Empowering Digital IC Design in Mindanao

Article by Krisel Joy J. Tero

As part of the government’s effort to make the Philippines a powerhouse in integrated circuits (IC) design industry and to help Mindanao gain recognition as another IC design hub, the Electronics Engineering program of Mindanao State University – Iligan Institute of Technology conducted a 5-day training on Introduction to Hardware Description Language (HDL) with ASIC Flow and Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) which was held at the Microelectronics Laboratory, College of Engineering and Technology, MSU-IIT last November 6-10, 2017.

This is the fourth installment of the analog and digital integrated circuits design trainings. The first three trainings held for the past two years were: (1) Introduction to Analog Integrated Circuit Design; (2) Operational Amplifier Design; and (3) Integrated Circuits Design Layout. These activities are designed to enable each faculty to develop, teach and improve their courses in electronics and IC design more effectively. This program also enables the industry partners to directly interact with the faculty to identify challenges in the academe’s microelectronics program.

The said endeavor is also in line with the research projects of the IIT MicroLab which are funded by the DOST-PCIEERD. Among the deliverables is to provide training to the faculty members of the Universities in the Mindanao so they may be able to put up their own Microelectronics Laboratories.

Participants were the faculty members of Electronics Engineering and Computer Engineering programs from the various universities and colleges throughout Mindanao namely: Ateneo de Davao University; Holy Cross of Davao College; Notre Dame of Marbel University; Notre Dame of Midsayap College; Notre Dame of Kidapawan College; Notre Dame University –Cotabato; University of Mindanao – Davao; University of Mindanao – Tagum; Jose Rizal Memorial State University; Camiguin Polytechnic State College; Bukidnon State University; Lyceum of Iligan Foundation. Prof. Jefferson A. Hora and Prof. Harreez Villaruz-Quimque ,who are both Electronics Engineering faculty members, provided the theories and concepts thru lectures while the MSEE- Microelectronics students served as the training assistants.

On the third day of the training, the President of Center for Applied Microelectronics and Programming, Inc. (CAMP) and former Executive Director of Philippine Institute for Integrated Circuits (PIIC), Engr. Christian Roque, addressed the need for a skilled workforce that would support the growing IC design and software development industries of the country. Also present was Engr. Genesis Orozco of Xinyx Design Consultancy and Services Inc. who commended MSU-IIT for consistently producing a number of skilled undergrads in IC designing. Both of them encouraged the faculty trainees to implement the Microelectronics track in their curriculums. An open forum followed and both the faculty trainees and IC design industry representatives discussed as to how they could help hand in hand for the Academe to avail the EDA tools.

In general, it was an affirmative note to receive positive feedbacks during the course of the training with an eager eye on the next phase. Engr. Dexielito Badilles and Engr. Eduardo E. Descalsota, both from Ateneo de Davao University, bagged the Best in FPGA Project award while Engr. Kristine Anne Montoya was awarded as the Best Training Participant.

Relevant Links:

Full Narrative Report

Approved Special Order

Mindanao Universities' ECE/ CompE Faculty Members Attend Digital IC Design Training at IIT MicroLab (msuiit.edu.ph)