Course syllabus
Course-PM
DAT110 Methods for electronic system design and verification Q2 Fall'24 (7.5 hp)
This course is offered by the Dept. of Microtechnology and Nanosciance.
Contact details
Instructor: Prof. Per Larsson-Edefors (perla@chalmers.se)
Instructor technical writing: Anne Hsu Nilsson (anne.hsu.nilsson@gu.se)
Lab TAs: Talemwa Mubanda (mubtxs@chalmers.se); Pengfei Chen (pengfeic@student.chalmers.se)
Course purpose
In light of the fact that we can integrate billions of transistors on a single integrated circuit, electronic system designers are forced to make use of computer-aided design tools, so-called Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools, to manage design complexity and to meet, for example, strict timing, power dissipation and time-to-market budgets. Thus, apart from having skills in each of the abstraction levels, like circuit, logic, and architecture design, an electronic system designer must have a thorough understanding of design and verification methods that span the different abstraction levels and the algorithms that are leveraged inside the EDA tools.
The purpose of this course is to strengthen the student's knowledge in EDA-based design and verification methods and to make the student proficient in utilizing the right EDA tools, in the right context and in the right sequence.
Schedule
Course literature
Electronic Design Automation for Integrated Circuits Handbook, 2nd Edition, by L. Lavagno, I. L. Markov, G. E. Martin, and L. K. Scheffer, CRC Press, 2016, ISBN 9781482254501. Supplemental scientific papers and books.
Course design
Reflecting the need for progressive technical writing in our master's programs, this course is based on a number of labs for which technical writing of a lab report is integrated. The labs offer comprehensive hands-on training on industrially relevant design and verification problems using state-of-the-art EDA systems. Using insights from lectures, book chapters, and papers, the student will develop his/her technical writing skills as the lab report is written. Lectures supply not only the design and verification context of advanced electronic systems, but technical writing lectures are also scheduled.
Use of Canvas
Canvas is clearly our platform for distributing lecture and lab material. In addition, we will handle student submissions using predefined assignments.
Learning objectives and syllabus
Learning objectives:
- describe the algorithmic principles of a number of important EDA concepts, such as behavioral and logic synthesis, logic simulation, static timing analysis, timing closure and power dissipation analysis
- describe contemporary EDA design flows and their fundamental weaknesses and strengths
- apply Linux-based EDA tools, including simple shell scripts, for design and verification of digital electronic systems
- perform timing-driven synthesis and power dissipation analysis for digital circuits
- critically and systematically integrate knowledge, to model, simulate, and evaluate features of digital ASIC design flows
- write a technical report containing introduction, background, method, results and conclusion, with proper commentary of data and reference handling, also considering ethical aspects
Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.
Examination
Compulsory lab sessions using design software. Technical report on the lab sessions. Short reflective note on an ethical dilemma in the technical scope of the course.