29
CS269: HW/SW Engineering of Embedded Systems, Winter02
Next Level of Abstraction?
abstract
Transistor Model
Capacity Load
Right Arrow: 1970’s
1970’s
cluster
abstract
Gate Level Model
Capacity Load
Right Arrow: 1980’s
1980’s
RTL
cluster
abstract
HDL
Wire Load
1990’s
Year 2000 +
?
There are ample precedence's for the paradigm shift.  The first integrated circuit of the 60’s are built by drawing mask layers,<click> by the 70’s, the designers design with CMOS transistor and never have to think about mask ever again.  <click> The transistors are clustered and abstracted into gates in the 80’s.<click>  In the 90’s RTL design gain acceptance and become the de facto level of abstraction for most of the ASIC designs.

The question is, “Are we at the end of the rope?”  Does there exist another level of abstraction above RTL where designers can design much more complex chips effectively?  <click> To answer this question, we will need to look to the <click> applications, because applications will always drive the direction of technology.  As I have already mentioned, 21st century applications will be ubiquitous and diverging, and the embedded systems will dominate.  Another powerful force we need to consider is the market. <click> The force of the marketplace will drive the profit for these applications and the manufacturing cost they can sustain.