Digital integrated circuits

The term semicustom designed integrated circuits denotes integrated circuits of an all purpose character in which the production of chips is completed by using one to three custom design stencil type exposure masks. This involves in most cases interconnecting masks that are used to devise the circuit function desired by the customer. Silicon plates with an all purpose gate matrix are produced up to the interconnection level and can be kept at this phase in storage, after which a customer's specific demands can be met very expediently. All purpose logic fields containing 200 logic gates on a chip and an all purpose chip to be expanded to 1,000 logic gates are discussed. The technology facilitates the devising of fast gates with a delay of approximately 5 ns and power dissipation of 1 mW. In assembly it will be possible to make use of the entire assortment of the currently used casings with 16, 18, 20, 24, 28 and 40 outlets. In addition to the development of the mentioned technology, a general methodology for design of the mentioned gate fields is currently under way.