kpl@fs0.ee.ubc.ca (k. p. Lam) (02/15/91)
I am looking for information on available (both public domain or commercial) CAD tools for designing analog VLSI circuits for neural nets. Carver Mead's book seems to indicate that some powerful design packages are now available in the field -- but I wonder whether someone in the newsgroup have more details on their sources and availability. Thank you for any help. -- Kai Lam (Email: kpl@ee.ubc.ca) Department of Electrical Engineering, University of British Columbia Vancouver, B.C., Canada. .
harry@neuron6.Jpl.Nasa.Gov (Harry Langenbacher) (02/16/91)
In article <1522@fs1.ee.ubc.ca> kpl@fs0.ee.ubc.ca (k. p. Lam) writes: >I am looking for information >on available (both public domain or commercial) CAD tools for designing >analog VLSI circuits for neural nets. Carver Mead's book seems to indicate >that some powerful design packages are now available in the field -- but >I wonder whether someone in the newsgroup have more details on their >sources and availability. We have designed many analog VLSI chips with MAGIC, both versions 4 and 6. It is Public domain. We simulate our circuits with Pspice - a comercial version of the public domain SPICE from U.C. Berkeley. We also use some rather expensive layout checking software. Our chips are made by MOSIS. Carver Mead's students have written an a complete set of cad tools and assembled it into a succesful cad system at Cal Tech. I don't think it's available to the public yet. It includes tools for schematic capture, circuit simulation, I.C. layout, and design verification. Just come on down and enroll. With Magic and Spice, and some carefull checking - you're in business. -- Harry Langenbacher 818-354-9513 harry%neuron6@jpl-mil.jpl.nasa.gov Neuroprocessing & Analog Computing Devices JPL, M/S 302-231, 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena CA 91109
ins_atge@jhunix.HCF.JHU.EDU (Thomas G Edwards) (02/20/91)
In article <1522@fs1.ee.ubc.ca> kpl@fs0.ee.ubc.ca (k. p. Lam) writes: >I am looking for information >on available (both public domain or commercial) CAD tools for designing >analog VLSI circuits for neural nets. Carver Mead's book seems to indicate >that some powerful design packages are now available in the field -- but >I wonder whether someone in the newsgroup have more details on their >sources and availability. I am unaware of any CAD tools especially designed to create standard neural computational systems in analog VLSI. Most of the "neuromorphic" chips being made currently are custom designed. If you mean more precisely "what CAD tools are available to create any kind of analog VLSI," LEDIT is available for PC's, and the much more extensive MAGIC system is available for workstations. If you are interested in "neuromorphic" chips, I recommend reading up on current-mode circuits (the best way to get signals across a large area of a chip operating in subthreshold mode), and also check out the article by Bohanen in a recent _Neural_Computation_. -Tom