Innovative teaching of IC design and manufacture using the superchip platform

P. R. Wilson, R. Wilcock, I. McNally, M. Swabey

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this paper we describe how an intelligent chip architecture has allowed a large cohort of undergraduate students to be given effective practical insight into IC design by designing and manufacturing their own ICs. To achieve this, an efficient chip architecture, the ?Superchip?, has been developed, which allows multiple student designs to be fabricated on a single IC, and encapsulated in a standard package without excessive cost in terms of time or resources. We demonstrate how the practical process has been tightly coupled with theoretical aspects of the degree course and how transferable skills are incorporated into the design exercise. Furthermore, the students are introduced at an early stage to the key concepts of team working, exposure to real deadlines and collaborative report writing. This paper provides details of the teaching rationale, design exercise overview, design process, chip architecture and test regime.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)297-305
Number of pages9
JournalIEEE Transactions on Education
Volume53
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2010

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Teaching
Students
student
manufacturing
regime
costs
resources
Integrated circuit design
Costs
time

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Innovative teaching of IC design and manufacture using the superchip platform. / Wilson, P. R.; Wilcock, R.; McNally, I.; Swabey, M.

In: IEEE Transactions on Education, Vol. 53, No. 2, 2010, p. 297-305.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article

Wilson, PR, Wilcock, R, McNally, I & Swabey, M 2010, 'Innovative teaching of IC design and manufacture using the superchip platform', IEEE Transactions on Education, vol. 53, no. 2, pp. 297-305. https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2009.2017271
Wilson PR, Wilcock R, McNally I, Swabey M. Innovative teaching of IC design and manufacture using the superchip platform. IEEE Transactions on Education. 2010;53(2):297-305. https://doi.org/10.1109/TE.2009.2017271
Wilson, P. R. ; Wilcock, R. ; McNally, I. ; Swabey, M. / Innovative teaching of IC design and manufacture using the superchip platform. In: IEEE Transactions on Education. 2010 ; Vol. 53, No. 2. pp. 297-305.
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