Silicon intellectual property
Encyclopedia
Silicon Intellectual Property (SIP, Silicon IP) is a business model for a semiconductor company where the company licenses its technology to a customer as intellectual property
. This is a type of fabless semiconductor company
which doesn't provide physical chips to its customers but merely facilitates the customer's development of chips by offering certain functional blocks. Typically, the customers are semiconductor companies or module developers with in-house semiconductor development. A company wishing to fabricate a complex device may purchase the rights to use anther company's well-tested functional blocks such as a microprocessor
, instead of developing their own design which would take additional time and cost.
The Silicon IP industry is fairly new but with stable growth. The most successful Silicon IP companies, often referred to as the Star IP, include ARC International
. ARM Holdings
, Rambus
, and MIPS Technologies
. Gartner Group estimated the total value of sales related to silicon intellectual property at US $1.5 billion in 2005, with annual growth expected around 30%.
(IP) (or Silicon intellectual property) of design cores.
For example, a DSP processor is developed from soft cores of RTL (Register transfer level
) format, and it can be targeted to various technologies or different foundries to yield different implementations. The process of IP hardening is from soft core to generate re-usable hard (hardware) cores. A main advantage of such hard IP is its predictable characteristics as the IP has been pre-implemented, while it offers flexibility of soft cores. It might come with a set of models for simulations or verifications.
The effort input to harden the soft IP means quality of the target technology, goals of design and the methodology employed. The hard IP has been proven in the target technology and application. E.g. the hard core in GDS II format is said to clean in DRC (Design rule checking
), and LVS (see Layout Versus Schematic
). I.e. that can pass all the rules required for manufacturing by the specific foundry.
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
. This is a type of fabless semiconductor company
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...
which doesn't provide physical chips to its customers but merely facilitates the customer's development of chips by offering certain functional blocks. Typically, the customers are semiconductor companies or module developers with in-house semiconductor development. A company wishing to fabricate a complex device may purchase the rights to use anther company's well-tested functional blocks such as a microprocessor
Microprocessor
A microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and...
, instead of developing their own design which would take additional time and cost.
The Silicon IP industry is fairly new but with stable growth. The most successful Silicon IP companies, often referred to as the Star IP, include ARC International
ARC International
ARC International plc was a developer of configurable microprocessor technology and is now owned by Synopsys. ARC developed synthesisable IP and licensed it to semiconductor companies....
. ARM Holdings
ARM Holdings
ARM Holdings plc is a British multinational semiconductor and software company headquartered in Cambridge. Its largest business is in processors, although it also designs, licenses and sells software development tools under the RealView and KEIL brands, systems and platforms, system-on-a-chip...
, 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 :...
, and MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies
MIPS Technologies, Inc. , formerly MIPS Computer Systems, Inc., is most widely known for developing the MIPS architecture and a series of pioneering RISC chips. MIPS provides processor architectures and cores for digital home, networking and mobile applications.MIPS Computer Systems Inc. was...
. Gartner Group estimated the total value of sales related to silicon intellectual property at US $1.5 billion in 2005, with annual growth expected around 30%.
IP hardening
IP hardening is a process to re-use proven design, and generate fast time-to-market, low-risk-in-fabrication solutions to provide Intellectual propertyIntellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
(IP) (or Silicon intellectual property) of design cores.
For example, a DSP processor is developed from soft cores of RTL (Register transfer level
Register transfer level
In integrated circuit design, register-transfer level is a level of abstraction used in describing the operation of a synchronous digital circuit...
) format, and it can be targeted to various technologies or different foundries to yield different implementations. The process of IP hardening is from soft core to generate re-usable hard (hardware) cores. A main advantage of such hard IP is its predictable characteristics as the IP has been pre-implemented, while it offers flexibility of soft cores. It might come with a set of models for simulations or verifications.
The effort input to harden the soft IP means quality of the target technology, goals of design and the methodology employed. The hard IP has been proven in the target technology and application. E.g. the hard core in GDS II format is said to clean in DRC (Design rule checking
Design rule checking
Design Rule Checking or Check is the area of Electronic Design Automation that determines whether the physical layout of a particular chip layout satisfies a series of recommended parameters called Design Rules...
), and LVS (see Layout Versus Schematic
Layout versus schematic
The Layout Versus Schematic is the class of electronic design automation verification software that determines whether a particular integrated circuit layout corresponds to the original schematic or circuit diagram of the design.-Background:...
). I.e. that can pass all the rules required for manufacturing by the specific foundry.