ECE 570 IC 752-E
FALL
2002
UNIVERSITY
OF ARIZONA
DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER
ENGINEERING
COMPUTER AIDED ENGINEERING (CAE)
FOR INTEGRATED CIRCUITS
INSTRUCTOR: O. A.
Palusinski
OFFICE: Room ECE 524C, Phone: (520)621-4928
FAX: (520)626-9241, e-mail: palusinski@ece.arizona.edu
Office hours: T: 10-10:30 AM, 1-2 PM, Th:
10-10:30 AM.
TEXT: There is no textbook for this course.
Numerous handouts, including: copies of relevant publications, class notes and
reports will be available.
REFERENCES: 1) Advances in CAD for VLSI, Series by
North-Holland.
Vol. 3: A. Ruehli, Ed., Circuit Analysis,
Simulation and Design
Part 1: General Aspects of Circuit Analysis
and Design;
Part 2: VLSI Circuit Analysis and Simulation;
2)
P. Antognetti and G. Massobrio, Semiconductor Device
Modeling with SPICE, McGraw-Hill.
3)
J. Vlach, K. Singhal, Computer Methods for Circuit Analysis and Design,
Van Nostrand Reinhold, N. York 1983.
4)
A. Vladimirescu, The SPICE Book, J. Wiley and Sons, 1994.
5) K. S. Kundert, The Designer’s Guide to
SPICE and SPECTRE, Kluwer Academic
Publishers,
Boston, 1998.
Design of integrated circuits involves
complicated mathematical models and requires sophisticated software support
tools. A high cost of integrated circuit manufacturing emphasizes the
importance of design process, which is expected to provide products meeting the
specification during one design-manufacturing cycle. Understanding software
support tools and underlying numerical methods is very important for their
efficient use and successful design. Applicants (both MS and Ph. D. level) for
positions with industry are expected to have such skills.
The course provides information about the CAE
software available to designers with emphasis on circuit simulation programs
exemplified by SPICE family of software packages. Corresponding quantitative
techniques are presented to prepare students for efficient use of these complex
programs. Original approach, developed at the University of Arizona, to circuit
simulation based on waveform relaxation and spectral analysis will also be
discussed. Spectral analysis is particularly suitable for analog and RF
circuits, which play critical role in designing communication equipment.
Advances in semiconductor technology result in increasing device operating
speeds and chip densities. Electronic system designers are confronted with
practical problems imposed by the inter-chip connections, which may degrade and
limit the overall system performance. Explosive development of market for
cellular telephones, pagers, and other wireless communication means puts a
great emphasis on quick design of RF circuits. Sophisticated use of circuit
simulation techniques for such designs will be discussed. Mixed analog/digital
circuits, which are encountered in communication systems represent real
challenge to modeling and simulation. Selected approaches to developing
software assistance to designers of such circuits will be discussed.
Use of a simulator to sensitivity and
stability studies of circuits will be illustrated by examples taken from
engineering practice.
Topics will be selected by or assigned for
individual reading/studies and report presentations. Students will prepare and
deliver written reports on the selected topics. In writing your report please
follow the format described at the end of this document.
TENTATIVE COURSE OUTLINE:
1. Overview of computer aided engineering for
microelectronics, software tools.
2. Formulation of circuit equations, basic
components, modified nodal analysis.
3. Device modeling for SPICE, computer
implementation, and parameter measurement.
4. D-C analysis of circuits; Newton - Raphson
algorithm, SPICE implementation, convergence
problems, and solution techniques.
5. Transient analysis; time marching methods,
discretization errors, error control, linearization,
companion networks, solution methods.
6. SPICE options and control parameters,
explanation of SPICE options and numerical control
parameters, guidelines for selection of
critical parameters.
7. Simulation of circuits and
interconnections with D-C resistance; problem formulation, algorithm,
implementation in a simulator, examples of
application.
8. Mixed-signal circuits, examples,
simulation problems, functional/behavioral modeling: performance metrics,
computer support for analysis/design.
9. Spectral techniques, SPEC program,
simulation of linear circuits, advantages of spectral methods.1
10. Harmonic analysis, harmonic balance
techniques, basic concepts, examples.
11. Automation of multiple analysis runs,
collection of statistics, cross-plots, parameter sweep, optimization and
generation of design curves, application in
designing RF circuits (stability regions of power amplifiers).
12. Simulation case studies.
PREREQUISITES: Basic circuit analysis, elementary electronic
circuits; some exposure to numerical methods desirable but not necessary.
GENERAL PROCEDURES :
ATTENDANCE: Roll will be called in lecture
only for the first few meetings, to determine who is in the course. After that,
attendance in lecture is optional, except of course, that if you miss any
required work because of absence, you will lose credit for that work.
WITHDRAWALS: You may withdraw without the permission of the
instructor up to the end of the 4th week of class although your courtesy in
notifying the instructor will be appreciated. From the end of the 4th week
until the end of the 10th week you may withdraw with a "W" only if
you are passing the course. For this purpose you will be considered passing if
you are in the upper 3/4 of the class on the basis of the work completed to
that time. There will be NO WITHDRAWALS after the tenth week, and incomplete
will be given only if the student is doing passing work. Note that students
wishing to drop the course, AT ANY TIME, must file a DROP/ADD form.
Ceasing attendance does not automatically
drop you from the course. IF YOU ARE STILL ON THE CLASS ROLL AT THE END OF THE
SEMESTER, YOU WILL RECEIVE O'S FOR ANY WORK NOT COMPLETED AND WILL BE GRADED
ACCORDINGLY.
GRADING: Your grade in the course will be
based on your performance on examinations and computer assignments, weighted as
follows:
3 midterm examinations 30%
Computer assignments 30%
Report on reading material 15%
Final examination 25%
Make-up examinations can be arranged
exceptionally in well justified cases (illness, obligatory travel).
Important dates
Tentative dates of examinations (in class
periods): Sept. 16, Oct. 7, Nov. 4.
Final examination (2 hours, 8-10 AM): Dec.
14, 1999.
Report on reading material - due date: Dec.
7.
Computer assignments due on dates designated.
Report
Requirements
The reports are expected to be typed, double spaced and should be of publication quality. The appropriate length of the reading report should be 10-15 pages. The length of reports on simulation assignments may vary. The cover page should contain the title, date, author’s name and affiliation. A table of contents can also be included in the cover page or preferably on a separate page.
Typical content of a reading report includes:
1. Introduction, general problem description and topics importance.
2. Problem formulation (detailed specification of the problem).
3. Literature survey (a brief evaluation of essential results of each paper quoted).
4. Solution method(s).
5. Summary of results.
6. Observations and conclusions.
7. List of references.
All references should be cited in the text. Literature citations should follow "author-date" system described in the "Chicago Manual of Style", published by The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 1982 (or newer edition). Please note that a literature search constitutes an important part of your work. The selection of literature and its survey (section 3 above) will be carefully evaluated and appropriately weighted in the grading.
Student may also suggest a topic of his own in which case a proposal (1-2 pages including description of the topic, formulation of problem, and evaluation of problem importance) should be submitted for the approval.