Quote from: abeaulieu on December 12, 2012, 06:35:03 PM

Quote from: MrTeal on December 12, 2012, 05:32:06 PM

Quote from: abeaulieu on December 12, 2012, 04:59:55 PM

Quote from: greyhawk on December 12, 2012, 10:47:49 AM

Quote from: bitboyben on December 12, 2012, 08:05:28 AM

Would some one like to enlighten me to what they mean by the design was hand drawn? Is that even possible now days?

http://makerbot-blog.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/napkin-sketch.jpg

They're not using an autorouting tool to route the signal paths. In terms of PCB design, this is how things are done normally because even modern autorouters are simply not good enough at knowing about signal paths, power usage, parasitic capacitance, etc. The process of doing this in an ASIC should be quite similar, just on a smaller level and more complex.

No, back in the day you would see PCBs were actually hand drawn.

I understand that, but that's not what they're talking about. (Even intel did the hand-drawing of their processors on giant blown up transparent film top seperate layers in the early days.)

Yeah, it is.

Quote from: Bogart on December 12, 2012, 05:14:34 AM

Quote from: Roy Badami on December 11, 2012, 08:37:03 PM

Quote from: ChipGeek on December 11, 2012, 04:36:51 PM

"Tape out" is the term for sending the design to the fab. (Name has stuck from back in the days when a computer tape was sent by FedEx.

I always thought the name came from the fact that in the earliest integrated circuits the masks were produced by hand using an opaque sticky tape on a transparent film. A process known as tape-out, which you obviously didn't start until you'd completed the design.

Tape-out refers to the final step in production immediately before the photomasks are made.

Your design can be at the foundry, but until they're ready to make the masks, it's not said to be at tape-out stage.

Quote from: Soros Shorts on December 12, 2012, 01:40:34 PM

Quote from: bitboyben on December 12, 2012, 08:05:28 AM

Would some one like to enlighten me to what they mean by the design was hand drawn? Is that even possible now days?

I'm guessing what they meant was that the place and route phase of the design was done manually instead of using automated tools. From a design perspective this implies higher performance but with additional risk of errors.

Quote from: abeaulieu on December 12, 2012, 04:59:55 PM

Quote from: greyhawk on December 12, 2012, 10:47:49 AM

Quote from: bitboyben on December 12, 2012, 08:05:28 AM

Would some one like to enlighten me to what they mean by the design was hand drawn? Is that even possible now days?

They're not using an autorouting tool to route the signal paths. In terms of PCB design, this is how things are done normally because even modern autorouters are simply not good enough at knowing about signal paths, power usage, parasitic capacitance, etc. The process of doing this in an ASIC should be quite similar, just on a smaller level and more complex.

The discussion was about where the term tape-out came from, it has nothing to do with autorouters.