1. Purpose and scope
This stage turns a concept that has been shown feasible into a chip that can be built. It starts once the Concept & Feasibility stage has closed: the concept is approved, a candidate architecture and the process technology are chosen, and the technology feasibility review has shown that the process, critical IP and package can meet the targets or has given each gap a plan. It ends when the product plan is agreed and the specification is frozen. In between, the team decides in detail what the chip must do, how it is partitioned into blocks, which IP is bought or reused, how it uses the process technology chosen at concept, and what performance, power, area and cost it must reach.
The stage is short compared with the design stages that follow, but its decisions fix most of the product's cost and schedule. A requirement that is missed here is found late, usually in verification or on silicon, where it is far more expensive to fix. The scope therefore covers both the content of the specification and the discipline around it: traceability from market requirements to specification items, a change control process that starts at the freeze, and first plans from every team that depends on the specification.
The guide covers the chip track of the stage. The business decisions on market, pricing and portfolio fit belong to the product lifecycle and are referenced where they feed the chip.
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