Electronics Course Catalogue

Updated for 2012-13

ECE 512H Analog Signal Processing Circuits
Professor A. Chan Carusone
An overview of analog signal processing in both continuous-time and discrete-time. The design of analog filters including transfer function approximation using Matlab and implementation using active-RC, transconductance-C, and switch-capacitor circuits. Other topics include oversampling and noise in analog circuits. Course credit not available to students who have taken CEC1360H.

ECE 530H Analog Electronics
Professor A. Liscidini
Review of MOSFET semiconductor device equations. Review of basic amplifier circuits. Basic CMOS op amp. Op amp compensation. Advanced op amp circuits: telescopic and folded-cascode op amps; fully-differential op amps. Comparators. Sample-and-hold circuits. Bandgap reference circuits. Nyquist-rate data converters: D/A converters, and A/D converters.

ECE 534H Integrated Circuit Engineering
Professor W.T. Ng
The course deals with the technology and design of analog, digital and RF integrated circuits, including exposure to computer aided IC design tools at the semiconductor process, device, and circuit layout level. Topics include: IC fabrication review, MOS IC Process Modules and Components; RF (Bi) CMOS IC Process Modules and Components; Compact Modelling, Characterization, and Design Automation; Bipolar/CMOS Digital, Analog, and RF IC Building Blocks; Packaging and Yield.
The labs will expose students to the major steps in the development of a multi-purpose (Bi)CMOS process.
Prerequisites: ECE331H1 F/S or ECE334H1 F/S; ECE335H1 or equivalent.

ECE 535H Advanced Electronic Devices
Professor S. Voinigescu
Heterojunctions, SiGe, InP and GaSb HBTs. MOS device scaling and scaling limits, Dennard’s constant field scaling rules, device characteristics and short channel effects. Charge quantization, gate stack, strain and substrate engineering in nanoscale MOSFETs. Nanoscale CMOS fabrication process flow, isolation methods, strategies to suppress short channel effects, stress memorization techniques. Technology CAD for process and device simulations. SPICE models for circuit simulation. SOI (Silicon on Insulator) technology, III-V FETs and graphene transistors. High Power Devices: LDMOS, AlGaN/GaN HEMTs. Semiconductor memories: DRAM, SRAM, FeRAM, EEPROM, Flash memory. Devices.
(Prerequisite: ECE335H1 F).

ECE 1333H Selected Topics in Semiconductor Physics
Professor N.P. Kherani
The subject matter changes from year to year but generally the course deals with elements of solid state physics relevant to semiconductor devices.

ECE 1334H Selected Topics in Solid State Electronics/VLSI Technology
Professor C.A.T. Salama
VLSI fabrication technology will be the focus of this course. Emphasis will be on both semiconductor processing techniques and CAD tools for process designs. Advanced VLSI processes such as CMOS and BiCMOS will be discussed in detail. Computer simulations will be used to study the design and characteristics of these processes. Prerequisites: ECE 534F Integrated Circuit Engineering taken concurrently. Limited enrolment. Note: This is a restricted enrolment course dealing with hands on Advanced Semiconductor Processing.

ECE 1336H Semiconductor Physics
Professor N.P. Kherani
A general course in solid state physics with specific emphasis on semiconductors; covers: crystal symmetry, crystal dynamics, dynamic properties of electrons in periodic lattice, elements of transport theory, excess carriers in semiconductors, semiconductor surfaces. Prerequisites: ECE 330F - Semiconductor Physics or ECE 350F - Physical Electronics.

ECE 1352H Analog Circuit Design I
Professor A. Chan Carusone
A course on CMOS Analog integrated circuit design, highlighting major analog building blocks and circuit techniques, and design and test considerations. Topics include MOSFET device modeling, noise analysis, op amp design and compensation, common-mode feedback, biasing and reference circuits, oscillators, and phase locked loops. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE 1802H. Prerequisites: ECE 530F, or equivalent.

ECE 1360H Selected Topics in Instrumentation
Professor D.A. Johns
The course is intended to supplement instrumentation courses by presenting timely topics in Instrumentation Circuits and Systems. The material as well as the instructors change from year to year. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE 1810H.

ECE 1362H Filter Theory and Design
Professor D.A. Johns
This course is mainly concerned with the design of high-order filter both active and passive. Considerable use of CAD programs is required. Topics covered include: Passive Filter Design; Cascade and Coupled Biquad Active Filter Structures; The Component Simulation Approach to Active Filter Design; the Operational Simulation Approach to Active Filter Design; State-space synthesis, and complex analog filters. Also included is a detailed treatment of Switched-Capacitor filters and a brief introduction to the design of digital filters via the application of the bilinear transformation. Text: (1) Sedra & Brackett, Filter Theory and Design: Active and Passive, Matrix Publishers, Inc. (1978). (2) Journal papers. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE 1812H.

