ASIC design and verification: Front end vs Back end

[student]

What is the difference between Front end and Back end asic design? I tried googling the answer but I can't seem to find anything. I want to know if this is the direction I wish to head in or not?

What is the difference between asic design and embedded design?

[jda]

front end: RTL design
back end: physical design (place and route), physical verfication (LVS, DRC)

http://www.altera.com/products/software/flows/asic/qts-structured_asic.html