Overview
EE272A will introduce you to the tools and methods to create CMOS integrated circuits. Working in teams you will create a small mixed-signal VLSI design using a modern design flow and EDA tools. The project involves writing a synthesizable C++ model of the chip, using high level synthesis tools to convert it into Verilog, creating a testing/debug strategy for your chip, wrapping custom layout to fit into a standard cell system, using synthesis and place and route tools to create the layout, and understanding all the weird stuff you need to do to tape-out a chip. Useful for anyone who will build a chip in their Ph.D.
Term: 2020-2021 Winter
Units: 3-4
Instructor: Priyanka Raina (praina at stanford dot edu)
TAs: Jackson Melchert (melchert at stanford dot edu), Kalhan Koul (kkoul at stanford dot edu)
Lectures: Mon, Wed 10:00 AM - 11:20 AM over Zoom.
Office hours:
Priyanka: Wed, 2:30 - 3:30 PM over Zoom.
Jackson: Mon, 11:30 - 12:30 PM and Fri, 9 - 10 AM over Zoom.
Kalhan: Thu, 6 - 7 PM and Sun, 6 - 7 PM over Zoom.
Canvas: All documents, including lecture notes, and lecture video recordings will be posted on Canvas.
Piazza: For questions about lectures and homework we will use Piazza.
Course Project
This is a project based course, and there is a lot of material that we need to cover in a quarter. As a result you will be introduced to a number of new tools that you will learn through weekly tasks to build your project. The project will involve building a large digital design (a neural network accelerator) and an analog design (a phase-locked loop (PLL)) from scratch. We recommend forming teams of two for all homework.
Pre-requisites
EE271 is a pre-requisite for this course. Please talk to us if you have any questions about pre-requisites.
Course Topics and Tentative Schedule
| # | Date | Topic | Homework |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mon, Jan 11 | Class objective and overview, major tasks, tools, and flow | HW1: Accelerator design space exploration |
| 2 | Wed, Jan 13 | DNNs, chip constraints, and the limitation of accelerators | |
| 3 | Mon, Jan 18 | Martin Luther King, Jr., Day (holiday, no classes) | HW1 due, HW2: CNN accelerator - part 1: Unit testing and design in SystemVerilog |
| 4 | Wed, Jan 20 | Maintaining designer sanity, creating a testing infrastructure | |
| 5 | Mon, Jan 25 | High level synthesis | HW2 due, HW3: CNN accelerator - part 2: Integration testing and design in SystemVerilog |
| 6 | Wed, Jan 27 | Visual introduction to physical design | |
| 7 | Mon, Feb 1 | Visual introduction to physical design | HW3 due, HW4: HLS design and functional verification |
| 8 | Wed, Feb 3 | Static timing analysis | |
| 9 | Mon, Feb 8 | Guest lecture | HW4 due, HW5: HLS design optimization |
| 10 | Wed, Feb 10 | Advanced synthesis (retiming, memories, clock, reset) | |
| 11 | Mon, Feb 15 | Presidents’ Day (holiday, no classes) | HW5 due, HW6: Synthesis, EE272B project proposal due |
| 12 | Wed, Feb 17 | Analog functional modeling | |
| 13 | Mon, Feb 22 | Analog functional modeling | HW6 due, HW7: Analog block modeling and design |
| 14 | Wed, Feb 24 | PDK overview and making custom cells | |
| 15 | Mon, Mar 1 | Making custom cells | HW7 due, HW8: Floorplanning, place and route, and signoff |
| 16 | Wed, Mar 3 | Floorplanning and power planning | |
| 17 | Mon, Mar 8 | Floorplanning and power planning | HW8 due, HW9: Collective FAQ and documentation creation |
| 18 | Wed, Mar 10 | Placement and routing | |
| 19 | Mon, Mar 15 | Signoff steps | HW9 due, HW10: Final report (due only if taking the class for 4 units) |
| 20 | Wed, Mar 17 | Power domains | |
| Fri, Mar 19 | HW10 due, EE272B project checkin |
Course Texts and Materials
The lecture notes are the main reference material that you will use in the class. While the notes will cover the material in the class, they will not be as complete as the information that you would find in a textbook.
To get additional information and/or an alternative explanation of the material in the notes, you can refer to these textbooks:
Kahng, Lienig, Markov, Hu, VLSI Physical Design
Weste, Harris, Principles of CMOS VLSI Design (4th Edition)
Rabaey, Chandrakasan, Nikolic, Digital Integrated Circuits (2nd Edition)
Course Videos
Course recordings can be accessed by logging into the course Canvas site. These recordings might be reused in other Stanford courses, viewed by other Stanford students, faculty, or staff, or used for other education and research purposes. Note that while the recording will mostly capture instructor slides and video, occasionally a part of your image or voice might be incidentally captured. If you have questions, please contact a member of the teaching team.
Academic Misconduct Policy
It is expected that Stanford’s Honor Code will be followed in all matters relating to this course. You are encouraged to meet and exchange ideas with your classmates while studying and working on homework assignments, but you are individually responsible for your own work and for understanding the material. You are not permitted to copy or otherwise reference another student’s homework or computer code. If you have any questions regarding this policy, feel free to contact us. Compromising your academic integrity may lead to serious consequences, including (but not limited to) one or more of the following: failure of the assignment, failure of the course, disciplinary probation, suspension from the university, or dismissal from the university. Students are responsible for understanding the University’s Honor Code policy and must make proper use of citations of sources for writing papers, creating, presenting, and performing their work, taking examinations, and doing research. Full text of the honor code policy and fundamental standard is here.
ADA Policy
Students who may need an academic accommodation based on the impact of a disability must initiate the request with the Office of Accessible Education (OAE). Professional staff will evaluate the request with required documentation, recommend reasonable accommodations, and prepare an Accommodation Letter for faculty dated in the current quarter in which the request is being made. Students should contact the OAE as soon as possible since timely notice is needed to coordinate accommodations. The OAE is located at 563 Salvatierra Walk (phone: 723-1066, website).
Other Useful Courses
Introduction to VLSI systems (EE271) - Pre-requisite
Design Projects in VLSI Systems II (EE272B) - Follow up course to EE 272A
Digital Systems Engineering (EE273)
Semiconductor Memory Devices and Circuit Design (EE309A)
Emerging Non-Volatile Memory Devices and Circuit Design (EE309B)
Fundamentals of Analog Integrated Circuit Design (EE214A)
Advanced Integrated Circuit Design (EE214B)
RF Integrated Circuit Design (EE314A)
Analog-Digital Interface Circuits (EE315)
Programming (perl, C, python)
Plus application-specific knowledge