AI Takes a Strong Supporting Role in Modern Chip Design

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With AI evolving, chipmakers are taking advantage of deep learning methods to design chips faster and more efficiently than humans.

www.allaboutcircuits.com, Feb. 27, 2023 – 

Integrated circuit (IC) design is a complex endeavor, ever pushing the boundaries of density and performance. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly playing a role in IC design.

While AI has recently gained more attention for its surprising abilities with natural language processors like ChatGPT, this tool is also being used in various stages of IC design, including design optimization, layout, simulation, and verification. AI algorithms can also help explore design space more efficiently, discovering optimal design configurations faster than traditional methods.

This article highlights how AI has been used as a tool for IC design and how this technology may affect the professional value of IC designers.

Chipmakers Leverage AI for Strict Design Constraints

With billions of transistors confined to a small chip area, IC designers are tasked with optimizing design despite strict constraints.

For one, the die area must be minimal to fit the small form factors of devices today and keep manufacturing costs down. The layout's power consumption is also of concern; power likewise affects the cost of deployment along with the chip's environmental impact. Certain dense regions and configurations are prone to overheating, requiring cooling mechanisms or clever layouts. Given these and many other factors, IC designers spend roughly eight to nine months to generate a chip layout that addresses each stringent requirement.

To speed and optimize the IC design process, many companies–including some of the biggest in the tech industry–are now investing in AI tools to do some of the heavy lifting.

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