Course Details

1. Use EDA tools for ASIC/VLSI design.
2. Describe ASIC, PLD and FPGA technologies.
3. Design hazard free synchronous Digital Systems using ASMs and reliably synchronise asynchronous inputs.
4. Use HDLs and develop RTL design mentality.
5. Implement, test and verify the basic units of a CPU and memory using VHDL and FPGA boards.

VHDL: Top-Down Design. File organization. Entity and Architecture. Structural and Behavioural Description. VHDL Primitives. State System. Signal Queues and Delta times. Concurrent and sequential statements.  Procedures and functions. Packages and design for reuse.

Verification: Basic verification methodology. VHDL testbenches: directed and constrained-random testing, self-checking testbenches

ASIC architectures and Implementation Options:  Synthesis and EDA tools for ASIC and FPGA emplementation. Semi-custom / full custom ASICs. Gate Array, Standard Cell, Full Custom. CMOS/BI-CMOS technologies. PLDs and FPGAs.   

Digital Systems Design - ASMs: ASMs, Mealy and Moore machines. ASM charts. VE? minimization. IFL/OFL minimization and implementation. State machine implementation using PROMs and multiplexers. PLDs. Finite state machine implementation using FPLAs. Timing. Glitch minimization techniques. Asynchronous input systems. Implementation selection trade-offs: performance, cost, production size etc.

ASIC/VLSI design for testability: Testing, verification and production. Design for Testability (DFT). Built-in self-test, signature analysis.

Laboratory work: Individual or small group experiments using VHDL, FPGA implementation and testing.

• J. F. Wakerly, Digital Design: Principles and Practices and Xilinx 4.2i Student Package, Prentice Hall, 2003.

• V. Pedroni, The student’s guide to VHDL, Morgan Kaufmann, 1998.
• M. Mano, Digital Design, Prentice Hall, 2002.
• T. Floyd, Digital Fundamentals, Prentice Hall, 2002.

The course is structured in lectures that are conducted with the help of both computer presentations and traditional means. Practical examples and exercises are included in the lectures to enhance the material learning process. Often short post-lecture quizzes are used to assess the level of student understanding and provide feedback. Student questions are addressed during the lecture, or privately after the lecture or during office hours. Lectures include tutorials of EDA tools and design case studies.

Lecture notes are available through the web for students to use in combination with the textbooks.

Students are assessed continuously and their knowledge is checked through tests with their assessment weight, date and time being set at the beginning of the semester via the course outline.

Furthermore, guided individual and group design assignments are used to develop practical engineering skills while integrating the course theory.