Courses

ECE342: Electronics

This course provides a solid introduction to electronic circuits, beginning with linear analysis of 1-port and 2-port systems and progressing to nonlinear circuits featuring diodes and transistors. Students will explore MOSFET and BJT amplifier design, including DC biasing, small-signal models, and key configurations like common-source and common-emitter stages. Topics also include high-frequency modeling, frequency response, and analysis techniques like open and short-circuit time constants, as well as applying the Miller theorem. The course concludes with an introduction to digital circuits. Students will solve challenging homework problems, analyze real-world circuits, and develop intuition through design-focused assignments throughout the course.

ECE483: Analog IC Design

This senior-level course offers a rigorous and intuitive exploration of the core building blocks of modern analog integrated circuits. Beginning with resistors, capacitors, and MOS device operation—including key secondary effects—it builds toward advanced analog design through deep analytical tools and real-world insight. Students study elementary amplifier stages and progress to differential amplifiers using DC and small-signal analysis, half-circuit models, and practical examples. The course covers current mirrors, biasing strategies, and the design of amplifiers with active loads, culminating in synthesizing single-ended operational transconductance amplifiers (OTAs). A range of OTA architectures—5-transistor, telescopic-cascode, folded-cascode, and two-stage—is analyzed with emphasis on frequency response, stability, and compensation techniques. Feedback amplifier design is addressed systematically, focusing on stability and closed-loop behavior. Real-world applications, including low-dropout regulators (LDOs), highlight practical design considerations such as frequency compensation and device sizing. Students will strengthen analytical skills and learn to connect device-level design to system-level metrics such as gain, bandwidth, and phase margin through challenging design assignments grounded in real-world analog systems.

ECE581: Advanced Analog IC Design

This course builds advanced analog integrated circuit design skills, preparing students to tackle the challenges of high-performance analog and mixed-signal systems. It begins with a review of fundamental blocks—elementary amplifier stages, current mirrors, and biasing techniques—before moving into more sophisticated circuits such as gain-boosted amplifiers and fully differential architectures. A detailed treatment of common-mode feedback (CMFB) design lays the groundwork for analyzing and synthesizing multi-stage amplifiers optimized for high gain and wide bandwidth. A core focus is on feedback amplifier design, including various feedback topologies, loading effects, and how feedback shapes transient and frequency-domain behavior. The course also addresses key non-idealities—electronic noise, distortion, and device mismatch—equipping students with tools to predict, analyze, and mitigate these real-world limitations. Later modules introduce comparator design, sampling circuits, and switched-capacitor (SC) techniques, with special attention to SC noise and offset cancellation methods. Students explore robust current and voltage reference circuits to complete the analog design toolkit, rounding out a comprehensive foundation for cutting-edge analog and mixed-signal circuit design. Students will solidify their understanding through challenging mini-design projects emphasizing practical implementation, trade-off analysis, and creative problem-solving.

ECE427: Advanced VLSI Design (a.k.a the “tapeout” class)

In this project-based course, student teams will design and tape-out their own digital, analog, or mixed-signal integrated circuit using modern electronic design automation (EDA) tools and industry-standard methodologies. Each team will begin by defining design specifications and developing a model for their chip or its components in Verilog, synthesizable C++, or an equivalent language. Teams will then proceed through schematic design, test and debug planning, layout, integration, and full-chip verification. Completed designs that meet all functional and verification criteria will be submitted for fabrication at the end of the semester. Students can characterize their fabricated silicon upon chip return from the foundry through an independent study. At least one team member from each group must enroll in this follow-up independent study to conduct post-silicon testing.