Following their design projects, the students will work on a sequence of VLSI design experiments to learn the basic tools necessary for a final comprehensive project combining the fabrication and characterization of a sensor, the development of associated VLSI circuitry, hybridization of the sensor and VLSI circuit, packaging, and finally testing the devices. The sensor physics and technology course sequence is outlined in Table 2. Strategies Design and Fabrication Methods Applications Table 2. Outline of material covered in the two course sequence on smart sensors an integrated devices. Each sensor has its own particular sensing application and output 3 .
Some sensors produce an output voltage, current, a resistance or capacitance.
The smart sensor system must integrate this sensor output on one chip, without external components as illustrated in Figure 1. Diagram of Sensor system with integrated electronics. The VLSI curriculum consists of one hour lecture and three hours laboratory a week. The VLSI portion begins by building on basic concepts to familiarize students with the software and design strategies. The students learn how to layout a standard cell which will be part of a standard cell library for analog VLSI design of more complicated circuits.