Electronic design automation

[3] The next era began following the publication of "Introduction to VLSI Systems" by Carver Mead and Lynn Conway in 1980,[4] and is considered the standard textbook for chip design.

Although the languages and tools have evolved, this general approach of specifying the desired behavior in a textual programming language and letting the tools derive the detailed physical design remains the basis of digital IC design today.

Widely used were the Espresso heuristic logic minimizer,[6] responsible for circuit complexity reductions and Magic,[7] a computer-aided design platform.

Cooperating fabricators either donated the processed wafers or sold them at cost, as they saw the program as helpful to their own long-term growth.

Current digital flows are extremely modular, with front ends producing standardized design descriptions that compile into invocations of units similar to cells without regard to their individual technology.

[9] Hence, analog EDA tools are far less modular, since many more functions are required, they interact more strongly and the components are, in general, less ideal.

[24] Most of the market leaders are amalgamations of many smaller companies and this trend is helped by the tendency of software companies to design tools as accessories that fit naturally into a larger vendor's suite of programs on digital circuitry; many new tools incorporate analog design and mixed systems.