ECE 1365H RF and High Speed Monolithic Integrated Circuits
Professor S. Voinigescu
A design intensive overview of high speed and RF monolithic integrated circuits for wireless and optical fiber systems with an emphasis on device-circuit topology interaction and optimization. Noise, high frequency common-mode and differential mode stability and matching, methodologies for maximizing circuit bandwidth, as well as layout and isolation techniques will be discussed. Students will participate in a group project on RF or optical fiber circuits using advanced RF CMOS, and SiGe BiCMOS technologies.

JEB 1365H Ultrasound: Theory and Applications in Biology and Medicine
Professor R.S.C. Cobbold
The course is intended to provide a firm understanding of the physical and theoretical basis of ultrasound systems that are either used in current medical practice or that have potential applications. Throughout the course practical applications will be related to the theoretical models. It begins with a historical review and then, using the Navier-Stokes equation, develops a basis for describing wave propagation and radiation from simple structures. This is followed by the design and characterization of transmitting and receiving transducers. Included is consideration of materials, models and methods for experimental evaluation of performance. The design and properties of B-mode imaging arrays are described along with their practical application. Doppler ultrasound for flow assessment and flow imaging, spectral analysis of Doppler signals and related methods are also described. Additional topics include acoustic microscopy, ultrasonic tomography, high power ultrasound applications, and biological hazards of ultrasound. Course credit is not available to students who have taken JEB 1815H.

ECE 1371H Advanced Analog Circuits
Professor D.A. Johns
The focus of this course is on delta-sigma ADC design, with one lecture devoted to pipeline ADCs and SAR ADCs. Delta-sigma topics include low-order and high-order modulator design, discrete-time realization with switched-capacitor circuits, plus CMOS implementation of comparator, amplifier and DAC sub-blocks. Advanced topics such as noise analysis, mismatch-shaping and continuous-time realization of delta-sigma ADCs are covered in the latter half of the course.
Prerequisite: ECE1352 (Analog Circuit Design I)

ECE 1373H Digital Design for Systems-on-Chip
Professor P. Chow
An advanced digital hardware course dealing with the design of large digital systems implemented using FPGA and ASIC technologies. Topics include architecture design, design flows, HDL design, clocking and interfacing. Prerequisite: Background in digital design using Verilog/VHDL.

ECE 1379H Introduction to Compound Semiconductor Devices
Staff
Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) electronics and optoelectronics have emerged as leading contenders for ultra-high-speed electronic and photonic applications. Course content includes: physical properties of GaAs; carrier transport in GaAs; electronic and optical characteristics; homojunction and heterojunction transistors, lasers, detectors; superlattice and quantum well devices, integrated circuits. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE1829H.

ECE 1384H Digital Circuit Design
Professor A. Sheikholeslami
An electronic-circuits course emphasizing digital circuits but including relevant analog considerations of high speed digital circuits. The major thrust will be on CMOS circuits, but coverage will include some NMOS and BJT logic. SPICE is used as the major simulation tool throughout the course. This course might logically be taken in conjunction with ECE1388H, and prior to ECE1373H, although no formal prerequisite restrictions exist. Familiarity with Sedra and Smith Microelectronic Circuits, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press (1998) and SPICE is assumed. Course credit is not availabe to students who have taken ELE1834H.

ECE 1385H Selected Topics in VLSI Systems: SoC Test Methodologies - Digital and RF
Professor P.G. Gulak

The course focuses on state-of-the-art test techniques for System-on-Chip (SoC) IC designs that make use of today’s advanced CMOS processes. The concepts introduced are required for any production quality ICs that will be produced in high volume. Both digital and RF test concepts will be discussed in the course by means of lectures and student-based seminar presentations.

Coverage of the following topics is expected:

• Testbenches, ATPG, Fault Coverage
• Memory Testing
• Design for Testability
• Built-in Self-Test
• Embedded Core and SoC Test
• RF Test Techniques: Time and Frequency Domain Tests
• Power, Noise and Related Measurements
• Transmitter and Receiver Tests

Evaluation is by means of assignments and/or presentations, and a project. The weekly laboratory assignments and project will make use of the Advanced Digital Test Laboratory, a $7M facility located in the Bahen Building, that contains a state-of-art production-quality SoC tester.

