VLSI CAD Part I: Logic

Modern VLSI chips have zillions of parts: logic, control and memory. These complex chips are designed by how do we make them? Answer: CAD software tools. Learn how to build thesA modern VLSI chips is a complex beast. There are billions upon billions of transistors and millions upon logic gates used for computation and control. Big blocks of memory contain embedded blocks that include pre-designed functions created by third parties. These blocks are called "intellectual property" (or IP blocks). How does one design such complex chips? Answer: A sequence of computer-aided design (CAD), tools creates an abstract description of the chip and refines it step by step to create a final design. This course focuses on the main design tools that are used to create an Application Specific Integrated Circuit or System on Chip (SoC). This first section of the course focuses on key Boolean representations that allow us to synthesize and verify the gate-level logic in these designs. This is the first stage of the design chain. We move on from logic to layout. Students will learn how tools work at the level their data structures and algorithms. The topics covered include logic verification and computational boolean algebra.