Chip design (Suggested new course)

The course may cover detailed transistor modelling and optimization. Students may explore the design of analog building blocks such as operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs), current mirrors, and differential amplifiers, focusing on performance metrics like gain, linearity, cut-off frequency, gain bandwidth, bias current, CMRR and power efficiency. The course may also delve into digital CMOS circuit design, addressing logic gate sizing, timing analysis, and low-power design strategies. Additional topics may include layout design, parasitic extraction, along with practical exposure to EDA tools (e.g., Cadence) for simulation, design rule verification, and layout generation. Learn the basics of Cadence layout and circuit design.