DIVING INTO VLSI DOMAIN
This article is for those who are interested in core electronics engineering (VLSI to be more precise). VLSI is taught as a course in
Undergraduate study but it is a very vast domain in itself. It is a very relevant subject in today’s times where we see advance
electronics equipments coming in market on a daily basis and device miniaturization is at its peak (remember Moore’s Law).
What I believe if one could appreciate a subject more if its application is well understood.
#Tip: Remember, in order to make a career in the core field the basic requirement is knowledge about the subjects. Do not
fall to things just for the sake of beautification of your resume. Good academics speaks highly of an individual, atleast in VLSI
field. This tip by one of my seniors has really helped me focus on only the relevant things amidst all chaos!!
The motivation for me to make a career in this domain is that firstly I had interest in electronics and then developed a thought
that I want to work in the same field as my engineering domain. It is very common these days to study any branch and do a job
in IT sector, give it a thought beforehand.
Roadmap1: How to begin studying VLSI Design and where to study from?
A career in VLSI is considered quite specialized and it would be expected of you to have knowledge about the subject throughout.
This is unlike to a career in some other domain where you only need good grasp on your current work let’s say strong coding. In
this field other skills are just means to implement your technical knowledge.
To begin with I should make it clear that knowledge of only VLSI won’t be enough to fetch you a career in semiconductor domain
(atleast at UG level), also it is virtually impossible to learn VLSI in depth without a few prerequisite subjects. Those are:
1. Digital Electronics
2. Basics of Electronics Engineering
3. Semiconductor Devices
4. HDL Coding (Verilog/VHDL)
Once you are able to learn these you could then switch to learning VLSI Technology Basics. Apart from these there are certain
other topics also to keep grasp on so as to get a very good picture of electronics engineering, and connect the dots together.
They are:
5. Microprocessors and Microcontrollers
6. Op-Amps, RC and RLC circuit analysis
Advance skills would include:
1. Static Timing Analysis(STA)
2. TCL/Perl Scripting
Before talking in more deep about VLSI, I am mentioning certain sources to learn the abovementioned topics. You could also
refer to various other sources available.
SUBJECT RESOURCE IMPORTANT TOPICS
Digital Electronics: - Digital Electronics by [Link] (NPTEL): Boolean concepts, number
[Link] systems, combinational circuits,
- NESO Academy: see the youtube channel sequential circuits
- Book by Morris Mano
Principles of - Book By Jacob Millman & Christos C. Halkias Basics structure and operation
Electronics - Book by Robert Boylestad of devices like diode, BJT, MOS
Engineering and other fundamental
electronoics concepts(circuit
laws etc), Filters, Amplifiers,
oscillators
Semiconductor - Book by Ben G Streetman Device structure and operation,
Devices - NPTEL Lecture series on SD mainly looking at the physical
aspect of devices
HDL Coding - Book by Samir Palnitkar Design of basic combinational
(Verilog/VHDL) - NPTEL Lecture on Hardware Modelling using Verilog and sequential circuits,
- Asic World Site: [Link] synthesizable and non-
- Although this is an HDL so you need to be conceptually soundsynthesizable concept, test
also but keep practising the codes which is more important bench
Microprocessors - Book by R S Gaonkar (Note there are very some differences Architecture of the
and between a microprocessor and its next version, but all you microprocessor/microcontroller,
Microcontrollers need to learn is the basic concept. ) Coding and analysing it(dry run)
- NPTEL Lecture video on Microprocessor even from the hardware
perspective, Addressing modes,
Timing diagrams, Interfacing
Op-Amps, RC and - NPTEL Lecture videos Various Op_Amp circuit
RLC circuits - Any Basic Electrical Engineering book analysis, Transient analysis in
RLC circuits, Filters, Amplifiers,
Oscillators
Static Timing - VLSI Expert by Puneet Mittal ([Link] Timing Paths, Timing
Analysis(STA) - UDEMY course by Kunal Ghosh ([Link] Constraints, Setup-Hold, Slack,
academy-sta-checks/) Slew, Timing Violations,
- Book by J Bhasker (This book is mainly tool based but the Maximum clock Frequency
concepts are very well discussed)
TCL/Perl Scripting - There are so many online courses on Udemy, Coursera etc Basic knowledge of scripting,
- Any basic scripting book. Just keep practising with theory. difference with other languages,
basic command function
VLSI Design - Lecture series by Behzad Razavi (Available on youtube)- Design representation, CMOS
would give an excellent understanding about diode, BJT, MOS, Technology, Layout, Analog
OP-AMP etc Basics, Circuit analysis
- Book by Sedra Smith on Mocroelectronics
- Book by Neil Weste & Harris
One thing is implicit for all the topics discussed above; solve as many questions as possible. Keep in mind to solve quality and
challenging questions, and not getting elated by just solving simple problems (by simple I mainly mean direct formula based
ones). Questions could be picked from good books, previous year GATE questions, foreign university test papers, semiconductor
company’s recruitment questions, NPTEL course questions etc. Quality over quantity always! Complex problems would take
time and test your concepts, but you should have heard good things take time!!
