MSU-IIT’s Microelectronics Laboratory conducts virtual IC design training series to an HEI in Muntinlupa

Article by Ritt Vincent Librado

The Microelectronics Laboratory of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Technology (DEET) had conducted A Virtual Training on courses of Introduction to Analog Integrated Circuits (IC) Design; and Full Custom IC Layout for the faculty members of Colegio de Muntinlupa (CDM), Muntinlupa City, Metro Manila from July 2, 2022 to July 29, 2022.

This extension activity was held in cooperation with Xinyx Design – a pioneering company in the field of integrated circuits services in the Philippines and an industry partner of the MicroLab of MSUIIT. The training was attended by three (3) faculty members of CDM, namely:

• Engr. Francis Malit

• Engr. Roselito Tolentino, and

• Engr. Lovelyn Garcia

Dr. Jefferson A. Hora – the MicroLab Head and the Training Team Leader spearheaded the event. Joining him are the MicroLab faculty and select graduate and undergraduate students namely: Assoc. Prof. Aileen Gumera; Assoc. Prof. Allenn Lowaton; Asst. Prof. Rochelle Sabarillo, Dr. Gene Fe Palencia, Kriz Kevin Adrivan (MSEE), Ritt Vincent Librado (MSEE), Mark Eric Andam (MSEE), Johanna Mae Quinalayo (MSEE) and Emrys Oling (BSECE).

Introduction to Analog IC Design

Analog circuits are becoming more important today because they provide the interface between the real world signals and digital processing systems. These circuits are typically made of smaller circuits that perform basic functions such as signal transformation, amplification, or rejection. In order to successfully build integrated analog circuit systems, the designer must first be familiar with the basic analog blocks. At the lowest level of design, the designer must understand the MOS transistor characteristics and how these can be used to build analog circuits. This course provides the trainees with background on MOS transistor physics, its operating characteristics, and how it can be used to implement basic analog building blocks such as single stage amplifiers, bias circuits, and differential amplifiers. This will enable the trainees to design and implement their own basic analog blocks to build more complex circuits.

Course Topics

• MOS transistor biasing and small-signal model

• Two-port network analysis

• Single stage amplifiers i.e. common-source, common-gate, common-drain

• Active loads, current sources and mirrors

• MOS capacitances

• Frequency response of single stage amplifiers

• Differential amplifiers, resistive load, active load and frequency response

• Fabrication process

Full-Custom IC Design Layout

Actual devices in integrated circuits are made up of layers with different electrical properties. Once the devices of a circuit are properly sized to meet the specifications, they must be drawn using the layers supported by the manufacturing process. This step in the circuit design, called layout design, uses the electronic design automation (EDA) tools to draw the shapes of the layers of each device which will be used as the “blue print” for fabrication of the actual chip. This course serves as an introduction on Full-Custom Analog IC Layout Design using industry standard EDA tools. At the end of this course, the trainees must be able to draw the physical layout of a given circuit to meet the required specifications such as area, parasitics and performance.

Course Topics

• Analog IC layout components

• EDA tools for layout design

• Resistors, capacitors and inductors

• Bipolar transistors, MOS transistor and logic gates

• Design techniques and best practices for layout design

• Circuit design and analog block layout design

• Device placement and routing

• Layout verification and debugging

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