EDA-Based VLSI System and PCB Design

Modern-day electronic systems consist of many components, such as VLSI digital chips, power controllers, and much more, on printed circuit boards (PCBs) that connect them. The rapid advances in the development of these devices make the system design harder and harder, as more and more factors need to be considered by the engineers who develop these systems. They make use of specialized automated tools, called electronic design automation (EDA). To make the best systems, future engineers need to learn how these tools work and how they can use them.

In this course, you will learn how these tools work fundamentally and how you can use them to design custom PCBs and digital VLSI chips in a hands-on lab setting. You will learn how PCBs are built, how to select the right components, and how you can deal with non-idealities, such as crosstalk and interference that negatively affect the performance of the circuit. Furthermore, you will learn how to make measurement setups to validate your PCB design. You will learn how a digital design in a hardware description language, such as Verilog, is synthesized, placed, and a layout is created that can be manufactured.

This course is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. In the theoretical part, you will learn how the internals of the EDA tools work and how you can use that in your design process. In the practical part, you will apply this knowledge to develop a custom PCB with high-speed interfaces and a measurement setup to validate the PCB design, and to perform the complete process from a digital design to a layout. After completing the course, you will be able to make a flying start in designing your own PCBs and digital chips!