Full custom

This article needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (December 2021)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (December 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Full-custom design is a methodology for designing integrated circuits by specifying the layout of each individual transistor and the interconnections between them. Alternatives to full-custom design include various forms of semi-custom design, such as the repetition of small transistor subcircuits;^[1] one such methodology is the use of standard cell libraries (standard cell libraries are themselves designed using full-custom design techniques).

Full-custom design potentially maximizes the performance of the chip, and minimizes its area, but is extremely labor-intensive to implement. Full-custom design is limited to ICs that are to be fabricated in extremely high volumes, notably certain microprocessors and a small number of ASICs.

As of 2008 the main factor affecting the design and production of ASICs was the high cost of mask sets (number of which is depending on the number of IC layers) and the requisite EDA design tools. The mask sets are required in order to transfer the ASIC designs onto the wafer.

See also[]

• Electronics design flow

References[]