Cirrus Logic
Encyclopedia
Cirrus Logic is a fabless semiconductor supplier
specializing in analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP integrated circuits (ICs). They are presently headquartered in Austin, Texas
. Their audio processors and audio converters are found in many professional audio and consumer entertainment products, including portable media players, home-theater receivers, TVs and set-top box hardware. Cirrus Logic's analog mixed-signal converter chips are also used in a wide variety of industrial energy-related applications. At one time, Cirrus Logic also designed and sold modem
controllers, Hard Disk controller chips, CD-drive controller chips, PC sound-card controllers, and PC graphics chips (Cirrus Logic has ended these business operations.) It was started as Patil Systems, Inc., in Salt Lake City in 1981, by Dr. Suhas Patil
and renamed as Cirrus Logic when it moved to Silicon Valley
in 1984.
Cirrus Logic has more than 1,000 patents and more than 600 products serving more than 2,500 end customers globally.
. After French resigned in March 2007, Jason Rhode, formerly the vice president and general manager of Cirrus' Mixed Signal Audio Division, was named president and CEO in May 2007. Today, Cirrus Logic is focused on its high-precision technologies for digital signal processing components for audio and energy markets.
1984 – Patil Systems Inc. renamed Cirrus Logic and moves headquarters to Silicon Valley
1989 – Company goes public and is listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol CRUS.
1991 – Cirrus Logic acquires Crystal Semiconductor, a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal converter ICs.
1996 – Cirrus Logic exits from the PC graphics card business
1998 – David D. French joins company as president and chief operating officer in June and becomes chief executive officer in February 1999. In the fall, company spins out its communication business unit.
2001 – Cirrus Logic announces plan to begin exit from magnetic storage chip business.
2001 – Cirrus Logic acquires several start-up companies with technologies in video decoding, video encoding, wireless networking, and networked digital audio.
2003 – Cirrus Logic closes wireless networking operations.
2005 – Cirrus Logic sells video product assets to investment firm, creating Magnum Semiconductor
(company maintains minority equity position).
2007 – Jason Rhode, formerly vice president and general manager of Cirrus' Mixed-Signal Audio division, is named president and chief executive officer, replacing French who resigned in March. In July, Cirrus Logic acquires Apex Microtechnology, a leading provider of high-power products for industrial and aerospace markets.
In the early 1990s, Cirrus Logic was a leading supplier of low-cost PC graphics chips. Cirrus's Microsoft Windows
2D GUI accelerators (GDI
) were among the fastest in the low-end market-segment, outperforming competing VGA-chips from Oak Technologies, Trident Microsystems
, and Paradise (Western Digital
). For example, the Cirrus GD5422 (1992) supported hardware acceleration for both 8-bit color
and 16-bit color. It was one of the lowest-priced SVGA controllers to support both.
By the mid-1990s, when PC's had migrated to the PCI
bus, Cirrus had fallen behind S3
and Trident Microsystems. When the announced release date of the GD5470 "Mondello" came and went, Cirrus's reputation in desktop PC-graphics suffered. (Mondello would have been the company's first 3D-accelerator, but instead became vaporware
.)
The company's final graphics chips, the GD546x "Laguna" series of PCI/AGP 3D-accelerators, were novel in that they were one of the few video cards to use Rambus
RDRAM
. However, like many other 2D/3D chips at the time, the feature set of perspective-correct texture mapping
, bilinear filtering
, single-pass lighting
, gouraud shading
, and alpha blending, was both slow and incomplete.
DESKTOP
MOBILE
Fabless semiconductor company
A fabless semiconductor company specializes in the design and sale of hardware devices and semiconductor chips while outsourcing the fabrication or "fab" of the devices to a specialized manufacturer called a semiconductor foundry...
specializing in analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP integrated circuits (ICs). They are presently headquartered in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Their audio processors and audio converters are found in many professional audio and consumer entertainment products, including portable media players, home-theater receivers, TVs and set-top box hardware. Cirrus Logic's analog mixed-signal converter chips are also used in a wide variety of industrial energy-related applications. At one time, Cirrus Logic also designed and sold modem
Modem
A modem is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data...
controllers, Hard Disk controller chips, CD-drive controller chips, PC sound-card controllers, and PC graphics chips (Cirrus Logic has ended these business operations.) It was started as Patil Systems, Inc., in Salt Lake City in 1981, by Dr. Suhas Patil
Suhas Patil
Dr. Suhas S. Patil, born 1944 in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India, is a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, venture capitalist and philanthropist. He founded the company Cirrus Logic a fabless semiconductor company....
and renamed as Cirrus Logic when it moved to Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
in 1984.
