enjoyebooks Chapter 430 The first version of the Star Core Chip Design is Completed
Chapter 430 The first version of the Star Core Chip Design is Completed
The conference room was filled with smoke.
Ni Guangnan spread a thick stack of drawings on the table and pointed to the top one. "The RTL design is complete. The simulation verification passed last night."
Li Mo stood to the side, with dark circles under his eyes and one button undone at the collar of his shirt. He reached out and pushed the blueprints toward Ling Yun.
"The ARM9 core integrates a 2D graphics accelerator, memory controller, USB controller, and LCD controller, with approximately five million transistor gates."
Ling Yun picked up the blueprints and flipped through them one by one.
"What about the craftsmanship?"
"Trust Semiconductor 0.18 micrometers," Ni Guangnan took off his glasses and wiped them, "We've already coordinated with Liang Mengsong's team. We'll send it for fabrication in June, and it should be ready for testing in August."
Ling Yun nodded, tapping his finger twice on the drawing. "What's the estimated power consumption?"
Li Mo and Ni Guangnan exchanged a glance.
"It's about 800mw under full load," Li Mo said, "and it can be reduced to 50mw in standby mode."
Ling Yun put down the blueprints and leaned back in his chair. "These parameters aren't good enough."
The meeting room was silent for a few seconds.
"I can accept 800mW at full load," Lingyun said, "but the standby power consumption must be kept below 20mW. 50mW is just too high."
Li Mo opened his mouth, then swallowed his words back.
Ni Guangnan coughed. "Ling Yun, the ARM9 core itself—"
"I know," Lingyun interrupted him, "I know the power consumption of ARM9 is inherent. But mobile devices are not PCs, and battery life is a hard constraint."
He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a marker, and wrote two numbers. "Power optimization is a never-ending process. I'll say it again today."
Li Mo stared at those two words for a while, then wiped his face. "Okay. The clock gating can be lowered a bit more. We only did three voltage domain divisions before; if we could do five—"
"It can be done," Ni Guangnan replied, "but the complexity will increase, and the simulation time will take at least two more weeks."
"Then two more weeks," Lingyun said. "The tape-out can be pushed back to late June, a few more days won't make a difference."
Li Mo lowered his head and made a few notes in his notebook.
Ling Yun walked back to the table, picked up the top sheet of paper, and looked at it again. "What's this chip called?"
"The star core," Li Mo said, "was decided beforehand."
"Star Core," Ling Yun read aloud, then put the blueprint back. "A good name."
Ni Guangnan took a thermos from his briefcase, unscrewed the lid, and took a sip. "There's one more thing. Liang Mengsong said that the 0.18-micron process production line at the Singapore factory can be upgraded by the end of the year, and the yield is estimated to be over 85%."
"85% is not enough," Ling Yun said. "Mass production requires 95%."
"That's something to do after mass production," Ni Guangnan waved his hand. "The first test print, 85% is already very good."
Ling Yun didn't say anything more. He walked a few steps in the conference room, then stopped in front of the window, his back to the two of them.
"Li Mo".
"Um?"
"How's it going with the GPU team?"
Li Mo closed his notebook. "We poached two people from Nvidia and one from ATI, and they've both started working. The office in Shanghai is ready, and the equipment will arrive next week."
When will the architecture plan be available?
"End of the year."
Ling Yun turned around. "Too slow. I need to see the first version of the architecture plan by September."
Li Mo bit his lip. "September... Okay, I'll oversee it myself."
Ni Guangnan glanced at Li Mo, then at Ling Yun, and then closed the thermos. "You two chat, I'll go back to my office first. There's still a batch of goods to ship from the production line."
He walked to the door, then turned back. "Oh, by the way, I'll have the cafeteria save some food for you two tonight, so you don't have to work overtime on an empty stomach again."
The door closed.
Only Ling Yun and Li Mo remained in the conference room.
Li Mo sat down in the chair and slumped back. "Do you know what I was thinking last night when the simulation passed?"
"What are you thinking about?"
"I was thinking, if this chip doesn't work in the end, I'll be fucking..."
He didn't finish speaking.
Ling Yun walked over and sat down next to him.
"If it doesn't run, it doesn't run," Ling Yun said. "It's normal for the first version to have bugs. We find problems, solve them, and the second and third versions will get better and better."
Li Mo turned her head to look at him. "When did you become so easy to talk to?"
"When have I ever been difficult to talk to?"
Li Mo chuckled, then stopped. He stared at the ceiling for a moment, then said, "If this chip is successful, will we no longer have to depend on Qualcomm?"
"It's still early days for the baseband chip," Lingyun said. "Let's solidify the application processor first, and then we can deal with the baseband step by step."
Li Mo sat up straight and collected the blueprints on the table one by one. "Okay, I understand. I'll have another meeting with the team tonight to go over the low-power solution again."
Don't stay up too late.
Do you even believe what you're saying?
Ling Yun didn't reply.
Footsteps echoed down the corridor, and someone knocked on the door. "Mr. Ling, there's a call from Singapore. Mr. Liang is looking for you."
"Take it."
Ling Yun walked to the conference table and pressed the speakerphone button. Liang Mengsong's voice came through the phone, a little noisy, but still clear.
"Mr. Ling, I've sent you the equipment procurement list to your email. Several lithography machines need to be imported from Japan, which will take a long time."
"How long?"
"It will take at least four months."
"Four months it is then," Ling Yun said. "Any other questions?"
"In terms of funding..."
"Just go directly to the finance department; I've already spoken to them."
There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone. "Okay, I understand."
After hanging up the phone, Ling Yun picked up her coat and prepared to leave. But as she reached the door, she turned back and saw Li Mo frowning as he flipped through blueprints, muttering to himself.
"Li Mo".
"what?"
Congratulations!
Li Mo paused for a moment, then scratched his head. "It hasn't even been taped yet, congratulations too early."
"The completion of the first version of the design is a milestone," Ling Yun said. "Don't hold back when it's time to celebrate."
He pushed open the door and went out.
At the end of the corridor, the sky outside the window had already darkened. The lights in the distant factory workshop were on, and the muffled hum of the machines drifted through the glass.