vlsi industry - digital design engineers - draft version
TRANSCRIPT
VLSI IndustryWhy to be a
Digital Design Engineer !
Mahmoud AbdellatifApril 2016
Agenda
-What is VLSI ?-Why we should Care ?-VLSI Designers-VLSI Career in Egypt-How to be a Digital Designer-How to Start !
What is VLSI !Think of all the devices you use in your daily life
Mobile PhoneComputer TVCarWashing MachineRefrigeratorOvensCredit Card or a Debit Card.
One Common Thing One or more semiconductor chips >> Integrated Circuits (IC)
IC comprises of millions of transistors on a small piece (10 mm x 10 mm) of a Doped Silicon
What is VLSI !We can now fabricate millions of transistors in a unit square inch piece of silicon
Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI). To facilitate this complex design and fabrication of an ICVarious Automatic Tools and machines are available.
Design and verification of an IC is done with the aid of tools
Electronic Design Automation (EDA) software tools.
From Chips on PCB to SoCs
1971 : Intel 4004
Gordon Moore
VLSI Design Styles Full Custom Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) Programmable Logic (PLD, FPGA) System-on-a-Chip (SoC)
Full Custom Design
• Each circuit element carefully “handcrafted”
• Huge design effort• High Performance• Typically used for high-
volume applications
• Example : AND Gate IC
Application Specific Integrated Circuits(ASIC)
Design for special application
Processors are kind of ASICs
Field Programmable Logic Array(FPGA)
Pre-manufactured components with programmable interconnect
CAD tools greatly reduce design effort
Lower Performance
System-on-chip (SOC)
Combine several large blocks Predesigned custom cores
(e.g., microcontroller) - “intellectual property” (IP)
ASIC logic for special-purpose hardware
Programmable Logic (PLD, FPGA)
Analog
Silicon Valley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r44RKWyfcFw
Agenda
-What is VLSI ?-Why we should Care ?-VLSI Designers -VLSI Career in Egypt-How to be a Digital Designer-How to Start !
Applications• Daily Life Applications
– Smart Phones– Processors
• CPU, DSP, Controllers– Computers
Commercial Electronics– Medicine
– Memory chips• RAM, ROM, EEPROM
– Analog• Mobile communication,
audio/video processing– Programmable
• PLA, FPGA– Embedded systems
• Used in cars, factories• Network cards
– System-on-chip (SoC)
Why we should Care ?
Why we should Care ?
`2015 Acquisition
$66B
$40B
$37B
$17B
VLSI Industry Worldwide
Agenda
-What is VLSI ?-Why we should Care ?-VLSI Designers -VLSI Career in Egypt-How to be a Digital Designer-How to Start !
VLSI Design Example
Types of VLSI Designers
There are various engineers required at each step of design
VLSI industry main technical fields1. EDA 2. Semiconductor Research3. Design 4. Manufacturing
EDA
Development Developing EDA tools which will be used for designing chipsCompanies like Cadence, Mentor Graphics and Synopsys are major
players in this domainFor People who have strong skills in C, C++, data structure and
algorithms Methodology Development How to use tool and what options in tools are best suited for designer
are fixed by these engineersNeeds high Scripting capabilities
EDA
Application EngineerWorks with designers on implementing chip, They help
designer in better understanding of toolsWork with development team on implementing new
features and communicate problems reported in field to development side
Field Application engineer often travels to customer location to work with them
Product EngineerResponsible for entire productWork with development on creating a solution for common
problems. Tool Testers or Validation EngineersMakes sure that each tool comes out of EDA industry is
tested well enough
Semiconductor Research Developing next generation technology node They mainly deal with fab and runs simulations an
manufacturing processes
Design
Logic DesignerDesigning logic in VHDL, Verilog or any other
languageResponsible for desiging digital parts of ASICs, FPGA
desigPerform logic synthesis (Converting to hardware) Physical DesignStarts from Synthesis, Placement, Routing, Post
Routing optimization, Extraction, PDV (Physical Design Verification) Checks
Many sub domains Analog Design Mixed signal designDigital design implementationSRAM or memory cell development.
Design
VerificationVerification Engineer provides pseudo inputs and
trigger to verify functionality of design, (Remember they don't care about frequency here frequency is going to meet or not is job of Physical Design Engineers) Vera, OVM, VHDL, Verilog languages are used in this domain, IP verification is another area demand these days.
Manufacturing
Working on developing masks, and manufacturing chips, Integrating and packaging chipm Building system, PCB and Boards
Agenda
-What is VLSI ?-Why we should Care ?-VLSI Designers-VLSI Industry in Egypt-How to be a Digital Designer-How to Start !
Check This Linkhttp://www.vlsiacademy.org/vlsi-companies-in-egypt.htmlwww.vlsiacademy.org/vlsi-companies-in-egypt.html
VLSI Industry in Egypt
www.wamda.com/memakersge/2015/11/sun-rises-on-egyptian-silicon-alley
www.neospectra.com
We Have Real Products !
Photo source Neospectra product website
Synopsys Acquires Blutooth Smart IP from Silicon Vision
+10,000 are interested in VLSI in Egyptwww.facebook.com/groups/VLSIEgy/
Courses
Digital Library
Discussions
Open Positions, Internships,
Scholarships, Projects
Communications Digital Hardware Electromagnetics & Networks
Computer Software Electronics Design Optics
Control Systems Signal Processing Semiconductor Devices
www.ee.psu.edu/Undergraduate/SpecializationAreas.aspxWha
t do
you
Stu
dy …
……
……
.
Electronics and Communication Engineers Career in Egypt
Communication | NetworkAnalog ElectronicsOpticsElectromagneticDevicesEmbedded SoftwareDigital Electronics| DSP
then,• Opportunities to work, study, in Egypt / Abroad ?• I am not from Cairo University or Ain Shams University !
can I join this field ?
• What about your first Interview/Salary/Project ?
Agenda
-What is VLSI ?-Why we should Care ?-VLSI Designers -VLSI Career in Egypt-How to be a Digital Designer-How to Start !
Digital Design Engineer
Digital Design
VLSI Digital Design
FPGA Digital
Engineer
Verification Engineer
DSP Engineer
System Engineer
**Embeeded
Software
Agenda
-What is VLSI ?-Why we should Care ?-VLSI Designers-VLSI Career in Egypt-How to be a Digital Designer-How to Start !
How to start ?Study Courses
Digital CommunicationDigital Signal ProcessingDigital IC DesignVHDL or Verilog
How to start ?Self Study/Projects
FPGA Prototyping by VHDL Examples: Xilinx Spartan-3 Version
www.fpga4fun.comvhdlguru.blogspot.com.egwww.asic-world.comwww.coursera.org/course/vlsicad
www.slideshare.net/StartGroup/presentations
Questions !
+2012-2-450-4158
eg.linkedin.com/in/mahmoudabdellatif
www.facebook.com/mabdellatif11
Mahmoud AbdellatifVLSI Design Engineer
thanksFeel free to ask me anytime