No: EE 477
Title: VLSI II
Credits: 5
Coordinator: Josephine Ammer, Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering
Goals:
Learning Objectives:
Textbooks: Rabaey, Chandrakasan, and Nikolic, Digital Integrated Circuits, A Design Perspective
Reference Texts: Weste and Harris, CMOS VLSI Design: a Circuits and Systems Perspective
Prerequisites by Topic:
Topics:
Course Structure:There are 4 hours of lecture per week, plus extensive computer laboratory time. Each student will undertake the following custom CMOS digital circuit designs, which will be verified by circuit simulation:
Computer Resources: Students are given access to the Sun Microsystems Lab computers upon which reside the Cadence and Avanti software programs.
Laboratory: Students have free access to the Sun Microsystems computers upon which they can do their project work.
Grading: 40% Projects, 30% Midterm Exams (2), and 30% Final Exam.
Outcome coverage:
(a, high) An ability to apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering. All of the lectures and the majority of the exams are based on math, science, and engineering knowledge. Students must learn how to analyze the propagation delay of various CMOS gates starting from basic physics principles. Mathematical formulations are commonplace throughout the course. Various methods and styles of performing digital logic at the transistor level are studied.
(b, medium) An ability to design and conduct experiments, as well as to analyze and interpret data. A significant component of designing and developing a real world application, and indeed the projects in this class, is the ensure that one's system performs to specification in the intended environment.
(c, high) An ability to design a system, component or process to meet desired needs within realistic constraints such as economic, environmental, social, political, ethical, health and safety, manufacturability, and sustainability. In this class, students learn how to design, layout and characterize a static RAM. In addition, the students design a high-speed adder and a high-speed multiplier. The three projects are design competitions in which the students compete to see which team can achieve the best circuit specifications. About one-half of the grade devoted to project work (or one-half of 40%) is based on the competitiveness of their design. Students design and implement three significant integrated circuit blocks, subject to design specifications and constraints.
(d, high) An ability to function on mulit-disciplinary teams. Although not multidisciplinary since the class is in the student's selected major, the students work as a members of two person teams to execute each of the projects.
(e, low) An ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems. For each of the design projects the student must analyze the requirements, then design, implement, and test the system, to verify its performance and characteristics.
(f, low) An understanding of professional and ethical responsibility. Ethics and professional behavior are stressed throughout the course. Considered areas include copyrights, national and international patents, licensed material, intellectual property, plagiarism, citing sources for material or idea, and using published algorithms and designs.
(g, high) An ability to communicate effectively. The design projects require written reports, as well as oral presentations to the teaching assistants.
(h, low) The broad education necessary to understand the impact of engineering solutions in a global, economic, environmental, and societal context. Lecture material routinely stresses the need to consider international markets and the need to satisfy international standards.
(i, low) A recognition of the need for, and an ability to engage in life-long learning. Lecture material continually emphasizes that today's technology is transitory and that the students must learn the basics so that these may form a foundation upon which they will understand and build future technologies. The need to continually augment one's education is emphasized.
(j, low) A knowledge of contemporary issues. Discussions of contemporary technologies, corporate needs and responsibilities, the legal impacts of designs, and the ever-evolving engineering discipline are an integral part of the lecture material.
(k, high) An ability to use the techniques, skills, and modern engineering tools necessary for engineering practice. The students become very familiar with the operation and use of state-of-the-art industrial design automation tools from Cadence (Virtuoso layout editor, DRC and LVS for layout verification, Spectre circuit simulator), and Avanti (Hspice circuit simulator), and Nassada (high-speed circuit simulator). About one-half of the grade devoted to project work (or one-half of 40%) is based on the student's ability to successfully use these tools.
(l, low) Knowledge of probability and statistics, including applications appropriate to electrical engineering
(m, low) Knowledge of differential equations, linear algebra, complex variables and discrete mathematics
(n, high) Knowledge of mathematics through differential and integral calculus, basic sciences, computer science, and engineering sciences necessary to analyze and design complex electrical and electronic devices, software, and systems containing hardware and software components, as appropriate to program objectives.
ABET Criterion 4 Considerations
Engineering Standards - Students are provided with realistic specifications that must be achieved by their design projects. IEEE standards are reviewed and followed. Industry-standard computer-aided design tools and design exchange formats are used.
Realistic Constraints - The design projects intimately involve real world constraints and trade-offs including delay vs. area vs. power.
Economic - Students must choose among design alternatives on the basis of performance, power consumption, and cost (area). The students are made aware that the economics and the associated constraints are different for a design anticipated to sell hundreds or thousands of units versus those anticipated to sell millions of units.
Environmental - The manners in which the logic blocks being designed fit into their environment is stressed. How designs impact the environment and how manufacturing of the designs impacts the environment is also covered.
Sustainability - Students are asked to consider design and component reuse in each of their projects.
Manufacturability - One or more of the design projects must meet manufacturability design rules.
Ethical - See goal (f) under Outcome Coverage.
Health and Safety - Safe and reliable operation of a design is mentioned repeatedly throughout the course.
Social - The potential social impact of today's technologies is an integral component of the lecture material.
Political - Political considerations are addressed through repeated emphasis that today's technologies have no local boundaries. Further, that products and intellectual property are international in scope and that ethical, social, and political considerations are now an important part of contemporary designs.
Prepared By: Josie Ammer
Last Revised: 05/09/07