Global communications in the information age

Advances in application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) are steadily moving global communications toward its ultimate goal: to secure voice, data and images in any combination, anywhere, at any time. Current trends in ASIC design that are leading to more reliable circuits which offer increasing performance at lower and lower cost per function are discussed. The trends include finer features, increasing complexity, shorter design cycles, and the use of more powerful simulation and CAD tools all of which lead to an increasingly pervasive use of integrated circuits