VLSI Technology :

Very large scale integration technology is the enabling technology for a whole host of

innovative devices and systems that have changed the way, we live. This integration

allows us to build systems with many more transistors on a single IC. The EDA tools and

complex hardware devices such as CPLDs and FPGAs allow to develop special-purpose

systems that are more efficient than general-purpose computers. The great industrialist

Gordon Moore, shown that the number of transistors integrated on a chip grow

exponentially. The findings of this researcher are known as Moore's Law. He shown

that, the transistor count in a chip will double every 18 months. The best example of

Moore’s predication is the Intel microprocessors. The Table below shows the several

generations of the microprocessors from the Intel 8086. Before the invention of the

VLSI technology the integrated circuits were developed using the bread board approach.

In bread board approach the system is build up on the breadboard using the digital ICs

available. The system is then tested for the intended results and the prototype is

developed, if the system is correct, then it was send for the silicon wafer and at this

stage if error is occurred then the complete silicon wafer becomes the waste and the

designer has to redesign the complete system. Thus in order to design a complete digital

system on a single chip many years were required, but because of the invention of VLSI

technology the time to market and the cost of design of digital ICs is reduced. This is

because of the EDA tools and the programmable hardware devices available today.

Microprocessor Date of

introduction

No. of

transistors

Feature size

(microns)

80286 2/82 134,000 1.5

80386 10/85 275,000 1.5

80486 4/89 1,200,000 1.0

Pentium 3/93 3,100,000 0.8

Pentium Pro 11/95 5,500,000 0.6