VLSI Design Methodology Development

The Complete, Modern Tutorial on Practical VLSI Chip Design, Validation, and Analysis

As microelectronics engineers design complex chips using existing circuit libraries, they must ensure correct logical, physical, and electrical properties, and prepare for reliable foundry fabrication. VLSI Design Methodology Development focuses on the design and analysis steps needed to perform these tasks and successfully complete a modern chip design.

Microprocessor design authority Tom Dillinger carefully introduces core concepts, and then guides engineers through modeling, functional design validation, design implementation, electrical analysis, and release to manufacturing. Writing from the engineer’s perspective, he covers underlying EDA tool algorithms, flows, criteria for assessing project status, and key tradeoffs and interdependencies. This fresh and accessible tutorial will be valuable to all VLSI system designers, senior undergraduate or graduate students of microelectronics design, and companies offering internal courses for engineers at all levels.

• Reflect complexity, cost, resources, and schedules in planning a chip design project
• Perform hierarchical design decomposition, floorplanning, and physical integration, addressing DFT, DFM, and DFY requirements
• Model functionality and behavior, validate designs, and verify formal equivalency
• Apply EDA tools for logic synthesis, placement, and routing
• Analyze timing, noise, power, and electrical issues
• Prepare for manufacturing release and bring-up, from mastering ECOs to qualification

This guide is for all VLSI system designers, senior undergraduate or graduate students of microelectronics design, and companies offering internal courses for engineers at all levels. It is applicable to engineering teams undertaking new projects and migrating existing designs to new technologies.

Thomas Dillin ger has more than 30 years of experience in the microelectronics industry, including semiconductor circuit design, fabrication process research, and EDA tool development. He has been responsible for the design methodology development for ASIC, SoC, and complex microprocessor chips for IBM, Sun Microsystems/Oracle, and AMD. He is the author of the book VLSI Engineering and has written for SemiWiki.

Topic I. Overview of VLSI Design Methodology 1. Introduction 2. VLSI Design Methodology 3. Hierarchical Design Decomposition
Topic II. Modeling 4. Modeling
Topic III. Design Validation 5. Characteristics of Functional Validation 6. Characteristics of Formal Equivalency Verification
Topic IV. Design Implementation 7. Logic Synthesis 8. Placement 9. Routing
Topic V. Electrical Analysis 10. Layout Parasitic Extraction and Electrical Modeling 11. Timing Analysis Section 12. Noise Analysis 13. Power Analysis 14. Power Rail Voltage Drop Analysis 15. Electromigration (EM) Reliability Analysis 16. Miscellaneous Electrical Analysis Requirements
Topic VI. Preparation for Manufacturing Release and Bring-up 17. ECOs 18. Physical Design Verification 19. Design-for-Testability Analysis 20. Preparation for Tapeout 21. Post-Silicon Debug and Characterization (Bring-up) and Product Qualification
Summary Epilogue