In the upcoming roadmap I shall discuss about projects, research, internships, resume building, jobs, competitions and higher
studies related to VLSI domain!
Kumar Ankit
STMicroelectronics | BIT Mesra,Ranchi
Roadmap2: Internships, Jobs Resume Building etc?
Competitions/ challenges:
Although competitions and challenges in this field are less as compared to hackathons or Business
challenges yet there are some competitions which are quite good.
1. Cadence Design Contest : This contest is conducted by Cadence Design Systems which comprises of
a few rounds where you need to send an abstract with a novel design idea in the first stage. If selected
this is followed by the design and its in depth analysis/discussion. Final accepted designs are called for
physical presentation.
2. India Innovation Challenge Design Challenge : A joint venture of Texas Instruments and DST, this
challenge is mostly about entrepreneurship but electronics designs could be submitted in it
Summer Internships/ Projects:
Some opportunities I have listed below.
1. Verilog Internship conducted by Mentor Graphics: Applications are out online in the early phase of the
year. Very good hands on experience on Verilog, System Verilog, UVM etc are provided for around 2
months. No stipend provided, free training with lunch.
2. DAAD Wise Scholarship: An excellent opportunity for college students to get an internship opportunity
(with scholarship) in Germany for 2-3 months. It is specifically for some colleges and also requires very
good academics. More details can be found on the official website.
3. Internships at IITs/IISc etc: Well nowadays almost all these premier institutions have a dedicated
summer internship programme for other college students. One should apply for this as it would be a
good exposure to the research work in VLSI field.
4. Projects: Well another efficient way to utilize the semester breaks is doing a project on some topics of
electronics that excites you. You could take the help of some online project providing sites but better to
approach some professor to let you do a project under him. In doing this you would be asked to study
many things, research articles and it would benefit a lot. You could also mail certain particular professor
from other institutions of these institution if you are really interested in their domain of work.
Your project topics may range from Digital VLSI, Devices, Analog VLSI,
Digital System Design, Interfacing of FPGA Kit etc. Also try to get a research paper if your project idea
is novel.
> Personally I am not a supporter of Industrial trainings since those do not expose you to some proper
work rather just knowhow of the industry. What one should try is to try for internships and if not then doing
a project with classmates or under some professor is quite helpful.
Internships, Jobs:
There is a whole list of companies to target for in India
- Major MNC VLSI companies in India are Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Broadcom, Texas
Instruments (TI), STMicroelectronics, AMD etc
- EDA Companies related to VLSI – Tools as well as IP designs are Cadence, Mentor Graphics,
Synopsys
- Other VLSI Service companies: Synapse Design, Mirafra Technologies, Aricent(Altran) etc.
Well in VLSI companies 2 month internship is offered in very few cases and mostly internship for 6
months or 1 year is considered. And these days most companies convert for full time employees
post this internship period.
The various types of job profiles are: Physical Design, RTL Design, Timing Analysis, Analog
Design, Digital Design, Memory Design, Application profile etc.
The payscale although depends on company but since this is a specialized domain, the pay is quite
handsome
One could try to secure a position in these companies via:
i. On-campus job opportunities
ii. Company job portal
iii. LinkedIn job application portal & Job postings by individuals
iv. Other job application sites like FirstNaukri etc
v. Referral by employees
vi. Company hiring drives
Higher studies, Entrance Exams
1. Graduate Aptitude Test in Engineering (GATE): One of the most sought after entrance exams post
one’s [Link] conducted annually. Its gives a wide range of opportunities based on one’s rank to
either do a master’s from a premier institute of India or if your rank is even better you could be directly
considered for a job in a government sector company.
2. Indian Engineering Services (IES): This exam is conducted annually for selection of officers for the
engineering services in various fields of Engineering of the Government of India.
3. Graduate Record Examinations (GRE): This is an entrance exam for those who are interested to do
MS from a graduate school in US.
Resume: Important points:
Since this a purely technical domain so should one’s resume be aligned avoiding irrelevant details.
Academics is very important for consideration here so let your academics appear clearly on the
resume.
The important points in your resume should be: experience if any, internships (relevant to ECE
domain), projects, achievements, skills etc
A common question is regarding the length of the resume: The answer is that it should be long enough
to cover your skills in precise manner and short enough not to bore the person screening it. Ideally a
single page resume is preferred but can go maximum upto 2 pages
Kumar Ankit
STMicroelectronics | BIT Mesra,Ranchi
