VLSI Design – Digital IC Design, Simulation & Verification

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Introduction

This course offers a detailed foundation in VLSI design principles, methodologies, and tools used in the semiconductor industry. It covers the complete design flow from RTL design to physical implementation, emphasizing digital IC design using HDL (Verilog/VHDL) and industry-standard tools for simulation, synthesis, and layout. Ideal for students aiming for roles in chip design, EDA, or semiconductor R&D, the course combines both theory and practical exposure.

Modules and Content

Module 1: Introduction to VLSI Systems
  • History and evolution of VLSI
  • Design hierarchy and abstraction levels
  • VLSI design flow overview
  • MOSFET characteristics and operation
  • CMOS inverter, NAND, NOR gate design
  • Power, delay, and noise considerations
  • RTL modeling and behavioral description
  • Dataflow and structural coding
  • Testbench creation and simulation basics
  • Adders, multiplexers, encoders, and decoders
  • Design of arithmetic circuits using HDL
  • Simulation and functional verification
  • Flip-flops, registers, and counters
  • FSM (Finite State Machine) design
  • Clocking and synchronization techniques
  • RTL to gate-level conversion
  • Technology mapping and constraints
  • Timing optimization and area-power tradeoffs
  • FPGA architecture and configuration
  • ASIC flow: Schematic to GDSII
  • Comparison between FPGA and ASIC
  • Setup and hold time violations
  • Slack calculation
  • Clock domain crossing
  • Placement, clock tree synthesis
  • Routing, DRC, and LVS
  • Parasitics extraction and layout verification
  • Introduction to tools: Cadence, Synopsys, ModelSim, Xilinx Vivado
  • End-to-end digital design of a custom logic circuit
  • Project presentation and report submission

Scope & Advantages

VLSI design is at the core of the semiconductor and chip manufacturing industry. With rising demand in IoT devices, smartphones, EVs, 5G, and AI chips, skilled VLSI engineers are highly sought after in companies like Intel, Qualcomm, AMD, Samsung, and Texas Instruments. This course offers strong career paths in digital design, verification, physical design, and EDA tool development.

Reference

  • “Piping Handbook” by Mohinder L. Nayyar ,
  • “Process Piping: The Complete Guide to ASME B31.3” by Charles Becht IV,
  • “Pipe Stress Engineering” by Liang-Chuan Peng and Tsen-Loong Peng
  • “Piping Design Handbook” by John J. McKetta Jr.
  • “The Planning Guide to Piping Design” by Richard Beale and David R. Sherwood