Introducion to IC Design (EMT 243/3)

Uncertainty in key parameters within a chip and between different chips in the deep sub micron area plays a more and more important role. As a result, manufacturing process spreads need to be considered during the design process. Quantitative methodology is needed to ensure faultless functionality, despite existing process variations within given bounds, during product development.This book presents the technological, physical, and mathematical fundamentals for a design paradigm shift, from a deterministic process to a probability-orientated design process for microelectronic circuits. Readers will learn to evaluate the different sources of variations in the design flow in order to establish different design variants, while applying appropriate methods and tools to evaluate and optimize their design.

On any advanced integrated circuit or "system-on-chip" there is a need for security.  In many applications the actual implementation has become the weakest link in security rather than the algorithms or protocols.  The purpose of the book is to give the integrated circuits and systems designer an insight into the basics of security and cryptography from the implementation point of view.  As a designer of integrated circuits and systems it is important to know both the state-of-the-art attacks as well as the countermeasures.  Optimizing for security is different from optimizations for speed, area, or power consumption.  It is therefore difficult to attain the delicate balance between the extra cost of security measures and the added benefits.

CMOS Processors and Memories addresses the-state-of-the-art in integrated circuit design in the context of emerging computing systems. New design opportunities in memories and processor are discussed. Emerging materials that can take system performance beyond standard CMOS, like carbon nanotubes, graphene, ferroelectrics and tunnel junctions are explored. CMOS Processors and Memories is divided into two parts: processors and memories. In the first part we start with high performance, low power processor design, followed by a chapter on multi-core processing. They both represent state-of-the-art concepts in current computing industry. The third chapter deals with asynchronous design that still carries lots of promise for future computing needs. At the end we present a “hardware design space exploration” methodology for implementing and analyzing the hardware for the Bayesian inference framework. This particular methodology involves: analyzing the computational cost and exploring candidate hardware components, proposing various custom architectures using both traditional CMOS and hybrid nanotechnology CMOL. The first part concludes with hybrid CMOS-Nano architectures.The second, memory part covers state-of-the-art SRAM, DRAM, and flash memories as well as emerging device concepts. Semiconductor memory is a good example of the full custom design that applies various analog and logic circuits to utilize the memory cell's device physics. Critical physical effects that include tunneling, hot electron injection, charge trapping (Flash memory) are discussed in detail. Emerging memories like FRAM, PRAM and ReRAM that depend on magnetization, electron spin alignment, ferroelectric effect, built-in potential well, quantum effects, and thermal melting are also described. CMOS Processors and Memories is a must for anyone serious about circuit design for future computing technologies. The book is written by top notch international experts in industry and academia. It can be used in graduate course curriculum.