SG
One of the best courses that I have come across in the Coursera platform which is very interesting, I'm very glad that I took this course which leads to exploring some concepts of VLSI.
A modern VLSI chip has a zillion parts -- logic, control, memory, interconnect, etc. How do we design these complex chips? Answer: CAD software tools. Learn how to build thesA modern VLSI chip is a remarkably complex beast: billions of transistors, millions of logic gates deployed for computation and control, big blocks of memory, embedded blocks of pre-designed functions designed by third parties (called “intellectual property” or IP blocks). How do people manage to design these complicated chips? Answer: a sequence of computer aided design (CAD) tools takes an abstract description of the chip, and refines it step-wise to a final design. This class focuses on the major design tools used in the creation of an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) or System on Chip (SoC) design. Our focus in this first part of the course is on key Boolean logic representations that make it possible to synthesize, and to verify, the gate-level logic in these designs. This is the first step of the design chain, as we move from logic to layout. Our goal is for students to understand how the tools themselves work, at the level of their fundamental algorithms and data structures. Topics covered will include: Computational Boolean algebra, logic verification, and logic synthesis (2-level and multi-level). Recommended Background Programming experience (C, C++, Java, Python, etc.) and basic knowledge of data structures and algorithms (especially recursive algorithms). An understanding of basic digital design: Boolean algebra, Kmaps, gates and flip flops, finite state machine design. Linear algebra and calculus at the level of a junior or senior in engineering. Exposure to basic VLSI at an undergraduate level is nice -- but it’s not necessary. We will keep the course self-contained, but students with some VLSI will be able to skip some background material.e tools in this class.
SG
One of the best courses that I have come across in the Coursera platform which is very interesting, I'm very glad that I took this course which leads to exploring some concepts of VLSI.
VT
Excellent course in VLSI tools design, that covers most of the basic algorithms and basic idea of tools.
KK
The course content is really amazing , very in depth concepts of CAD design tools internal mechanism! for a beginner it's good.
SR
Excellent course with lots of lots of new things to learn. Mandatory for people doing research in VLSI and digital circuits.
ER
Great Course!! Worth spending time on this course for those who want to or currently pursuing their career in the EDA domain.
ND
the course is designed so well I didn't face any problems while doing this course the technical support is always availableThank you
AS
This course was exceptionally Awesome. Mr. Rutebar is really motivating in terms of explaining the complicated details of the boolean world.
KG
Well done. I've taken a similar course. The notation is significantly different but the ideas are the same.
RR
It’s a great course with good compilation of source materials. Thanks to the Professor and the university for this wonderful online course.
AS
Anyone who aspires for having some depth in the field of CAD should atleast do this course.
SM
It's an amazing course. Those who have ideas about boolean logic will be very much satisfied with the course.
RK
One of the good course VLSI CAD for fabrication and i successfully completed part 1 thanks to ILLINOIS
Showing: 20 of 105
This course should be titled "Fundamental Algorithms for digital circuit CAD". It has nothing at all to do with VLSI and none of the tools you get access to will be practical for you to use for large exampls. If you seek to understand how digital circuits get synthesized, how the functional descriptions are broken down into elements and then reconstructed as gates and circuit elements, this has some of the basics. The tools you get access to are old, with primitive user interfaces, suitable only for very simple examples. This is ok for the purpose of understanding the basics if you are interested in the internals of such tools. The course will not help you with modern VLSI design with modern EDA tools, if that is what you are looking for. Coursera seems currently to have nothing for EDA design of ASICs.
Really Enjoyed taking the course. The course gives interesting insights about how various EDA tools work and algorithms that make it possible.
Course Was well organized . I am very very thankful to Prof. Rob A. Rutenbar Which provide me an opportunity to learn the Logic Part of the VLSI. I liked the teaching way of the Prof which explained the topic (Logic part of the VLSI CAD) in hierarchical way i.e. as we move towards the depth of the topic difficulty level get increases(Specially in the QUIZ section). Again I am thankful to Prof. R.A.Rutenbar and entire Coursera team.
