Frank Kagan Gürkaynak: Catalogue data in Autumn Semester 2018

Award: The Golden Owl
NameMr Frank Kagan Gürkaynak
Address
Institut für Integrierte Systeme
ETH Zürich, ETZ J 60.1
Gloriastrasse 35
8092 Zürich
SWITZERLAND
Telephone+41 44 632 27 26
E-mailkgf@ethz.ch
URLhttp://www.iis.ee.ethz.ch/~kgf
DepartmentInformation Technology and Electrical Engineering
RelationshipLecturer

NumberTitleECTSHoursLecturers
227-0116-00LVLSI I: From Architectures to VLSI Circuits and FPGAs Information 6 credits5GF. K. Gürkaynak, L. Benini
AbstractThis first course in a series that extends over three consecutive terms is concerned with tailoring algorithms and with devising high performance hardware architectures for their implementation as ASIC or with FPGAs. The focus is on front end design using HDLs and automatic synthesis for producing industrial-quality circuits.
Learning objectiveUnderstand Very-Large-Scale Integrated Circuits (VLSI chips), Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASIC), and Field-Programmable Gate-Arrays (FPGA). Know their organization and be able to identify suitable application areas. Become fluent in front-end design from architectural conception to gate-level netlists. How to model digital circuits with VHDL or SystemVerilog. How to ensure they behave as expected with the aid of simulation, testbenches, and assertions. How to take advantage of automatic synthesis tools to produce industrial-quality VLSI and FPGA circuits. Gain practical experience with the hardware description language VHDL and with industrial Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools.
ContentThis course is concerned with system-level issues of VLSI design and FPGA implementations. Topics include:
- Overview on design methodologies and fabrication depths.
- Levels of abstraction for circuit modeling.
- Organization and configuration of commercial field-programmable components.
- VLSI and FPGA design flows.
- Dedicated and general purpose architectures compared.
- How to obtain an architecture for a given processing algorithm.
- Meeting throughput, area, and power goals by way of architectural transformations.
- Hardware Description Languages (HDL) and the underlying concepts.
- VHDL and SystemVerilog compared.
- VHDL (IEEE standard 1076) for simulation and synthesis.
- A suitable nine-valued logic system (IEEE standard 1164).
- Register Transfer Level (RTL) synthesis and its limitations.
- Building blocks of digital VLSI circuits.
- Functional verification techniques and their limitations.
- Modular and largely reusable testbenches.
- Assertion-based verification.
- Synchronous versus asynchronous circuits.
- The case for synchronous circuits.
- Periodic events and the Anceau diagram.
- Case studies, ASICs compared to microprocessors, DSPs, and FPGAs.

During the exercises, students learn how to model digital ICs with VHDL. They write testbenches for simulation purposes and synthesize gate-level netlists for VLSI chips and FPGAs. Commercial EDA software by leading vendors is being used throughout.
Lecture notesTextbook and all further documents in English.
LiteratureH. Kaeslin: "Top-Down Digital VLSI Design, from Architectures to Gate-Level Circuits and FPGAs", Elsevier, 2014, ISBN 9780128007303.
Prerequisites / NoticePrerequisites:
Basics of digital circuits.

Examination:
In written form following the course semester (spring term). Problems are given in English, answers will be accepted in either English oder German.

Further details:
https://iis-students.ee.ethz.ch/lectures/vlsi-i/
227-0148-00LVLSI III: Test and Fabrication of VLSI Circuits Information 6 credits4GF. K. Gürkaynak, L. Benini
AbstractIn this course, we will cover how modern microchips are fabricated, and we will focus on methods and tools to uncover fabrication defects, if any, in these microchips. As part of the exercises, students will get to work on an industrial 1 million dollar automated test equipment.
Learning objectiveLearn about modern IC manufacturing methodologies, understand the problem of IC testing. Cover the basic methods, algorithms and techniques to test circuits in an efficient way. Learn about practical aspects of IC testing and apply what you learn in class using a state-of-the art tester.
ContentIn this course we will deal with modern integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing technology and cover topics such as:
- Today's nanometer CMOS fabrication processes (HKMG).
- Optical and post optical Photolithography.
- Potential alternatives to CMOS technology and MOSFET devices.
- Evolution paths for design methodology.
- Industrial roadmaps for the future evolution of semiconductor technology (ITRS).

If you want to earn money by selling ICs, you will have to deliver a product that will function properly with a very large probability. The main emphasis of the lecture will be discussing how this can be achieved. We will discuss fault models and practical techniques to improve testability of VLSI circuits. At the IIS we have a state-of-the-art automated test equipment (Advantest SoC V93000) that we will make available for in class exercises and projects. At the end of the lecture you will be able to design state-of-the art digital integrated circuits such as to make them testable and to use automatic test equipment (ATE) to carry out the actual testing.

During the first weeks of the course there will be weekly practical exercises where you will work in groups of two. For the last 5 weeks of the class students will be able to choose a class project that can be:
- The test of their own chip developed during a previous semester thesis
- Developing new setups and measurement methods in C++ on the tester
- Helping to debug problems encountered in previous microchips by IIS.

Half of the oral exam will consist of a short presentation on this class project.
Lecture notesMain course book: "Essentials of Electronic Testing for Digital, Memory and Mixed-Signal VLSI Circuits" by Michael L. Bushnell and Vishwani D. Agrawal, Springer, 2004. This book is available online within ETH through
http://link.springer.com/book/10.1007%2Fb117406
Prerequisites / NoticeAlthough this is the third part in a series of lectures on VLSI design, you can follow this course even if you have not visited VLSI I and VLSI II lectures. An interest in integrated circuit design, and basic digital circuit knowledge is required though.

Course website:
https://iis-students.ee.ethz.ch/lectures/vlsi-iii/