VHDL BASED DIGITAL SYSTEM DESIGN

Herbert Grönbacher

   Language based tools - supporting simulation and synthesis - build a powerful design environment. Such tools have been used for complex chip designs for years. Modern technology delivers gate complexities reaching 100 kGates for programmable devices. Designers using programmable devices still mostly rely on gate level design style. Mastering designs in the several ten thousands gates range using gate level methods is nearly impossible. Language based tools and synthesis offer solutions for such design tasks. The paper gives a short overview of what is available at the system (register transfer) level.

Keywords: hardware description languages, HDL, VHDL, digital system design, language based tools

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