Introduction
This course is designed to introduce students to Physical Design Automation (DA) of VLSI systems. The course will familiarize students with existing techniques in VLSI design. Data structures and algorithms related to DA will provide insight into design of CAD tools. The material will be presented in technology independent style and will prepare students for design and development of DA tools. At the end of this course students would have
- understood the relationships between DA algorithms and various constraints posed by VLSI fabrication and design technology.
- analyzed critical performance parameters and their importance in DA tools.
- applied combinatorial optimization algorithms on large problem sets.
- implemented a prototype DA tool flow and tested it using real life benchmark examples.
Logistics
- Course Instructor
- Shankar Balachandran :: BSB 349
- TAs
- Naresh(Email: nareshiit dot sharma at gmail dot com), Vikram(Email: mvikram at cse dot iitm dot ac dot in).
- Course Timings
- The class will meet 2 times a week(W - 3:30 to 5:00, F - 3:00 to 5:00, Venue: CS 24). Industrial lectures and invited talks by other academicians will be arranged from time to time. Such lectures will supplement the material that is taught in the course.
Policies
- All classes will be conducted as per the institute regulations.
- All students must have Unix computer accounts. Extensive computer work will be required for programming assignments.
- Homework assignments will be assigned regularly once every 3-4 classes.
- Students can discuss problems but copying is strictly prohibited. All assignments must be individual works unless stated explicitly by the instructor. Cheating in assignments/exams/projects will be dealt with very seriously.
- Assignments are due in the first 30 minutes of the class after which it is considered late. Students can turn in homeworks within a day after that for 75% credit. Submissions later than that get 0 credit.
- Assignments will be graded within a week. Graded work must be disputed within 10 days after it is returned to the students.
- Special requests must be made well ahead of time. Explicit permission of the instructor will be required for such cases.
- Regular attendance is recommended. Quizzes will not be given again. Consult the class web page frequently for new announcements.
References
The class notes are available in the ::Notes:: section. Links to software manuals, free and shareware software tools that are useful for the coursework and all reference books are listed in the ::Resources:: section.