Tape out?

[Zvekan]

I'm wondernig what does exactly tape out for a graphic chip mean?

Appearance of first (fully?) functional silicon from foundary? Or?

Zvekan

 

[Tim]

I'm wondernig what does exactly tape out for a graphic chip mean?

Appearance of first (fully?) functional silicon from foundary? Or?

Zvekan

No it means that the design is finished and send to the foundry. The production of chips starts after the tapeout.

 

[Simon F]

No doubt it comes from the days when the design would be stored on a big magnetic tape so that it could be shipped.

 

[Ailuros]

The production of chips starts after the tapeout.

In that sense wouldn't it be more accurate to presuppose a successful tape-out?

Tape-out =! start of production if respins should be necessary, or not?

 

[Simon F]

The production of chips starts after the tapeout.

In that sense wouldn't it be more accurate to presuppose a successful tape-out?

Tape-out =! start of production if respins should be necessary, or not?

You are still producing something even if they are just the first batch of engineering samples.

 

[Ailuros]

Point taken and acknowledged. Yet if fairly "dead" silicon returns, it should usually mean delayed (**edit: final) production then.

 

[Dio]

'Tape out' is sending some data to the fab, thereby initiating some part of a manufacturing process for a chip. As Simon says (ha!) the origin of this is from the days before high bandwidth connectivity where the data had to go on tapes.

This might be a whole chip description, or only part of it. For example, it is possible to tape out the base layers a few days/weeks before the metal layers are ready, or just to tape out metal for a respin.

Also note that even 'production' silicon can be respun (yield and bug fixes would be the main reasons for doing so).

 

[Ailuros]

*takes notes and adds to learning inventory* 8)

 

[Zvekan]

Ok, thanks on explanation.

Zvekan

 

[T2k]

BTW, AFAIR, expression 'tape-out' comes from the old times: the actual storage medium was TAPE for large datasets (like a design).