This book was written to arm engineers qualified and knowledgeable in the area of VLSI circuits with the essential knowledge they need to get into this exciting field and to help those already in it achieve a higher level of proficiency. Few people truly understand how a large chip is developed, but an understanding of the whole process is necessary to appreciate the importance of each part of it and to understand the process from concept to silicon. It will teach readers how to become better engineers through a practical approach of diagnosing and attacking real-world problems.

Low-Power Digital VLSI Design: Circuits and Systems addresses both process technologies and device modeling. Power dissipation in CMOS circuits, several practical circuit examples, and low-power techniques are discussed. Low-voltage issues for digital CMOS and BiCMOS circuits are emphasized. The book also provides an extensive study of advanced CMOS subsystem design. A low-power design methodology is presented with various power minimization techniques at the circuit, logic, architecture and algorithm levels. Features: Low-voltage CMOS device modeling, technology files, design rules Switching activity concept, low-power guidelines to engineering practice Pass-transistor logic families Power dissipation of I/O circuits Multi- and low-VT CMOS logic, static power reduction circuit techniques State of the art design of low-voltage BiCMOS and CMOS circuits Low-power techniques in CMOS SRAMS and DRAMS Low-power on-chip voltage down converter design Numerous advanced CMOS subsystems (e.g. adders, multipliers, data path, memories, regular structures, phase-locked loops) with several design options trading power, delay and area Low-power design methodology, power estimation techniques Power reduction techniques at the logic, architecture and algorithm levels More than 190 circuits explained at the transistor level.

This book describes methodologies in the design of VLSI devices, circuits and their applications at nanoscale levels. The book begins with the discussion on the dominant role of power dissipation in highly scaled devices.The 15 Chapters of the book are classified under four sections that cover design, modeling, and simulation of electronic, magnetic and compound semiconductors for their applications in VLSI devices, circuits, and systems. This comprehensive volume eloquently presents the design methodologies for ultra–low power VLSI design, potential post–CMOS devices, and their applications from the architectural and system perspectives. The book shall serve as an invaluable reference book for the graduate students, Ph.D./ M.S./ M.Tech. Scholars, researchers, and practicing engineers working in the frontier areas of nanoscale VLSI design.

Designing VLSI systems represents a challenging task. It is a transfonnation among different specifications corresponding to different levels of design: abstraction, behavioral, stntctural and physical. The behavioral level describes the functionality of the design. It consists of two components; static and dynamic. The static component describes operations, whereas the dynamic component describes sequencing and timing. The structural level contains infonnation about components, control and connectivity. The physical level describes the constraints that should be imposed on the floor plan, the placement of components, and the geometry of the design. Constraints of area, speed and power are also applied at this level. To implement such multilevel transfonnation, a design methodology should be devised, taking into consideration the constraints, limitations and properties of each level. The mapping process between any of these domains is non-isomorphic. A single behavioral component may be transfonned into more than one structural component. Design methodologies are the most recent evolution in the design automation era, which started off with the introduction and subsequent usage of module generation especially for regular structures such as PLA's and memories. A design methodology should offer an integrated design system rather than a set of separate unrelated routines and tools. A general outline of a desired integrated design system is as follows: * Decide on a certain unified framework for all design levels. * Derive a design method based on this framework. * Create a design environment to implement this design method.

This monograph is motivated by the challenges faced in designing reliable VLSI systems in modern VLSI processes. The reliable operation of integrated circuits (ICs) has become increasingly dif?cult to achieve in the deep submicron (DSM) era. With continuouslydecreasing device feature sizes, combinedwith lower supply voltages and higher operating frequencies, the noise immunity of VLSI circuits is decreasing alarmingly. Thus, VLSI circuits are becoming more vulnerable to noise effects such as crosstalk, power supply variations, and radiation-inducedsoft errors. Among these noise sources, soft errors(or error caused by radiation particle strikes) have become an increasingly troublesome issue for memory arrays as well as c- binational logic circuits. Also, in the DSM era, process variations are increasing at a signi?cant rate, making it more dif?cult to design reliable VLSI circuits. Hence, it is important to ef?ciently design robust VLSI circuits that are resilient to radiation particle strikes and process variations. The work presented in this research mo- graph presents several analysis and design techniques with the goal of realizing VLSI circuits, which are radiation and process variation tolerant.