Cirrus Logic has more than 1,000 patents and more than 600 products serving more than 2,500 end customers globally.
Brief history
Patil Systems, Inc., is founded in Salt Lake City in 1981 by Dr. Suhas Patil, In 1983 the company was reorganized by Dr. Patil, Kamran Elahian, and venture capitalist Fred Nazem, whose firm, Nazem and Company provided the company's first/start-up round of financing. Later the company was renamed as Cirrus Logic when it moved to Silicon Valley in 1984 to focus on solutions for the growing PC components market. Michael Hackworth was named president and chief executive officer in January 1985, and served as CEO until February 1999. It joined the Nasdaq market listing in 1989 (symbol: CRUS). Cirrus Logic acquired Crystal Semiconductor, a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal converter ICs, in 1991. In the early 1990s, Cirrus Logic became a leading supplier of PC graphics chips, audio converters and chips for magnetic storage products. David D. French joined Cirrus Logic, Inc., as president and chief operating officer in June 1998 and was named chief executive officer in February 1999. Soon after joining the company, through an acquisition strategy Mr. French repositioned the company into a premier supplier of high-performance analog and digital processing chip solutions for consumer entertainment electronics and soon afterwords, Mr. M. Yousuf Palla joined as Vice President of Operations and Manufacturing, contributing further to its success. In June 2005, Cirrus Logic sold its video products operation to an investment firm, creating privately-owned Magnum SemiconductorMagnum Semiconductor
Magnum Semiconductor Inc. is a video compression technology company. The headquarters of the company is in Milpitas, California. The company has an engineering branch at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada....
. After French resigned in March 2007, Jason Rhode, formerly the vice president and general manager of Cirrus' Mixed Signal Audio Division, was named president and CEO in May 2007. Today, Cirrus Logic is focused on its high-precision technologies for digital signal processing components for audio and energy markets.
Timeline of key events
1981 – Patil Systems Inc. is founded in Salt Lake City by Dr. Suhas Patil. Company focuses on IC solutions for the growing PC components market.1984 – Patil Systems Inc. renamed Cirrus Logic and moves headquarters to Silicon Valley
1989 – Company goes public and is listed on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker symbol CRUS.
1991 – Cirrus Logic acquires Crystal Semiconductor, a leading supplier of analog and mixed-signal converter ICs.
1996 – Cirrus Logic exits from the PC graphics card business
1998 – David D. French joins company as president and chief operating officer in June and becomes chief executive officer in February 1999. In the fall, company spins out its communication business unit.
2001 – Cirrus Logic announces plan to begin exit from magnetic storage chip business.
2001 – Cirrus Logic acquires several start-up companies with technologies in video decoding, video encoding, wireless networking, and networked digital audio.
2003 – Cirrus Logic closes wireless networking operations.
2005 – Cirrus Logic sells video product assets to investment firm, creating Magnum Semiconductor
Magnum Semiconductor
Magnum Semiconductor Inc. is a video compression technology company. The headquarters of the company is in Milpitas, California. The company has an engineering branch at Waterloo, Ontario, Canada....
(company maintains minority equity position).
2007 – Jason Rhode, formerly vice president and general manager of Cirrus' Mixed-Signal Audio division, is named president and chief executive officer, replacing French who resigned in March. In July, Cirrus Logic acquires Apex Microtechnology, a leading provider of high-power products for industrial and aerospace markets.
Graphics history
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
2D GUI accelerators (GDI
Graphics Device Interface
The Graphics Device Interface is a Microsoft Windows application programming interface and core operating system component responsible for representing graphical objects and transmitting them to output devices such as monitors and printers....
) were among the fastest in the low-end market-segment, outperforming competing VGA-chips from Oak Technologies, Trident Microsystems
Trident Microsystems
Trident Microsystems is a supplier of display-processors for flat panel displays . At one time, Trident was also a supplier of PC graphics chipsets and sound controllers.- History :...
, and Paradise (Western Digital
Western Digital
Western Digital Corporation is one of the largest computer hard disk drive manufacturers in the world. It has a long history in the electronics industry as an integrated circuit maker and a storage products company. Western Digital was founded on April 23, 1970 by Alvin B...
