Werner Haug

A CMOS mainframe processor with 0.5- mu m channel length

A processor chip set with IBM/370 architecture is implemented on five CMOS VLSI chips containing 2.8 million transistors with an effective channel length of 0.5 mu m. The chip set consists of the instruction and the fixed-point processor, two cache chips with 16 KB of data and instructions, and the floating-point processor. The chips are implemented in a 1.0- mu m technology with three layers of metal. An automatic design system based on the sea-of-gates technique and the standard cell approach was used. The worst-case operating frequency of the chip set is 35 MHz (typically 50 MHz). Four chips of the processor are packaged on a ceramic multichip module. Level-sensitive scan design, built-in self-test, and parity check guarantee high test coverage and reliability. >

A fast 256K DRAM designed for a wide range of applications

A 256K DRAM designed for a variety of organizations and operation modes is described. The chip may be organized as 64K/spl times/4, 128K/spl times/2, or 256K/spl times/1. Four data I/O buffers are selectable by gate signals. Besides the standard RAM mode, it may be operated in the page mode, in the parallel or serial buffer mode, and in a combination of page and serial buffer modes. With these options, the design covers a wide range of applications. RAS/CAS access times are 80.55 ns. In the combined page and serial buffer mode, a data rate of up to 50 MHz is possible. The chip is built in metal-gate n-channel technology with 2-/spl mu/m minimum line width and two metal interconnection planes.