This Second Edition focuses on emerging topics and advances in the field of VLSI interconnections In the decade since High-Speed VLSI Interconnections was first published, several major developments have taken place in the field. Now, updated to reflect these advancements, this Second Edition includes new information on copper interconnections, nanotechnology circuit interconnects, electromigration in the copper interconnections, parasitic inductances, and RLC models for comprehensive analysis of interconnection delays and crosstalk. Each chapter is designed to exist independently or as a part of one coherent unit, and several appropriate exercises are provided at the end of each chapter, challenging the reader to gain further insight into the contents being discussed. Chapter subjects include: * Preliminary Concepts * Parasitic Resistances, Capacitances, and Inductances * Interconnection Delays * Crosstalk Analysis * Electromigration-Induced Failure Analysis * Future Interconnections High-Speed VLSI Interconnections, Second Edition is an indispensable reference for high-speed VLSI designers, RF circuit designers, and advanced students of electrical engineering.

The Complete, Modern Tutorial on Practical VLSI Chip Design, Validation, and Analysis As microelectronics engineers design complex chips using existing circuit libraries, they must ensure correct logical, physical, and electrical properties, and prepare for reliable foundry fabrication. VLSI Design Methodology Development focuses on the design and analysis steps needed to perform these tasks and successfully complete a modern chip design. Microprocessor design authority Tom Dillinger carefully introduces core concepts, and then guides engineers through modeling, functional design validation, design implementation, electrical analysis, and release to manufacturing. Writing from the engineer’s perspective, he covers underlying EDA tool algorithms, flows, criteria for assessing project status, and key tradeoffs and interdependencies. This fresh and accessible tutorial will be valuable to all VLSI system designers, senior undergraduate or graduate students of microelectronics design, and companies offering internal courses for engineers at all levels. Reflect complexity, cost, resources, and schedules in planning a chip design project Perform hierarchical design decomposition, floorplanning, and physical integration, addressing DFT, DFM, and DFY requirements Model functionality and behavior, validate designs, and verify formal equivalency Apply EDA tools for logic synthesis, placement, and routing Analyze timing, noise, power, and electrical issues Prepare for manufacturing release and bring-up, from mastering ECOs to qualification This guide is for all VLSI system designers, senior undergraduate or graduate students of microelectronics design, and companies offering internal courses for engineers at all levels. It is applicable to engineering teams undertaking new projects and migrating existing designs to new technologies.

Practical Low Power Digital VLSI Design emphasizes the optimization and trade-off techniques that involve power dissipation, in the hope that the readers are better prepared the next time they are presented with a low power design problem. The book highlights the basic principles, methodologies and techniques that are common to most CMOS digital designs. The advantages and disadvantages of a particular low power technique are discussed. Besides the classical area-performance trade-off, the impact to design cycle time, complexity, risk, testability and reusability are discussed. The wide impacts to all aspects of design are what make low power problems challenging and interesting. Heavy emphasis is given to top-down structured design style, with occasional coverage in the semicustom design methodology. The examples and design techniques cited have been known to be applied to production scale designs or laboratory settings. The goal of Practical Low Power Digital VLSI Design is to permit the readers to practice the low power techniques using current generation design style and process technology. Practical Low Power Digital VLSI Design considers a wide range of design abstraction levels spanning circuit, logic, architecture and system. Substantial basic knowledge is provided for qualitative and quantitative analysis at the different design abstraction levels. Low power techniques are presented at the circuit, logic, architecture and system levels. Special techniques that are specific to some key areas of digital chip design are discussed as well as some of the low power techniques that are just appearing on the horizon. Practical Low Power Digital VLSI Design will be of benefit to VLSI design engineers and students who have a fundamental knowledge of CMOS digital design.