This book is based on one with the title VLSI Design, published by Oldenbourg for the first time in 1990 and followed by four further editions. A substantially revised version with the title System Integration was published by Oldenbourg in 2003 and is the basis for this book. It includes lectures which the author teaches at the Bundeswehr Uni- versity in Munich for graduate students and topics for adult education of professional engineers and physicists.
In order to introduce the book it is appropriate to consider more closely the history of silicon integrated circuits and how the design environment has changed over the years.