Date   : Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:37:45 +0000
From   : percy.p.person@... (Ed Spittles)
Subject: Electron Ferranti ULA reverse engineering progress

Hi Theo

On 10 November 2010 18:45, Theo Markettos <
list-a_cloud9.bbc-micro@...> wrote:

> I got a chance to look at the Electron ULA Mark sent me under the
> microscope
> today (with thanks to Sergei):
>
> http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~atm26/acorn/electron/ula/
>
> asic_1 is with a 10x objective, asic_2-4 are with 5x.
>

Looks great to me!  We only need the metal layout - the vias are pre-placed
- and we've many copies of the underlying cell, so this should be very
usable.

(We only need the connectivity - not even the exact geometry - and it's
gridded, and just one layer)



> Some other references.  Sorry if some of the stuff below is behind
> paywalls,
> I can't tell the restrictions from a university machine.
>
> This New Scientist article (7 Jan 1982):
> http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=o2Woah0axxYC&pg=PA4&lpg=PA4
> says either the Serial or Video ULAs used the Ferranti R-series platform.
> Their cell structure is given in:
>
> http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6V0X-47WTWY2-2C/2/a553fd812b073c97d40e804cb9759fa1
> That's different in that it provides a quad-emitter current source and two
> extra double-emitter transistors.


I think this is the one - it would be great if you could share a diagram
from there (feel free to mail me privately)

Cheers
Ed