ECE 5545: CMOS VLSI Circuit Design II

Fall 2010

 

professor:       J. G. Tront

                                Room 359 Durham Hall, 231-5067

                                jgtront@vt.edu

                  

office hours:                By appointment

                  

text:     CMOS VLSI Design: A Circuits and Systems Perspective, Third Edition

                                Weste and Harris, Addison-Wesley, 2005.

                  

objectives:    

1.       To learn advanced concepts for designing full custom VLSI circuits and systems using CMOS technology.

2.       To understand the design of adders, multipliers, RAMs, counters, PLAs, RAMs, and other digital logic structures that form VLSI circuits.  To understand how and when to apply various VLSI clocking strategies.

3.       To become familiar with testing techniques specifically applicable to IC design.  To understand the specialized circuits needed to incorporate testability in an IC.  To be able to make tradeoffs between chip size and performance vs. testability.

4.       To develop the ability to design and implement standard cells for a specific fabrication technology.

5.       To become proficient with CAD tools used in VLSI design work including layout, simulation, and design verification tools.

                  

prerequisites:     

1.       CMOS VLSI Circuit Design I (ECE 4540) or equivalent.

2.       The fundamentals of computer architecture.

                  

laboratory:     CAD & Visualization Lab - Room 432 Whittemore

 

A personal workstation account can be acquired for the CAD & Visualization Lab (CVL) by going to the web site http://computing.ece.vt.edu/ and clicking on the CVL Accounts link. The CAD & Visualization Lab administrators are located in 346 and 348 Whittemore Hall should you have difficulties with your account. Many assignments are to be completed on the workstations; however, some assignments may be done on Wintel or clones. Information on accessing the ECE 4540 software environment will be forthcoming. All students should log on to a workstation and familiarize themselves with the UNIX operating environment ASAP. Be sure to use your Virginia Tech PID as your account name for the CVL.

We will rely heavily upon electronic communications.  Information pertinent to homework assignments, quizzes, and lectures will be conveyed electronically, and will be available on the class web page. 

                  

grading:           Homework Problems ------------------------         25%       

                                Midterm Exam ---------------------------               25%

                                Final Project ------------------------------------        25%

                                Final Exam -------------------------------------         25%

                  

Homework is due at 5 PM on the assigned due date. Late homework will not be accepted unless special arrangements are made well in advance of the due date. Homework is expected to be prepared in a professional manner (points may be lost due to sloppiness). As implied in the above distribution, high emphasis is placed on the lab assignments and homework; however, good performance on all exams is expected for an exceptional grade for the class.

 

Homework must be turned in electronically. Word documents are preferred. You will receive further instructions on how to submit your assignments from your instructor.       

 

 

 

 

HONOR SYSTEM:

 

Honesty in your academic work develops into professional integrity. As such, adherence to the Honor Code is expected in all phases of this class. All graded work is expected to be the original work of the individual, or of the team for projects, unless otherwise directed by the instructor. In working on project assignments, discussion and cooperative learning is allowed and, in fact, encouraged. Copying or otherwise using another person or team's programs, specific algorithms, layouts, or other detailed solutions to homework, projects or tests is an honor code violation. Please discuss any questions that you may have about what is permitted or not permitted with the instructor.

 

SPECIAL SITUATIONS:

 

If you need adaptations or accommodations because of a disability (learning disability, attention deficit disorder, psychological, physical, etc.), if you have emergency medical information to share with me, if you need an accomodation because of religious holidays, or if you need special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an appointment with me as soon as possible. My office location and hours are posted above.