to-pin pitch (Attention please, easy hand-soldering fans!!)

    2 x 21 pins (14mm sides) (my guesses only; can be 20 pins)

    2 x 29 pins (20mm sides) (my guesses only; can be 30 pins)

    I'm yet to find any info about the inward available dimensions, that will define maximum silicon area.

    https://c44f5d406df450f4a66b-1b94a87d576253d9446df0a9ca62e142.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/2018/02/Amkor_LineCard.pdf
  • How long, if everything goes well, from placing the first order of chips for testing until there are actual IC's we can buy? Will there be breakout boards? Any plans for something similar to the Propeller Professional Development Board?

    I really like the sound of 512K for the Propeller! 16 Cogs and 1MB hub sounds even better. I can't begin to imagine what people will concoct with that much room and/or 16 cogs.

    So glad to see the Propeller 2 at this stage.
  • cgracey wrote: »
    What we are building now is 8 cogs with 512KB hub and 64 I/Os.

    So... What's limiting you from starting with the 16 cog/1MB?
  • Cluso99Cluso99 Posts: 18,066
    edited 2018-03-03 18:41
    Seairth wrote: »
    cgracey wrote: »
    What we are building now is 8 cogs with 512KB hub and 64 I/Os.

    So... What's limiting you from starting with the 16 cog/1MB?
    +1

    Surely the larger die wouldnt add much to the ultimate cost of the end chip, and would be a seriously better chip than a 512KB 8 Cog chip ???
  • jmgjmg Posts: 15,140
    Seairth wrote: »
    cgracey wrote: »
    What we are building now is 8 cogs with 512KB hub and 64 I/Os.

    So... What's limiting you from starting with the 16 cog/1MB?

    The larger die area would bump the package size significantly ?

    Is there a FPGA that can emulate such a design ?

    Next stops after 14x14 package look to be 14x20 (128 pins) or 20x20 (144 pins) 24x24 (176 pins) 28x28 (208 pins)
    Given P2 currently has only 64io, those pin counts are rather unbalanced ?
  • ErNaErNa Posts: 1,738
    You may have heard in the US, that tomorrow the path to a great coalition in Germany will be opended and the most important project of the Chancellor will be not to hinder the stream of P2's with any kind of tariffs, and, even better, there will be subsidies that will bring down the cost of a 16 cog Propeller below that of a 8 cog propeller! So if Parallax sets the price of a 8 cog propeller to 1$ (US), and for any accident you can not deliver this version, but 16 cog's Propellers from stock, this will bring a huge advantage to your german customers! And, even more, it could help to Make America Great. This should blow away the obstacles that prevent a initial 16 cog/1MB version.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    Erna, no doubt, this will make America AND Germany great.

    The reason we didn't start with 16 cogs was package size and even greater power dissipation.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    I just asked our project lead at On Semi what switching to 16 cogs would entail.
  • cgraceycgracey Posts: 14,131
    Question:

    Would 16 cogs and 1 MB of Hub be worth a speed reduction from 160 MHz to 120 MHz?
  • yes, yes, yes

    Mike
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