The Institute of Microelectronics at Ulm University is contributing member of the Cadence Academic Network and uses Cadence EDA tools (custom IC design and verification tools) for the following lectures and accompanying projects/exercises:

Analog CMOS Circuit Design: Lecture and Project

This course is intended to provide in depth understanding of CMOS analog circuit and system design. Based on a functional review of the MOS transistor, both the ability to analyze as well as to design CMOS analog circuits will be learned. Not thorough theoretical analysis but more the understanding of analog circuit and system operation is the intention of the course. Accompanying project work will provide hands on design and simulation experience with the Cadence Virtuoso Environment. In this project, the students will design and layout various analog modules in an advanced sub-micron CMOS technology.

Digital Circuits: Lecture and Exercises

Starting from the transistor as basic switching element, this lecture builds up the entire digital design flow including gate-level, synthesis, digital algebra, up to basics of processors. The lecture is accompanied by VHDL examples of each specific topic and the students are able to deepen their knowledge by their own simulations.

Design of Integrated Systems: Project

The objective of the course is to deepen participants' knowledge of VLSI system design by developing a small integrated circuit. Each team works independently and students are responsible for scheduling their work sessions. At first, alternative design architectures are developed and examined based on the given specifications. The best solution is implemented in VHDL and the behavior is simulated using the Cadence NCSim software. Then, Synthesis and Place&Route of the design is done, and a simulation including the timing of the logic cells is used to prove the correct functionality of the design at the logic cell level. At last, the design is tested on an FPGA.

Mixed-Signal CMOS Chip Design: Lecture and Exercises

This lecture builds on the analog and digital CMOS circuit design lectures. In contrast to these more theoretical lectures on circuit design techniques, this lecture is focused on the implementation issues of application specific integrated circuits (ASICs). After explanation of circuit simulation techniques, layout and verification is covered up to manufacturing and packaging. There is a strong emphasis on the computer aided design (CAD) support and algorithms, which are integral part of todays chip implementation. The exercises will be used to give hands-on experience with industry-standart CAD design tools by Cadence.