Basic Information
- Course Code: EE 719
- Course Name: Mixed Signal VLSI Design
- Course Offered In: 2023-2024
- Semester Season: Spring
- Instructors: Prof. Maryam Shojaei
- Prerequisites: Analog Circuits (EE204) is a hard prerequisite, Signals and Systems (EE229) is a soft prerequisite
- Difficulty (1 being easy and 5 being tough): 4
Course Content
This course intends to discuss the intricacies of the Analog-to-Digital (ADC) and Digital-to-Analog (DAC) converters. The course is divided into four major parts - Switch Design, ADC Design, DAC Design and Power Management Circuits including the architectures of Low Dropout Regulators (LDOs).
The course is based on technical articles and papers mostly, where a simple design is taken, analysed based on various parameters and to improve performance and reduce shortcomings, design changes are made. The course develops like this for all parts and ends at architectures which are being used in many chip design systems.
Feedback on Lectures
The Lectures were initially slow, but picked up a little pace after mid-semester examinations. Tutorial sessions are conducted by TAs which are really useful both for concept doubt clearance as well as Assignment/Project related doubts. The flow of the topic is sometimes incoherent and the structure of the topic sometimes ends up being vague, not being easily able to relate the previously taught topic to the next. So self study is key to keep pace with the class apart from lectures.
Feedback on Evaluations
The evaluation for this course was divided into 4 main parts -
End-Semester Exam - 25% Mid-Semester Exam - 25% Project - 20% Two Quizzes - 15% Assignments - 15%
The written parts of the evaluation - Quizzes, MidSemester and EndSemester were pretty easy as they had concepts which was discussed straight in class or in the tutorial sessions conducted by TAs. They were all closed book time bound examinations.
The assignments were based on the architectures taught in class whose schematic had to be designed in Cadence Virtuoso and simulations had to be run to meet specifications given in the problem statement. The project was also based on Cadence Virtuoso, and some sub-parts of the project was based off previously done assignments. One big issue with courses which involve licensed software is that you would have to start your design process way ahead of deadline due to limitations on the number of licenses available. Even if you are in, you would face issues like connectivity, the software being very slow to respond, etc. So expect some resistance here. Apart from these issues, the assignments were of moderate difficulty while the project was quite difficult (mostly due to too many iterations of simulations to run to match the problem specifications).
Study Material and Resources
The research papers and technical articles required for every topic and sub-topic will be given to you by the instructor. To tackle the theory evaluations, studying this and the slides given by the instructor is more than enough. For the projects and assignments, attending Tutorial sessions which are conducted to teach you intricacies of Cadence Virtuoso are a must as tackling them on your own or using external resources is a lot of pain.
Follow-up Courses
This course is a part of the famed Analog Trio - EE618, EE619 and EE719. There is one other course - Delta Sigma Converters which is taken occasionally (not every year) based on demand and instructor’s availability which dives deep into the these converters. These converters are industry standard and very famous in current day scenario.
Final Takeaway
The course is a must to take if you wish to take up Analog-Mixed Signal Design in the future. It builds the base for you to explore more in this field.