NeoLogic unveils novel processor design technology

The company expects to tapeout an ARM processor at 16 nanometers for demonstration this December. The technology and the processor will be available for evaluation to key selected customers.

NeoLogic's Quasi-CMOS technology serves as a platform for processor design. It delivers high computing power in tandem with reduced power consumption and cost.

The company has completed the development of new, non-existing, standard cells for the 16nm technology node, on top of the existing CMOS standard cells library. NeoLogic’s standard cells are single-stage high fan-in (8 to 16 inputs), among others, leading to up to 50% reduction in power consumption compared to the most advanced equivalent CMOS cells while saving up to 40% of the area.

The technology was conceived to address the increasing workloads in data centres and the need to reduce the high costs associated with developing processors using advanced technology nodes. Designing processors with Quasi-CMOS delivers superior computing power per watt per millimetre square, catering to the escalating workloads of artificial intelligence, machine learning, data analysis, video streaming, and more in data centres.

CMOS technology, which has been the ‘workhorse’ of processor design and fabrication for the past 40 years, is nearing its limits and is challenging to improve. Quasi-CMOS breaks through these limitations by significantly increasing the maximum number of inputs of standard cells and by changing their topology to reduce the number of transistors. This breakthrough benefits the logic synthesis as well as the physical design.

NeoLogic, which recently secured $8 million seed funding, was founded in 2021 by Dr. Avi Messica (CEO) and Ziv Leshem (CTO), both of whom have decades of experience in R&D and management of microprocessors design and fabrication. Dr. Avi Messica (PhD. Weizmann Institute of Science) is an expert in solid-state physics and quantum devices and in ultrafast transistors in particular with 26 years of managerial experience in a variety of hi-tech companies. Messica previously served as a device group manager at Tower Semiconductors and has hands-on experience in the design and fabrication of CMOS devices. He also served as VP of Engineering at Shellcase and founded and served as the CEO of three semiconductor companies in the fields of image sensors, MEMS-based optical switches, and photonic chips.

Ziv Leshem has 25 years of experience in processor design. He worked for some of the world's leading semiconductor companies, such as National Semiconductors, DSPG, and Synopsys, and managed complex processor design projects. He was one of the founders of LogixL, a company that developed a hardware-based HDL simulator and he also served as a manager at NewSight Imaging, a developer of LiDAR and iTOF sensors. Before founding NeoLogic he was the manager of the physical design group at Inomize where he managed a group of engineers and developed processors for customers in various industrial sectors in CMOS technologies ranging from 40nm to 7nm.