What is a standard?

In semiconductor design, standard cell methodology is a method of designing Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) with mostly digital-logic features. Standard cell methodology is an example of design abstraction, whereby a low-level VLSI-layout is encapsulated into an abstract logic representation (such as a NAND gate). Cell-based methodology (the general class that standard-cell belongs to) makes it possible for one designer to focus on the high-level (logical function) aspect of digital-design, while another designer focused on the implementation (physical) aspect. Along with semiconductor manufacturing advances, standard cell methodology was responsible for allowing designers to scale ASICs from comparatively simple single-function ICs (of several thousand gates), to complex multi-million gate devices (SoC).