Methods are developed to understand and control the impact of practical component limitations like input and output impedance, frequency response, offset voltages, bias currents and cost. Stability considerations and compensation techniques are studied and students are introduced to noise considerations in circuit design.
Students work individually on the small designs but in teams on larger ones.
Significant emphasis will be placed on circuit timing, simulation and layout techniques through the use of computer-aided design tools available in the Computer Aided Engineering Laboratory. A final project, consisting of a student's design, can be submitted for fabrication. The emphasis will be on cmos with occasional references to nmos to make comparisons. Each student will be required to complete the design of a reasonably complex IC and make a presentation to the class of its design methodology, expected behavior and correlation with simulation results. Therefore discussion of testing and design for testability will also be part of this course.