Syllabus and Handout Notes
Week 1
Handout: Introduction to VLSI systems (pdf); Handout: Making a Chip that Sees (pdf)
Course logistics summary handout (pdf), Handout for weekly note taking (pdf)
Reading assignment: Chapter 1 of Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia, Sections (1.1-1.7)
Gordon Moore's original paper on semiconductor scaling -what is Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) and why it is important- (pdf)
Turning Potential Into Realities: The Invention of the Integrated Circuit (Jack S. Kilby, Nobel Lecture 8 December 2000) (pdf)
Mini-project: Moore's law in your family
Week 2
Handout: MOS devices, technology and design rules (pdf)
Reading assignment: Chapter 2 of Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia, Sections (2.1-2.12); View video: How A Chip is Made (animation video), From Sand to Chips (GlobalFoundries video)
S. M. Aziz, E. Sicard, and S. Bendhia, “Effective Teaching of the Physical Design of Integrated Circuits Using Educational Tools,” IEEE Trans Educ, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 517–531, Nov. 2010. - why we teach this course the way we do- (pdf)
Week 3
Handout: MOS transistor and mathematical models (pdf)
Reading assignment: Chapter 3, Sections (3.1,3.2,3.7) of Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia.
Chapter 11 from Philippe Pouliquen's writeup (pdf).
CAD Lab - MOS device simulation
Week 4
Lab - MOS device characterization
CAD Lab - SPICE circuit simulation
Week 5
Handout: Digital abstraction: MOS transistor abstraction as a switch (revisited), the inverter (pdf), Interconnects - Delay and Energy (pdf)
Reading assignment: Chapter 4 Sections (4.1,4.2,4.3,4.4,4.5,4.6,4.11,4.13) of Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia
Chapter 1 and 2 from Philippe Pouliquen's writeup (pdf).
Reading assignment: Chapter 5, Sections (5.1,5.2,5.3,5.4,5.5,5.6,5.7) of Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia.
Chapter 9 from Philippe Pouliquen's writeup (pdf).
Week 6
Handout: Basic and Complex CMOS Gates (pdf)
Reading assignment: Chapter 6, Sections (6.1,6.2,6.3,6.4,6.5,6.6,6.7,6.8,6.9,6.11) of Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia
Chapter 3 and 4 from Philippe Pouliquen's writeup (pdf).
Week 7 (3/16 Midterm Examination)
Review and midterm examination, project discussion.
Spring Break
Week 8
Handout: Arithmetic (Half Adders and Adders) Counters and Comparator (pdf)
Reading assignment: Chapter 7, Sections (7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.8) in Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia
CAD Lab - Logic simulation of CMOS circuits
Week 9
Handout: State Holding Elements and Sequential Circuits (pdf)
Reading assignment: A nice introduction to Sequences and State can be found in Ward and Halstead Chapter 4, Sections 4.1 to 4.7 (pdf). The basis of sequential logic circuits is also discussed in Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia Chapter 8, Sections 8.1 to 8.4; application of sequential logic in counters and dividers in Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia Chapter 8, Sections 8.5 to 8.7. Chapter 6 from Philippe Pouliquen's writeup is also a tutorial introduction to the topic (pdf).
CAD Lab - Introduction to CADENCE CAD enviornment
Week 10
Handout: Photodetectors (pdf) and Imager Architecture; tradeoffs in system design, circuit level, architecture level, with applications to arrays of elements (memory and imagers) (pdf)
Reading assignment: The Invention and Early History of the CCD (George E. Smith, Nobel Lecture 8 December 2009) (pdf)
Lab - Photodetector characterization (pdf)
Week 11
Handout: Analog and interface CMOS Circuits (pdf)
Reading assignment: Chapter 9 in Sicard/Delmas-Bendhia
Final project - Layout and simulation of a 3 x 3 array in CADENCE
Week 12
Final project - continue layout and simulation of a 3 x 3 array in CADENCE
Week 13
Final project - continue work and presentation in class (May 4th)