). For example, the Cirrus GD5422 (1992) supported hardware acceleration for both 8-bit color
8-bit color
8-bit color graphics is a method of storing image information in a computer's memory or in an image file, such that each pixel is represented by one 8-bit byte. The maximum number of colors that can be displayed at any one time is 256....
and 16-bit color. It was one of the lowest-priced SVGA controllers to support both.
By the mid-1990s, when PC's had migrated to the PCI
Peripheral Component Interconnect
Conventional PCI is a computer bus for attaching hardware devices in a computer...
bus, Cirrus had fallen behind S3
S3 Graphics
S3 Graphics, Ltd is an American company specializing in graphics chipsets. Although they do not have the large market share that they once had, they still produce graphics accelerators for home computers under the "S3 Chrome" brand name.-History:...
and Trident Microsystems. When the announced release date of the GD5470 "Mondello" came and went, Cirrus's reputation in desktop PC-graphics suffered. (Mondello would have been the company's first 3D-accelerator, but instead became vaporware
Vaporware
Vaporware is a term in the computer industry that describes a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is never actually released nor officially canceled. Vaporware is also a term sometimes used to describe events that are announced or predicted,...
.)
The company's final graphics chips, the GD546x "Laguna" series of PCI/AGP 3D-accelerators, were novel in that they were one of the few video cards to use Rambus
Rambus
Rambus Incorporated , founded in 1990, is a technology licensing company. The company became well known for its intellectual property based litigation following the introduction of DDR-SDRAM memory.- History :...
RDRAM
RDRAM
Direct Rambus DRAM or DRDRAM is a type of synchronous dynamic RAM. RDRAM was developed by Rambus inc., in the mid-1990s as a replacement for then-prevalent DIMM SDRAM memory architecture....
. However, like many other 2D/3D chips at the time, the feature set of perspective-correct texture mapping
Texture mapping
Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture , or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974.-Texture mapping:...
, bilinear filtering
Bilinear filtering
Bilinear filtering is a texture filtering method used to smooth textures when displayed larger or smaller than they actually are.Most of the time, when drawing a textured shape on the screen, the texture is not displayed exactly as it is stored, without any distortion...
, single-pass lighting
Graphics pipeline
In 3D computer graphics, the terms graphics pipeline or rendering pipeline most commonly refers to the current state of the art method of rasterization-based rendering as supported by commodity graphics hardware. The graphics pipeline typically accepts some representation of a three-dimensional...
, gouraud shading
Gouraud shading
Gouraud shading, named after Henri Gouraud, is an interpolation method used in computer graphics to produce continuous shading of surfaces represented by polygon meshes...
, and alpha blending, was both slow and incomplete.
Graphics chipsets
- CL-GD410 + 420 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA chipset, Video 7 VEGA VGA (1987) http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video/browse_thread/thread/ef80530a2413f6c2/d90301f6ebd1cc5a?hl=en&lnk=gst&q=cl-gd420#d90301f6ebd1cc5a - CL-GD510 + 520 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA "Eagle II" chipset, known for 100% CGA emulation. (1988) http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.ms-windows.win95.setup/browse_thread/thread/c8793f784e7d909d/a94b484e36fd870c?hl=en&q=cl-gd510+eagle#a94b484e36fd870chttp://www.oldskool.org/guides/oldonnew/videohttp://books.google.com/books?id=kDoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA27&dq=vga+cirrus&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=1989&as_brr=1&as_pt=MAGAZINES&cd=1#v=onepage&q=vga%20cirrus&f=false - CL-GD5320 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA chipset. (1990) http://www.cbronline.com/news/cirrus_logic_has_full_video_graphics_araay_chip_at_22 - CL-GD5401 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA chipset, also known as Acumos VGA (AVGA1) - CL-GD5402 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA chipset, also known as Acumos VGA (AVGA2) - CL-GD5410 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA chipset, Low-to-mid-end DRAM-based cards (accelerated), some laptop chipsets. Known for integrating graphics card components into one chip (built-in RAMDAC and clock generators) at an early point. (1991) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb4804/is_199110/ai_n17488875/?tag=content;col1 - CL-GD5420 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA chipset, highly integrated (15 bit RAMDACRAMDACRandom Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter is a combination of three fast DACs with a small SRAM used in computer graphics display adapters to store the color palette and to generate the analog signals to drive a color monitor...
