Advanced IC Processing and Layout
EE 243
3 Units
Nathan Cheung

This course is typically offered in the FALL.
This is a related course of the MOT program.

Integration density and performance of analog and digital integrated circuits have undergone an astounding revolution in the last couple of decades. Over this time period, clock frequencies of microprocessors have doubled every three years, and they show no signs of slowing down. For both logic IC?s and memories, integration complexity and density has doubled every 1 to 2 years. Although innovative circuit and system design can account for some of these performance increases, technology has been the main driving force. This course will examine the process technology that has enabled the integrated circuit revolution and investigate new technologies and layout/circuit techniques aimed at sustaining the current rate of progress in integrated circuits. The goal is to achieve a working knowledge of the driving and limiting factors in circuit performance, of the fabrication and design techniques that influence performance, and of likely future trends. The course emphasizes the physical principles and mathematical models used to characterize fabrication and inspection processes in microfabrication technology.

Prerequisite: EE 143 and either EE 140 or EE 141, each of which in turn required EE 105. It is assumed that you are familiar with the following topics:

• Basic solid-state device design, operation, physics, and fabrication (EE 105 and 143): diodes, bipolar junction transistors, and MOS field-effect transistors, and methods for their wafer-level fabrication. You should have a working familiarity with integrated circuit processing techniques, including oxidation, diffusion, ion implantation, epitaxy, deposition, and etching.
• Transistor level design of amplifiers and operational amplifiers (EE 140), including active loads, biasing, frequency response, settling, stability, differential offsets, power supply rejection, and feedback.
• Transistor level design and analysis of common digital circuits (EE 141), including logic circuits (e.g., inverters, NOR/NAND, and similar gates) and simple memory structures (e.g., flip-flops). An understanding of latch-up will particularly be useful.

The above prerequisites are not to be taken lightly. Be forewarned: this course will be taught under the premise that you understand the above material. There will be some review of EE 143 material, but little or no review of the other topics. To aid you in determining whether or not you have the required background, please consult the online syllabi of the above courses.

Course Website