Terms and Conditions:

Steven M. Rubin wrote:Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this book provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

Book excerpts:

This book describes how computers can be programmed to help in the design of very-large-scale integrated (VLSI) circuits. Such circuits are becoming increasingly common due to their ease of manufacture, low cost, and simplified design methodologies. No longer must the designer study electronics and physics to build an integrated circuit. Digital electronic design is taught widely and is accessible to people with any scientific background.

The need for better VLSI design systems has fostered a need to study these systems more carefully. The book, Introduction to VLSI Systems by Mead and Conway, opened up this field of study to a wider audience than ever before. A follow-on book, Principles of CMOS VLSI Design by Weste and Eshraghian, combined with the first text to present a broad foundation for the construction of VLSI circuits. This book continues where the others have left off: it explores the computer-aided design systems that enable such construction.

Intended Audience:

Although students of this textbook need not have done so, they are advised to have studied one of the mentioned VLSI books and to have done some chip design. This will provide the proper background to distinguish VLSI design from more traditional circuit layout. Students should also be familiar with basic computer-programming issues. The reader of this text is therefore presumed to be a VLSI designer who would like to develop better design tools. In addition to descriptions of techniques, much reference information is provided in this book.

Another potential reader of this book is the VLSI designer who, although not interested in programming new tools, would like to develop a finer understanding of the tools that are already in use. This book illustrates the operation and interrelation of the parts of VLSI design systems. Designers who understand these concepts will be better able to work with their systems and to help specify future CAD directions.