KING FAHD UNIVERSITY OF PETROLEUM & MINERALS
COLLEGE OF COMPUTER SCIENCES & ENGINEERING

COMPUTER ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT

COE 360  PRINCIPLES OF VLSI DESIGN

Instructor   Dr. Adnan Gutub.  Email:  adnangutub 'at' gmail.com

 

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Course Description

MOS Transistor operation and limitations, MOS digital logic circuits (NMOS & CMOS), static & dynamic logic, combinational and sequential circuits, propagation delay, transistor sizing, MOS IC fabrication, layout and design rules, stick diagrams, IC Design and Verification Tools, subsystem design and case studies, and practical considerations.

Prerequisite: EE 203.

 

Text Book:      S.-M. Kang and Y. Leblebici, CMOS Digital Integrated Circuits: Analysis and Design, 2nd ed., 1999. Also some handouts on basic semiconductor concepts will be used insha’Alla.

 

References:     1) N. Weste and K. Eshraghian, Principles of CMOS VLSI Design, Addison Wesley, 1993.

                        2) Ken Martin, Digital Integrated Circuit Design, Oxford Press, 2000.

                        3) Jan Rabaey, Digital Integrated Circuits; A design Perspective, Prentice Hall, 1996.

 

Course Rationale

              This course teaches the fundamental issues involved in the design, manufacturing, and testing of digital integrated circuits (ICs).

Course Objectives

              Insha’Allah by the end of this course students are expected to be able to:

·         Describe the operation of MOS transistors using adequate models while realizing the limitations of these models

·         Analyze and evaluate the performance of different digital circuits

·         Describe the basic CMOS manufacturing process

·         Synthesize an efficient mask design (layout, or blue print) of a CMOS IC starting from a functional description. This would involves such skills as design segmentation, logic design, circuit design, simulation and post layout evaluation

·         Work better within a group

 

Learning Methodology

         The course objective shall be met insha’Allah though lectures, hands-on in-class exercises, assignments and the use of software for simulations and design of MOS chips. 

 

 

Course Topics:

 

1.                  Review Material:                                                                                                        

·         Types of solids (in terms of conductivity)

·         Review of basic semiconductor concepts (types, doping, Electrons and holes, calculating n and p,  Mobility, conductivity, current transport)

·         PN junction (structure, built-in potential, I-V characteristics, and capacitance).

 

2.                   The MOS Transistor:                                                                                                  

·         Structure (NMOS, PMOS, Enhancement vs. depletion)

·         Operation (regions and basic equations)

·         Limitations and scaling effects (Body effect, Latchup, Velocity saturation, Drain-Induced Barrier lowering (DIBL), Hot Electrons injection, and leakage)

·         SPICE models and capacitances

 

3.                   Digital MOS Circuits:                                                                                                 

·         Review of basic Specifications of Digital Integrated Circuits (Noise Margins, Fanin, Fanout and Power dissipation). 

·         Static MOS inverters (NMOS and CMOS inverters, delay models, transistor sizing, and power dissipation)

·         Static NMOS & CMOS logic, pass-transistor logic (PTL), transmission gates, differential Cascode Static Logic (DCSL), Latches and registers

·         Dynamic MOS Logic (Domino Logic, Dynamic DCL, Charge Sharing and True Single-Phase Clock (TSPC)

 

4.                   CMOS Processing Technology:                                                                                              

·         Photolithography and masking

·         CMOS fabrication process (epitaxy, oxidation, diffusion, implantation, metalization and passivation)

·         CMOS design rules and layout (transistors, interconnects, Sheet resistance, integrated resistors and capacitors, and Distributed RC Effect)

                                                                                                                               

5.                   CMOS IC Design & Case Studies:                                                                                

·         Subsystem Design (Floor planning, Adders, shifters, ALUs, decoders, counters, Memories, I/Os and case studies)

·         VLSI Design Styles (Custom vs. Semicustom techniques, Standard Cells, Gate Arrays, FPGAs and testing)

 

 

Course Project:  The course project is a very important tool to develop and apply different concepts learned in the course. It should also enhance the student’s presentation skills and ability to work within a group. Groups of 1 to 3 students shall be formed and each will be assigned a different project. Each group shall divide the work among them and present their progress throughout the project phases.

 

 

Grading Policy

 

Grading is meant only as a way of assessing the student’s achievements in the course. Students should not feel too much pressured by this process. The adopted grading policy allows and indeed rewards improvements. A student failing to achieve a good grade in the first exam should not feel that he has no chance. The whole purpose of the adopted grading policy is to give the student a second and even a third chance if he needs it to achieve the best result he wants.

 

 

Attendance & Quizzes                       15 points

Project Assignments                          15 points                                               

Exam 1                                             15 points

Exam 2                                             15 points

Exam 3                                             20 points

Final Exam                                       20 points

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Total                                                 100 points

 

Attendance Policy

 

·         Attendance will be taken regularly.

·         There will be a 0.5% grade deduction for every unexcused absence.

·         Excuses for officially authorized absences must be presented no later than one week following resumption of class attendance.

·         Late students can attend, but every 3 late records will be assumed to hold marks as one absent.