This course was exceptionally Awesome. Mr. Rutebar is really motivating in terms of explaining the complicated details of the boolean world.
Very interesting information. You will appreciate CAD tools very much after this course.
A very well structured and thoughtfully organised course. It was interesting, challenging and stimulating. The lecturer had a very thorough understanding of the topics and managed to break down hard topics into easy parts and also was very articulate in explaining.
The assignment problems were also thoughtfully devised so that we would have to revisit and enhance our understanding of the previously learned concepts in order to solve them.
Please do note that it could be a bit more demanding (in terms of time and energy spent) than your average course. So make sure that you allocate a good amount of time each week so that you can follow the course and complete within deadlines.
Exceptionally interesting course with variety of topics discussed in area of Logic and Logic Design . Videos are of a high quality and provide enough information to cope with exercises. Course requires some focus as it forces trainee to actually practice logical thinking not only memorizing knowledge. I will definitely keep coming back to this course as knowledge presented here is condensed and gives a superior example of how knowledge should be taught. Additionally I learned about topics that were neglected during my studies that is topics of Satisfiability , ROBDDs which are essential in modern software/hardware verification techniques.
It's been a quality 30 days spent on this course. I must thank Professor Rutenbar, UIUC and Coursera.
Quality course material and easy to understand storytelling like approach to a complex topic like logic synthesis. I highly recommend this course if you have an interest in chip design and me myself is planning on taking the part-2: Layout of this specialization.
The course takes us into the world of Boolean algebra with daunting functions. The instructor elucidates every topic with a lot of clarity. Recommended to anyone who loves logic design concepts and wants to understand the data structures used in the industry to condense byzantine functions to don't cares and ultimately removing them.
A great course indeed! The Math and Heuristics are extremely helpful to get started with VLSI CAD. Prof. Rutenbar explains all the aspects of the course in the best way possible. I definitely recommend this course for the ones who wish to explore this domain.
One of the best courses that I have come across in the Coursera platform which is very interesting, I'm very glad that I took this course which leads to exploring some concepts of VLSI.
the course is designed so well I didn't face any problems while doing this course the technical support is always availableThank you
Complete anarchy. You are given 1 or two examples in lecture and then expected to solve very hard problems on your own. There is no textbook or assigned reading, it's like trying to navigate the pacific ocean without a map. The forums are full of people asking for some semblence of direction/guidance.
Professor Teaching and materials provided in the course are excellent and very helpful. I thought the first week / first exam was tough because of the tools presented in the first week. I did not review the tools section in the first week but during the exams where it is actually related. It would have been better if the tools were provided for each week separately and so it's related.
This course does a great job of introducing you to the basics of Computational Boolean Algebra and completing the Honors track not only gets you on with BDDs, SATs and logic development but also gives a flavour of creating relevant software. A bit of background in Digital Logic and some basic programming exposure would help.
It's a great course! It made me understand the concepts of boolean network optimisation and the different data structures we can possibly use to implement the same. High quality lectures, easy weekly assignments and pretty difficult Honors assignments! Happy to have spent 5 weeks of my free time in something interesting.
Very good, a lot of great knowledge that I didn't previously know, I come from an electrical engineering background, all I knew about boolean algebra were Kmaps... This course taught me a lot and got me hooked on this domain.
The material is well presented and the quizzes/programming assignements are fun and challenging.
This was an absolute masterpiece course. Few things are difficult to understand in the assignment parts.Actually, we can learn even from the assignment part. If someone would have explained a few parts there it would have been even better. I gave five stars for the wonderful and creative assignments(problem sets)
The single best online course you could take. Material, pase, lecture style, lecturer, and assignments are all very good.
The course can be challenging soemtimes, but all the information you need is in there. It has a very nice style.
I recommend this course to anyone who wants to learn CAD.
One of the best courses I have done. In college or online. The Professor keeps the lectures very engaging. The Quizzes are very good and tricky. Honors Projects really helped me understand the bigger picture. Really enjoyed coding the required projects.