Northeastern University
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Cadence University Program Member

Northeastern University is a proud member of the Cadence University Program. Tools from Cadence Design Systems are used by faculty, students and researchers in various courses, research projects and student projects. This page is only Cadence-information related.

• Courses
  • Introduction to VLSI Design
    Description: Covers a structured digital CMOS design focusing on designing, verifying, and fabricating CMOS VLSI-integrated circuits and modules. Emphasizes several topics essential to the practice of VLSI design as a system design discipline including systematic design methodology, good understanding of CMOS transistor, physical implementation of combinational and sequential logic network, and physical routing and placement issues. Begins design exercises and tutorials with basic inverters and proceeds to the design, verification, and performance of large, complex digital logic networks. Also covers IC design methodologies and performance, scaling of MOS circuits, design and layout of subsystems such as PLA and memory, and system timing. Requires lab session that includes computer exercises using Cadence SiP, Digital IC, and Verification to design VLSI layouts and switch-level plus circuit-level simulations to design and analyze the project.
    
  • Advanced VLSI Design
    Augments the physical-level VLSI design knowledge built in introductory coursework by studying how to take advantage of VLSI technologies. Provides students with the opportunity to go through the design process of VLSI architectures with two architectural-level design projects using Cadence Products such as Custom IC, Digital IC, and Verification. Prior project examples include the design and evaluation of FPGAs, application specific processors, and microprocessors. Emphasizes performance and cost tradeoffs and decision making in these projects. Lectures provide theories and discussions to support these design projects that include a brief review of VLSI design methodology, pipelining and parallel processing in VLSI processors, interconnection between VLSI processing units, VLSI-oriented algorithms and applications, VLSI architecture synthesis, such special VLSI architectures as synchronous and asynchronous processor arrays and massively parallel fine-grained processor arrays, and reconfigurable VLSI architectures.
    
  • Digital Systems Design with Hardware Description Languages
    Focuses on modeling of digital systems in a hardware description language. Topics include textual vs. graphical modeling of digital systems, syntax and semantics of the VHDL language, modeling for simulation, and modeling for synthesis. Students use Cadence CAD tools to simulate and synthesize digital system descriptions.
    
  • Digital Systems Design and Interfacing with Verilog (undergraduate and graduate)
    Covers automated design and synthesis of digital systems with the standard Verilog hardware description language, with an emphasis on CPU structures and interfacing. Demonstrates how Verilog can be used for simulation, synthesis, and test of digital systems. Discusses hardware description using predefined parts, using the bussing structure of a system, or using a mapping of inputs to outputs. After a complete presentation of the Verilog language, presents synthesizability concepts and templates for logic unit, memory unit, and state machine synthesis. Continues by using Verilog in a complete design and description of a CPU, its peripheral devices, and generation of a complete CPU board.
    
  • Microprocessor-based Design
    Focuses on the hardware and software design for devices that interface with embedded processors. Topics include assembly language; addressing modes; embedded processor organization; bus design; electrical characteristics and buffering; address decoding; asynchronous and synchronous bus protocols; troubleshooting embedded systems; I/O port design and interfacing; parallel and serial ports; communication protocols and synchronization to external devices; hardware and software handshake for serial communication protocols; timers; exception processing and interrupt handlers such as interrupt generation, interfacing, and auto vectoring.
    
  • Analog Circuit Design
    Focuses on the principles upon which the basic building blocks used in the design of analog circuits and systems are based. Topics include modeling CMOS, bipolar, and BICMOS devices; gain, impedance, and frequency response of basic amplifier structures; feedback amplifier topologies and compensation techniques; operational amplifier architectures including low-voltage, OTAs, and three-stage designs; tuned RF amplifiers; and noise sources and models. Tools from Cadence Design Systems such as Custom IC, Verification, and SiP are used in the practical elements of the course. SPB is also used for test board preparation.
    
• Research
  • High-speed D/A integrated circuit design and system integration
  • High-speed A/D integrated circuit design and system integration
  • Energy-scavenging devices for signal processing
  • Clocking Schemes for high-performance VLSI systems
  • 3-dimensional wafer design
  • High-speed IC signal-integrity
  • Physical CAD tool design
  • Merged DRAM logic technology
  • Successive approximation register design
  • High-speed control switching circuits
    
  • High-speed power switching circuits
    
• Student Projects
  • Tools from Cadence Design Systems are used for various purposes, including planning, routing, layout, IC design and analysis, in selected Capstone projects by undergraduates in their senior year.

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Last
updated: June 17, 2019 by Prof. Yong-Bin Kim