+ PLL), 1 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
. - CL-GD5421 - ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
SVGA chipset, highly integrated (15/16 bit RAMDACRAMDACRandom Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter is a combination of three fast DACs with a small SRAM used in computer graphics display adapters to store the color palette and to generate the analog signals to drive a color monitor...
+ PLL), 1 MBMegabyteThe megabyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information storage or transmission with two different values depending on context: bytes generally for computer memory; and one million bytes generally for computer storage. The IEEE Standards Board has decided that "Mega will mean 1 000...
. - CL-GD5422 - Enhanced version of the 5420 (32-bit32-bitThe range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
internal memory interface, 15/16/24 bit RAMDACRAMDACRandom Access Memory Digital-to-Analog Converter is a combination of three fast DACs with a small SRAM used in computer graphics display adapters to store the color palette and to generate the analog signals to drive a color monitor...
. An ISAIndustry Standard ArchitectureIndustry Standard Architecture is a computer bus standard for IBM PC compatible computers introduced with the IBM Personal Computer to support its Intel 8088 microprocessor's 8-bit external data bus and extended to 16 bits for the IBM Personal Computer/AT's Intel 80286 processor...
video card carrying this chipset offered 1280x1024 interlaced max resolution https://gullfoss2.fcc.gov/prod/oet/cf/eas/reports/Eas731GrantForm.cfm?mode=COPY&RequestTimeout=500&application_id=76031&fcc_id=J6QGD5422DM2). - CL-GD5424 - VLBVESA Local BusThe VESA Local Bus was mostly used in personal computers. VESA Local Bus worked alongside the ISA bus; it acted as a high-speed conduit for memory-mapped I/O and DMA, while the ISA bus handled interrupts and port-mapped I/O.-Historical overview:In the early 1990s, the I/O bandwidth of...
version of the 5422, but resembles the 5426 in some respects. - CL-GD5425 - True color VGA controller w/ TV out.
- CL-GD5426 - Hardware BitBLT engine. ISA bus and VLB up to 2 MB of memory.
- CL-GD5428 - Enhanced version of the 5426. Faster BITBLT engine. http://groups.google.com/group/comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video/browse_frm/thread/bef5a6272818fbf8
- CL-GD5429 - Enhanced version of the 5428; supports higher memory clock and has memory-mapped I/O.
- CL-GD5430 - Similar to 5429, but with 543x core (32-bit host interface).
- CL-GD5434 - Alpine family chip with 64-bit64-bit64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
internal memory interface. Only supports 64-bitBitA bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...
mode if equipped with 2 MB of video memory; commonly equipped with 1 MB, extendable to 2 MB. - CL-GD5436 - An optimized 5434.
- CL-GD5440 - 5430 with motion-video acceleration. (CL-GD54M40 has integrated filters.)
- CL-GD5446 - 64-bit Alpine VisualMedia accelerator. 2D-only; adds motion-video acceleration to the CL-GD5436.
- CL-GD546X - The Laguna VisualMedia family of 2D, 3D, and video accelerators. '64 and '65 include 3D acceleration. (PCI, AGP). These chips use a single channel of RDRAMRDRAMDirect Rambus DRAM or DRDRAM is a type of synchronous dynamic RAM. RDRAM was developed by Rambus inc., in the mid-1990s as a replacement for then-prevalent DIMM SDRAM memory architecture....
memory, providing up to 600 MB/s bandwidth. The '62 lacks 3D acceleration. All include a BitBLT engine, video windows, and 64x64 hardware cursor. - CL-GD5480 - 64-bit Alpine accelerator with 100 MHz SGRAM http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Cirrus+Logic%27s+New+Video+Graphics+Accelerator+Offers+Industry%27s...-a018832209
MOBILE
- CL-GD610 + 620 - (1989) http://books.google.com/books?id=XToEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT25&dq=vga+cirrus&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=12&as_maxy_is=1989&as_brr=1&as_pt=MAGAZINES&cd=3#v=onepage&q=vga%20cirrus&f=false
- CL-GD6420/6440 Used in some laptops, similar to older Cirrus chipsets (5410/AVGA2).
- CL-GD6205/6215/6225/6235 - Compatible with the 5420.
- CL-GD7541/7542/7543/7548 - Compatible with the 5428/3x.