You are expected to have a good knowledge of VLSI, logic design and computer architecture. You will also need to have experience in the C or C++ programming language.

ECE 1387H CAD for Digital Circuit Synthesis and Layout
Professor J.H. Anderson
The approaches and algorithms for automatic circuit synthesis, with a concentration on the back-end of the CAD flow. Topics covered will include: technology mapping, partitioning, placement, routing, timing analysis, and physical synthesis. The course will include experience with existing CAD tools and building new tools, and will pay special attention to synthesis issues as applied to Field-Programmable Gate Arrays. Prerequisites: ECE 451 VLSI Systems + programming experience or permission of instructor. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE 1837H.

ECE 1388H VLSI Design Methodology
Professor R. Genov
VLSI circuits and systems design methodology in deep submicron CMOS technologies using advanced CAD tools.


ECE 1390H Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems
Staff
Increasingly, research projects in circuits and systems must be carried out in a parallel process and in ways complementary to each other. Current innovative research projects in the area of circuit design using available technologies are increasing the feasibility of analog or mixed analog/digital realizations of important mathematical functions, algorithms and computational techniques on silicon chips. Such developments contribute to the realization of some novel systems, previously unrealizable because of the lack of suitable circuits. Simultaneously, innovative research in the area of system design is directed at eliminating the need for unrealizable circuits. The goal of this course is to study examples of such complementary interaction between circuit and system research efforts. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE 1840H.

ECE 1391H Advanced Microelectronic Devices
Professor W.T. Ng
The course is designed to familiarize students with advanced microelectronic device and process design using standard CAD tools. Strong emphasis will be placed on new and emerging technologies such as BiCMOS, DRAM, non-volatile memories, smart power ICs, and SOI, etc.
Prerequisites: ECE 534H, Integrated Circuit Engineering and ECE 1393H, Semiconductor Devices.

ECE 1392H Integrated Circuits for Digital Communications
Professor A. Sheikholeslami
This course deals with integrated circuit implementations of digital communication. Topics include circuits for channel equalization (both at the transmitter and the receiver), clock and data recovery, coding and modulation schemes. Practical examples will be derived from wireline communication including chip-to-chip and backplane signaling.
Prerequisites: ECE 530F (or ECE1352), ECE 417S, and ECE1388H.

ECE 1393H Semiconductor Devices
Professor W.T. Ng
This course is concerned with certain theoretical and practical aspects of semiconductor devices. Advanced theory of MOS, bipolar and MESFET transistors is presented. In particular, physics and modeling of micron and submicron devices used in VLSI are discussed. In addition, MOS memory devices (MNOS, EPROM, FLOTOX) and advanced device concepts (heterostructure, HEMT’s, superlattices) are described. Texts: E.S. Yang, Microelectronic Devices, and S.M. Sze, High-Speed Semiconductor Devices. Prerequisite: ECE 335S Electronic Devices. Course credit is not available to students who have taken ELE 1325H or ELE 435F.

ECE1394H Technical Management of Modern IC Design
Professor K. Pagiamtzis
This course provides an overview of the design process of a large design in modern integrated circuit at the 65nm, 45nm, and 28nm node (depending on the availability of the corresponding design kit). A custom dual-port SRAM block, which can be embedded into an FPGA or other integrated circuit, is used as a design example throughout the course. Via the SRAM example, this course will focus on (1) the required tasks to design a robust circuit in a modern CMOS process, and (2) aspects of leading and managing the design, verification, layout, and characterization. Topics covered include yield analysis and die cost estimation, behavioural modeling, logic verification, mixed-signal simulation, leakage and dynamic power consumption, timing verification across corners, statistical verification, and task management of large designs.
Prerequisite: ECE1388H.
Please note that this course is open to M.Eng. students only

ECE1395H Power Semiconductor Devices and Applications
Professor W.T. Ng
This course presents the electrical characteristics, thermal characteristics, packaging techniques and applications of state-of-the-art power semiconductor devices. In particular, the device structure and fabrication technology for power MOSFETs and IGBTs will be discussed extensively. The integration of these power devices to form Smart Power IC and HV CMOS technologies will also be introduced. Technology CAD tools will be used extensively to demonstrate the design, analysis, modelling and optimization of these power devices. Design projects targeting methods to achieve high breakdown voltage, low on-resistance, fast switching speed and high reliability/ruggedness will be carried out. In addition, the students will be also exposed to selection considerations for “off-the-shelf” devices that would meet the circuit or system level specifications.