ALL 12 CHAPTERS COVERED
SOLUTIONS MANUAL
, Institut für Integrierte Systeme
Integrated Systems Laboratory
Digital Integrated Circuit Design
from VLSI Architectures
to CMOS Fabrication
Cambridge University Press
2008, ISBN 978-0-521-88267-5
Solutions to Problems
Dr. Hubert Kaeslin and Sebastian Axmann
Microelectronics Design Center
ETH Zürich
CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
Copyright 2008
c by Hubert Kaeslin
July 9, 2008
, i
Problems are graded as a function of the effort required to solve them:
∗ A few thoughts lead to a brief answer.
∗∗ Details need to be worked out, count between 20 min and 90 min.
∗∗∗ A small engineering project, multiple solutions might exist, access to EDA and other
computer tools may be helpful.
To provide the necessary context to the reader, every solution is preceded by the problem
statement from the textbook. For brevity, figures, code listings, and substantial tables are not
being repeated, though.
Further support material available online:
Presentation slides www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521882675
Corrigenda www.dz.ee.ethz.ch/background/textbook/corrigenda.txt
Error reports and suggestions welcome, please address to , thank you!
Modification history:
8.7.08 first complete edition.
, Chapter 1
Problem 1
∗ Various examples of design views have been given in figs.1.7, 1.9, and 1.11. Locate them in
the Y-chart of fig.1.10.
1. 1.7a nor gate icon: structural perspective, logic level.
2. 1.7b nor gate simulation model: behavioral perspective, logic level.
3. 1.7c nor gate test vector set: behavioral perspective, logic level.
4. 1.7d nor gate transistor-level schematic: structural perspective, electrical level.
5. 1.7e nor gate detailed layout: physical perspective, electrical level.
6. 1.7f nor gate cell abstract: physical perspective, logic level.
7. 1.9a filter RTL diagram: structural perspective, RTL level.
8. 1.9b pattern detector: behavioral perspective, RTL level.
9. 1.9c pattern detector: structural perspective, logic level.
10. 1.11a chip floorplan: physical perspective, architecture level.
11. 1.11b series expansion simulation code: behavioral perspective, architecture level.
12. 1.11c chip package: physical perspective, system level.
13. 1.11d state graph and DDG: behavioral perspective, logic level.
14. 1.11e electrical transfer characteristics: behavioral perspective, electrical level.
15. 1.11f Viterbi block diagram: structural perspective, architecture or even system level.
Problem 2
∗ Think of some industrial product family of your own liking (record player/MP3 player, mo-
bile phone, (digital) camera, TV set/video recorder; car, locomotive, airplane; computer, pho-
tocopier, building control equipment, etc.). Discuss what microelectronics has contributed
towards making these products possible in their present form. How has the microelectronic
content evolved over the years? Where do you see challenges for improving these products and
their microelectronic content?
Let us discuss three examples: computers, a consumer product, and an investment good.
Computing machinery started as mechanical devices such as the abacus, the pinwheel calcu-
lator, and the difference engine. Electromechanical relays and vacuum tubes played a brief
intermezzo during the 1940s and 1950s. However, program-controlled computers could never
have become to small, powerful, mobile, and cost-effective as they are today without four ma-
jor microelectronic inventions, namely the transistor, the integrated circuit, the semiconductor
memory (RAM), and the microprocessor. Hard- and software evolution have since been fueled
by Moore’s law. All this contributed to an unprecedented degree of pervasiveness of computers.
1
SOLUTIONS MANUAL
, Institut für Integrierte Systeme
Integrated Systems Laboratory
Digital Integrated Circuit Design
from VLSI Architectures
to CMOS Fabrication
Cambridge University Press
2008, ISBN 978-0-521-88267-5
Solutions to Problems
Dr. Hubert Kaeslin and Sebastian Axmann
Microelectronics Design Center
ETH Zürich
CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
Copyright 2008
c by Hubert Kaeslin
July 9, 2008
, i
Problems are graded as a function of the effort required to solve them:
∗ A few thoughts lead to a brief answer.
∗∗ Details need to be worked out, count between 20 min and 90 min.
∗∗∗ A small engineering project, multiple solutions might exist, access to EDA and other
computer tools may be helpful.
To provide the necessary context to the reader, every solution is preceded by the problem
statement from the textbook. For brevity, figures, code listings, and substantial tables are not
being repeated, though.
Further support material available online:
Presentation slides www.cambridge.org/uk/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521882675
Corrigenda www.dz.ee.ethz.ch/background/textbook/corrigenda.txt
Error reports and suggestions welcome, please address to , thank you!
Modification history:
8.7.08 first complete edition.
, Chapter 1
Problem 1
∗ Various examples of design views have been given in figs.1.7, 1.9, and 1.11. Locate them in
the Y-chart of fig.1.10.
1. 1.7a nor gate icon: structural perspective, logic level.
2. 1.7b nor gate simulation model: behavioral perspective, logic level.
3. 1.7c nor gate test vector set: behavioral perspective, logic level.
4. 1.7d nor gate transistor-level schematic: structural perspective, electrical level.
5. 1.7e nor gate detailed layout: physical perspective, electrical level.
6. 1.7f nor gate cell abstract: physical perspective, logic level.
7. 1.9a filter RTL diagram: structural perspective, RTL level.
8. 1.9b pattern detector: behavioral perspective, RTL level.
9. 1.9c pattern detector: structural perspective, logic level.
10. 1.11a chip floorplan: physical perspective, architecture level.
11. 1.11b series expansion simulation code: behavioral perspective, architecture level.
12. 1.11c chip package: physical perspective, system level.
13. 1.11d state graph and DDG: behavioral perspective, logic level.
14. 1.11e electrical transfer characteristics: behavioral perspective, electrical level.
15. 1.11f Viterbi block diagram: structural perspective, architecture or even system level.
Problem 2
∗ Think of some industrial product family of your own liking (record player/MP3 player, mo-
bile phone, (digital) camera, TV set/video recorder; car, locomotive, airplane; computer, pho-
tocopier, building control equipment, etc.). Discuss what microelectronics has contributed
towards making these products possible in their present form. How has the microelectronic
content evolved over the years? Where do you see challenges for improving these products and
their microelectronic content?
Let us discuss three examples: computers, a consumer product, and an investment good.
Computing machinery started as mechanical devices such as the abacus, the pinwheel calcu-
lator, and the difference engine. Electromechanical relays and vacuum tubes played a brief
intermezzo during the 1940s and 1950s. However, program-controlled computers could never
have become to small, powerful, mobile, and cost-effective as they are today without four ma-
jor microelectronic inventions, namely the transistor, the integrated circuit, the semiconductor
memory (RAM), and the microprocessor. Hard- and software evolution have since been fueled
by Moore’s law. All this contributed to an unprecedented degree of pervasiveness of computers.
1
