eASIC claims ‘new era for asics’
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In a move which it claims will open up a ‘new era for asics’, structured asic provider eASIC is launching a range of devices based on Chartered Semiconductor’s 45nm process. The company says that not only will the Nextreme-2 range be cheaper and less power hungry than alternatives, the design cycle will see parts available in less than 10weeks and with no minimum order quantity.
The launch comes against a background of declining asic design starts, caused by a range of factors, including the mask charges for advanced process nodes and the increasing cost of design software. Senior marketing director Jasminder Bhoot noted: “Not many companies can afford to develop asics or assps on advanced process nodes.”
Nextreme-2 is said to overcome many of the obstacles to using asics. Narinder Lall, director of product marketing, claimed: “We have a unique way of doing asics. We don’t pass on any mask charges to the customer and the design flow is similar to that found with fpgas.”
There will be eight variants in the Nextreme-2 family. The N2X range features six parts, with capacities ranging from 2.7 to 19.9million asic gates. The N2XT range has two members, with 10.5 and 19.9m asic gates and with 48 and 56 6.5Gbit/s transceivers.
The N2X range will be available in Q3 of 2008, with the N2XT parts appearing in Q2 next year.
