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What is VLSIand Why You Should Care
Dr. Joseph EliasAdjunct Faculty, ECE Department
Modeling Principal, Cypress Semiconductor
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What is this?Whatever it is, looks simple.
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WELL, IT GETS SLIGHTLY MORE COMPLICATEDWHAT IS THIS? SEE ANY ODDITY?
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STILL NOT CLEAR?CAN’T SEE THE FOREST FROM THE TREES?
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NOW?
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NOW?
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Who am I?• Graduated from UK, 1989, BSEE
– Electro-magnetics, EMC, one laser class– No hard-core semiconductor class
• Masters, Ph.D., Rice University– Laser interaction with semiconductors– Semiconductor research with Texas Instruments
• Texas Instruments, 1995-2000• Cypress Semiconductor, 2000-present• UK, 2000-present
• I was sitting in your seat 15-20 years ago• I thought I was going to be a laser / EM engineer
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Why you should care?
• One day you will graduate, then what?• Do you want to apply your previous class work?• What are your options for jobs or grad school?
– Possibilities you may not have thought of
• EE584 Intro to VLSI may help your career decision
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But I’ve heard the class is hardand the instructor is …..
• EE584 is taught as a segue to the real world• Cypress Semiconductor has hired 14 recent graduates• Others have found jobs at:
– TI, Intel, Silicon Valley start-ups
• These are high-paying, cutting-edge companies• “Hard” classes are relative to your expectations
– Your competition: thousands of EE grads each year– Are you going to settle for lower echelon jobs?
• As far as the instructor, ….
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What is expected from an engineer?• Hours:
– 8am à 6pm (nominally)– 7am à12am (sometimes)
• Skills:– Typing– Speaking– Reading– Simple programming (except SW engineers)– Flexibility (try new things)– Paying attention, energy, enthusiasm– Playing well with others
• List is independent of your specialty
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What can VLSI do for me?
• Jobs– Industry is cyclical, but drives economy
• Grad school– New technologies to replace Silicon needed
• VLSI can lead you to:– West Coast (OR, CA)– East Coast (NY, MA, NJ, NC)– Midwest (IL, MN)– Southwest (TX, AZ)– International (India, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, England,
Japan, Taiwan, China)
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What do you learn/use in VLSI?• Physics• Chemistry• Software• Presentations• Documentation• What is important in order to get a job
• FALL VLSI INTRODUCTION MWF 9am• SPRING ADVANCED VLSI MWF 9am
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BACKUP
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What are possible jobs I could do?• Software
– Web interfaces: financials, data mining– Scripts to automate manual tasks
• Hardware– Production : large volumes (hundreds – millions)– Engineering : small volumes (one, two, ten)
• Writing– Documentation of what you just did– Simple, yet hard to accomplish
• Speaking– Management, communicate effectively– Believable, trustworthy
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What is VLSI?Should I still care?
• Very Large Scale Integration
• VLSI and semiconductors should excite you
• Why should you care?– In a word à Jobs– Another word à Skills– Learn how to make computer chips– Cutting edge technology– There is a need for wide ranging interests– Chemistry, Design, Physics, Video, Audio, Hardware,
Software, Writing– Graduate programs support this industry
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What is a semiconductor?
• Small switch• Put lots of them together, you get a chip• Used in
– Cell phones– Computers– Toasters– Cars– Everything ………
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How much does an engineer get paid?• 2001 IEEE Salary Survey: Median $93k (n=9,700)
– Experience level– This is not a starting salary– Typically takes 10 years work experience
– Education level– Ph.D. = Master + (3 to 5)– Master = Bachelor + (3 to 5)
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How Many Chips?
Wafers (Millions) vs. Time
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10 MILLION WAFERS * ~500 CHIPS / WAFER = 5 BILLION CHIPS / QUARTER
EACH CHIP $0.50 – $50
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Who Hires VLSI-Types?
• Semiconductor companies • Fab-less “Design Houses”
2001Rank Company
2001Sales
1 Intel 23.52 ST Micro 6.43 Toshiba 6.14 TI 6.05 Samsung 5.26 Motorola 4.87 NEC 4.88 Infineon 4.69 Philips 4.4
10 AMD 3.9
2001Rank Company
2001Sales
1 Qualcomm 1.242 Nvidia 1.213 Xilinx 1.154 Via 1.015 Broadcom 0.966 Altera 0.847 Cirrus Logic 0.538 ATI Techn 0.529 Media Tek 0.45
10 QLogic 0.36
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Present solutions will no longer work in 2005Scale: human hair à 100,000 nm, red blood cell 5,000nm
