VHDL

11

Circuit Synthesis

CHAPTER OBJECTIVES

• What is synthesis
• Significance of synthesis in design flow
• Differences between synthesis and simulation
• Steps to synthesize a circuit
• Synthesizing combinational and sequential circuits
• Modelling and synthesis of finite state machines

11.1 INTRODUCTION

Synthesis of circuit is defined as a process of generating netlist from a circuit design model. Synthesis means ‘to generate’. It is a step to generate circuit hardware schematics. VLSI design flow is revisited here (Figure 11.1), explaining the role of synthesis in digital design flow. In VHDL design flow, synthesis is performed for hardware generation after simulation verifies the logic functionality of circuit under design and is ready for its hardware ...