Encyclopedia

gate array

Also found in: Dictionary, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia.

gate array

An earlier type of ASIC chip that was partially finished with rows of unconnected transistors and resistors. The chip was completed by designing and adhering the top metal layers that provided the interconnecting pathways to form logic gates (NAND, NOR, etc.). These final masking stages were less costly than designing a full custom chip from scratch, which requires a new photo-mask for every transistor and interconnection layer. Gate arrays were superseded by field programmable gate arrays (see FPGA).

Basic Cells
The gate array was made up of cells containing a number of transistors and resistors. Using a cell library (gates, registers, etc.) and a macro library (more complex functions), the customer designed the chip, and the vendor's software generated the interconnection masks. Quite often, many cells went unused. See ASIC, PLD, hard macro and soft macro.


Gate Array Cells
These are examples of basic cells, one for CMOS only and another for CMOS and bipolar transistors. See CMOS and bipolar transistor.
Copyright © 1981-2025 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.
Mentioned in
References in periodicals archive
The report includes segmentation of the Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)market on the basis of different aspects, along with a regional segmentation.
Extending the life of LSI's CMOS ASIC gate array products can save customers the cost of having to re-design or rely on suspect parts from unauthorized sources," said Paul Gerrish, co-president at Rochester Electronics.
Based on the newest version of Exemplar's LeonardoSpectrum(TM) synthesis tool, the modular process will reduce the time required to design million gate field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), such as the Xilinx Virtex(TM) series, by as much as 30 percent.
The field programmable gate array (FPGA) market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 7.41% between 2016 and 2022 and reach USD 7.23 billion by 2022.
Newburyport, MA, April 02, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Rochester Electronics, the world's largest authorized manufacturer and distributor of end-of-life and mature semiconductors, has reintroduced the gate array semiconductor portfolio from Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (Nasdaq: AMCC).
The upgrade includes compiler improvements that enhance field-programmable gate array design.
Essentially, it becomes an "antifuse," the basic element of one type of field programmable gate array (FPGA), best described as a blank computer chip that uses software to rewire the hardware.
The platform provides a complete engineering platform for evaluating and integrating the Xilinx Spartan 3A-DSP FPGA (field-programmable gate array) and TI digital media processor based on DaVinci technology.
High performance logic suppliers, such as application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field programmable gate array (FPGA) and microprocessor makers, are expanding their use of flip chip in package (FCIP).
Copyright © 2003-2025 Farlex, Inc Disclaimer
All content on this website, including dictionary, thesaurus, literature, geography, and other reference data is for informational purposes only. This information should not be considered complete, up to date, and is not intended to be used in place of a visit, consultation, or advice of a legal, medical, or any other professional.