IC-PROJECT & VERIFICATION | ETIN01 |
Aim
The aim is to provide knowledge about practical design of integrated circuits, with an emphasis on system-on-chip. The circuits can be either analog, digital, computer oriented, or mixed mode, and the design work can be performed on either transistor or block level.
Knowledge and understanding
For a passing grade the student must
Skills and abilities
For a passing grade the student must
Judgement and approach
For a passing grade the student must
Contents
The design of integrated circuit is a rapidly growing field which has a large need of well educated engineers. The course is performed as a project work, where the students in small groups apply their knowledge from earlier courses to design an integrated circuit (IC=Integrated Circuit), also known as a chip. This is done using modern CAD tools. Several projects can be performed so that they can be connected together creating a larger system.
The course provides the students a unique opportunity to design a complete chip, where a number of selected designs can be submitted to fabrication at the end of the project work. The manufacturing of the selected designs takes about 3 months, after which they should be verified.
The ambition is that the main part of the project should have a broad content with parts that are analog, mixed mode, and digital parts. Such a project can have different groups designing the different parts.
The verification part is mandatory and takes about two weeks. If the design of the student has been selected for fabrication he/she must verify his own circuit. Otherwise an already existing circuit can be verified. In special cases digital designs can be implemented and verified using FPGA (Field Programmable Gate Array). The requirements on design complexity and volume of the report will in those cases be increased.
The digital part also contains a number of mandatory parts to make the students acquainted with the CAD-tools needed to perform the project.
Literature
Course material will be available on the homepage of the course
Code: 0111.
Name: Project.
Higher education credits: 9.
Grading scale: TH.
Assessment: The work is performed in groups and an assessment is made of the efforts of the group as well as the individual participants, In addition to this, the students who perform a digital project must also pass a number of assignments, assessed in written and oral form. Re-examination is offered one week after, If the student fail this second opportunity, he or she is not allowed to continue to the project phase and must wait until the next course instance. A renewed project to get a higher grade can not be offered.
Contents: Design of an integrated circuit using the advanced CAD-tools also used in the research at the department.
Code: 0211.
Name: Verification.
Higher education credits: 3.
Grading scale: TH.
Assessment: The work is performed in groups and an assessment is made of the efforts of the group as well as the individual participants, based on a written report and an oral presentation.
Contents: The measurements that are relevant to the function of the circuit must be performed and compared to the simulation results. A report must also be written. When this is passed the results should also be presented orally.