Government interest and involvement in design automation development (Panel Discussion)

The state of the art in design automation is a key to the effective utilization of the increasing density and functional complexity attainable on a “chip” today. The Department of Defense's Very High Speed Integrated Circuits (VHSIC) program is targeting a density-speed product of 1 × 10 13 Gate-Hz/CM 2 by the late 80's. Commercial developments are also achieving greater and greater densities. That the problems of design have been greatly exacerbated by the present and anticipated VLSI densities is well documented in the technical literature. The DAC panels in 1979 and in 1980 focused upon design automation and VLSI in the 80's. The questions before this panel center upon the role of Government in acceleration of design automation development and whether or not commercial development of design automation capability for VLSI can keep pace with Government requirements. The attached outline (Figure 1) provides an overview of the many facets related to the depth and breadth of the Government's interest and potential involvement in the development of design automation capability. The panelists have been asked to submit a short position paper and prepare a five-minute explanation of their views.