VLSI Design Methodology Development, First Edition

Chapter 1. Introduction

1.1 Definitions

1.1.1 Very-Large-Scale Integration (VLSI)

The amount of functionality that can be integrated on a single chip in current fabrication processes is associated with the term very-large-scale integration (VLSI). Preceding chip design generations were known as small-scale integration (SSI), medium-scale integration (MSI), and large-scale integration (LSI). Actually, VLSI has been used to refer to a succession of several manufacturing process technologies, each providing improved transistor and interconnect dimension scaling. A proposal was made to refer to current designs as ultra-large-scale integration, but the term ULSI has never really gained traction.

The complexity of a new VLSI design project is used ...