Petition for Inter Partes Review of 
`U.S. Pat. No. 7,296,121
`IPR2015‐00158
`EXHIBIT
`Sony‐
`
`

`

`Page ii
`
`This book is printed on acid-free paper. e
`Copyright © 1991 by ACADEMIC PRESS, INC.
`All Rights Reserved.
`No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or
`by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or
`any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
`from the publisher.
`
`Academic Press, Inc.
`San Diego, California 92101
`
`United Kingdom Edition published by
`Academic Press Limited
`24-28 Oval Road, London NW1 7DX
`
`Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
`(Revised for vol. 23)
`
`VLSI electronics.
`
`Vols. 11-16 have imprint: Orlando : Academic Press;
`: San Diego :Academic Press.
`v. 17-
`Vol. 6 edited by Norman G. Einspruch, Graydon B.
`Larrabee; v. 11 edited by Norman G. Einspruch.
`William R. Wisseman; V. 12 edited by Norman G. Einspruch,
`Howard Huff; v. 15 edited by Norman G. Einspruch.
`SimonS. Cohen, Gennad!y Sh. Gildenblat; v. 16 edited
`by Norman G. Einspruch, R.K. Watts; v. 17 edited by
`Norman G. Einspruch, Robert D. Gold; v. 21 edited by
`Norman G. Einspruch, S.S. Choen, Raj N. Singh;
`v. 23 edited by Norman G. Einspruch, Jeffrey L. Hilbert.
`Includes bibliographies and indexes.
`Contents: v. 1- 5. [without special titles]--
`v. 6. Materials and process characterization-- [etc.]
`-- v. 23 Application specific integrated circuit
`(ASIC) technology.
`l. Integrated circuits--Very large scale integration.
`I. Einspruch, Norman G.
`TK7874.V56
`621.395
`ISBN 0-12-234123-6
`
`81 -2877
`
`PRJNTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
`91 92 93 94
`9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
`
`

`

`-
`
`Chapter 1
`
`Introduction to ASIC Technology
`
`JEFFREY L. HILBERT
`
`Semiconductor Research Corporation
`Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709
`
`I. Overview
`A. Historical Perspective
`B. Classification of ASICs
`C. Motivation for the Emergence and Growth of ASICs
`D. Synergy with CAD
`II. Volume Summary
`References
`
`1
`2
`2
`4
`4
`5
`6
`
`I. OVERVIEW
`
`An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) can be defined in the
`broadest sense as an IC designed for a particular application or end-use
`such as in a compact disc player or a telecommunications system. ASICs
`stand in sharp contrast to standard IC products such as memories or
`microprocessors which are typically designed for use in a wide range of
`applications. In addition to being a class ofiC products, ASICs also define
`a design style 9r methodology which is based on the extensive use of
`computer-aided design (CAD) tools and systems. ASICs are typically de(cid:173)
`signed, at least in part, by someone other than the semiconductor vendor's
`personnel. Most often, the designer is the customer. This fact, coupled with
`differences in design objectives such as performance, area, and time to
`market, further differentiates ASICs from other types of IC designs. ASICs
`have driven an expansion of the semiconductor industry, have fundamen(cid:173)
`tally altered the IC business, and have resulted in a significant increase in
`the number of IC designs and designers. The rapid growth of ASICs has
`1
`Copyright© 1991 by Academic Press, Inc.
`All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
`
`Application Specific Integrated
`Circuit {ASIC) Technology
`
`

`

`2
`
`Jeffrey L. Hilbert
`
`required advances in a number of different areas of semiconductor tech(cid:173)
`nology including design, process, manufacturing, test, packaging, and
`CAD. Widespread utilization and the rapid evolution of ASIC technology
`are expected to continue in the 1990s. Integrated Circuit Engineering of
`Scottsdale, Arizona predicts that the worldwide merchant market for
`ASICs will more than double between 1988 and 1993, that one out of every
`five dollars spent on all types of ICs in 1993 will be devoted to ASICs, and
`that in 1993 over half of the logic market will be ASICs [ 1]. These predic(cid:173)
`tions of growth clearly indicate the rapidly increasing importance of ASICs
`in the IC and electronic systems marketplaces.
`
`A. Historical Perspective
`
`The history of ASICs can be traced back more than 20 years to the
`masked read-only memory (ROM). Gate arrays and standard cells came
`into existence in the 1970s. However, it was during the decade of the 1980s
`that ASIC technology really assumed an important leading edge position in
`the worldwide IC marketplace. During the 1980s, numerous new merchant
`semiconductor vendors specializing in ASICs came into existence, and
`established broad line suppliers entered the ASIC business. By the end of
`the decade, Japanese semiconductor vendors had established a dominant
`position in the ASIC marketplace. For example, in 1988, 55% of the
`world's CMOS gate array designs were done in Japan as compared to 35%
`done by U.S. suppliers, and in 1989, Japanese firms took half of all
`merchant and captive gate array design wins [2]. By 1990, several broad
`line U.S. suppliers had re-thought or abandoned their ASIC strategies after
`finding the job-shop and service nature of the ASIC business difficult to
`integrate with more traditional high-volume approaches. Nevertheless,
`many U.S. vendors including both ASIC "specialists" and broad line
`suppliers are continuing to compete very effectively in the highly aggressive
`ASIC marketplace.
`
`B. Classification of ASICs
`
`The history of ASIC technology can be characterized by the evolution
`and proliferation of ASIC design styles [3]. Although CMOS gate arrays
`have been dominant, numerous other types of ASICs have been brought to
`market in the past several years. One possible representative classification
`of ASICs is presented in Fig. 1. As shoWn in the figure, ASICs can be
`grouped into four broad categories: (1) full-custom, (2) semi-custom, (3)
`field-programmable logic devices (FPLDs), and (4) linear arrays.
`The semi-custom category of Fig. 1 includes those types of devices which
`are most often equated with ASICs: gate arrays and cell-based ICs. The first
`
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