1-micron CMOS 128 MHz video serialiser, palette, and digital-to-analogue (DAC) chip

Abstract

Summary form only given. The author describes a fully integrated 1-μm CMOS video serializer, color palette, and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) chip, which is being designed as a key component for a personal computer graphics system. One application for this chip is in the IBM Image Adapter/A. The chip drives high-resolution monitors up to 1600 by 1200 pixels at 128-MHz video frequency with 8 b/pixel. It offers a palette of 256 colors selectable from a possible 16 million colors. The design represents the state of the art in mixed analog and digital CMOS design. The design tools and methodology were chosen to minimize the design time and provide right-first-time hardware. The key features are a high-performance 256 × 24 palette RAM, three 8-b DACs, a reconfigurable video serializer, and approximately 6K (equivalent) gates of standard-cell logic to manage the control and interfacing of the chip.