IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2014 - 42

and for many applications highly
desirable, to incorporate one or
more processors onto a die with
other digital logic to create complex
embedded systems. As system on
a chip (SoC) became viable, implemented as ASICs or using high-end
FPGAs, interest in system modeling
also increased. Where previously
this had largely been undertaken as
a separate exercise unconnected to
the implementation flow, the examination of architectural trade-offs
between hardware and software,
between single versus multicore,
and in the optimal deployment of
complex bus hierarchies became a
critical part of the design process.
The introduction of system modelling languages like SystemC and
System Verilog attracted another
type of user, hardware and software
aware but distinct from both.
FIGURE 3: the academic and research laboratory institutions (noted in red) that are members
of eURoPRActIce.

The initial programmable devices
that required a separate hardware programmer quickly evolved into highly
capable multimillion gate reprogrammable field-programmable gate arrays
(FPGAs). Correspondingly, more and
more digital design projects became
feasible on FPGAs, confining digital
ASICs to only the most challenging
applications. However, the design
tools required to efficiently create
designs for implementation in an FPGA
needed to become more sophisticated
as design size increased and needed
to address many of the same design
complexity challenges associated
with large digital ASICs. EUROPRACTICE sought to provide FPGA-capable
design tools from vendors already
established within the portfolio to
provide commonality between existing IC and FPGA design flows.

MEMS
The discipline of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) was
largely confined to the laboratory
at the beginning of EUROCHIP. In
EUROPRACTICE, the MEMS activity

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was growing and was supported by
the introduction of tools for MEMS
design. These tools were selected
to complement the existing IC layout tools available so that academic
institutions could build upon their
existing expertise and save the cost
of buying additional layout tools.
The initial adoption of MEMS technology outside of a core group of academic institutions was not as rapid as
had been hoped, despite access to specialized design tools and fabrication.
The solution was to reuse the lessons
learned from IC design and launch an
integrated flow including an MPW service for MEMS. One of the challenges
of designing MEMS is that detailed
knowledge of the specific processes is
required to obtain working designs. To
this end, the EC training action STIMESI
was created. The project ran between
2006 and 2012, offering short courses
in a wide range of MEMS topics at locations across Europe.

System on a Chip
As the geometries of ICs have
shrunk, it has become practical,

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

Membership Model
The current EUROPRACTICE membership (Figure 3) stands at more
than 650 academic institutions in
42 countries within and close to
Europe. The laws and business practices in these countries are all different; some are in the European Union
while others are not. Despite this,
all goods and services are supplied
through the EUROPRACTICE consortium to European academic institutions under a single set of prices and
conditions that apply to all.
All academic institutions sign the
same membership agreement, end
user agreements (EUAs) for design
tools, and nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) for access to foundry
design kits. Wherever possible, each
academic institution is encouraged
to join EUROPRACTICE as a single
member rather than having one
membership per academic department or professor. This gives the
academic institution a cost savings
on membership and maintenance
fees but, perhaps more importantly,
enables the commercial vendors
to have a corporate-level account
with the academic institution.
EUROPRACTICE then interacts with

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2014