Analog & Mixed-Signal Integrated-Circuit Design: Fundamentals, Simulation, and Layout

The semiconductor industry is growing rapidly, and companies are willing to invest and expand. However,

the significant shortage of skilled and highly educated workers in North America raises concerns whether

businesses will be able to keep it up. To overcome this issue, the solution is A) to prospect students for

chip design industry B) Programs and training tailored to the semiconductor ecosystem.

This 2nd Canadian Bootcamp on Analog & Mixed-Signal ICs aims at providing training and upskilling for

engineers in the chip industry. The program’s length totals 10 full days of classes and exercises. It

engages leading experts such as Prof Gordon Roberts of McGill University, leading textbook author Dan

Clein, Prof Christian Fayomi of UQAM, Prof Glenn Cowan of Concordia University, and Design

Engineering Director Dr Michael Venditti as well as Louis-Francois Tanguay of Cadence, to take students

and design engineers (looking for re-skilling) through analog and mixed-signal integrated circuit (IC) basic

building blocks, CMOS Opamp Design, Sigma-Delta Converters, Phase-Lock-Loop design intro,

introduction to CMOS layout design and development of standard cells for mixed-signal integrated circuit

design, Low-Voltage CMOS Bandgap reference voltage, and high-speed communication circuits, and

additional theory and applied circuit-implementation led by senior engineering leaders from industry.

The course benefits the industry by upskilling personnel as well as networking with potential employees

and interns. In addition, graduate students will have the chance to earn fundamentals of IC design and

layout that are otherwise heavily limited by their choice of institution. The courses focus on practical

approaches to IC design and participants will have hands-on experience guided with close support. Each

class day consists of 3 hours of lecture followed by 3 hours of practical work.

The bootcamp will be held on an in-person in Montreal, between Tuesday November 11th and Thursday

November 20th. A total of 30 participants can attend the program, limited to 24 industry guests and 6

graduate students. The registration is made online through ReSMiQ website.

Registration now online!

Bootcamp Q&A and summary:

When will it take place?

November 11th (Tuesday) to November 20th (Thursday)

Where will it be held?

In-person in Montreal, QC, Canada

How Much does it cost?

The registration fees include breakfast, lunch, etc. (except dinner)

Graduate students: 1500 CAD

Industry guests: 4000 CAD

Who should attend it?

Six (6) Graduate students looking for practical design knowledge of high-speed Analog and Mixed Signal

IC design. 24 Industry staff with experience in the IC design looking for upskilling or requalification.

Can I cancel after registration?

Event cancellations must be received in writing at least one (1) week before the beginning date of the

event in question to receive a full refund of the registration fee. A cancellation made after the deadline

will not receive a refund. We make no commitments on refunds for travel or accommodations.

What are the pre-requisites?

Basic knowledge of transistor-level design. Familiarity with EDA tools such as Cadence and Synopsys.

Each attendee should bring their own laptop.

What will be taught and who will be the instructors?

Day 1 & 2: Fundamentals of analog & mixed-signal ICs design, Gordon W. Roberts, McGill University,

https://www.ece.mcgill.ca/~grober4/ROBERTS/Welcome.html (2 half days theory and 2 half days hands-on

design experience) focussed on:

 Linear and nonlinear system behavior,

 Analog and mixed-signal basics building blocks,

 Manufacturing concerns, and

 Principles of feedback, and its applications to CMOS Opamp design and simulation,

 Data conversion using Sigma-Delta Modulators, and Phase-Lock-Loop (if time permits).

Day 3 & 4: Introduction to CMOS layout design and development of standard cells for mixedsignal

design, Dan Clein https://www.comet-ic.com/ , https://www.theunorthodoxmanager.com/ (2 halfdays

theory, and 2 half-days layout implementation):

 What is CMOS VLSI Layout ?

 What are the quality metrics for layout design in general?

 Where can analog/RF take advantage of cell libraries and why?

 How to build a standard cell library for digital and for mixed signal (similarities and differences).

Day 5: Bandgap Reference Circuits : Fundamentals, design, and simulation, Christian Fayomi,

UQAM https://professeurs.uqam.ca/professeur/fayomi.c/, (half-day theory, and half-day implementation):

 Bandgap reference fundamentals,

 Simplest bandgap references, and

 Case study: design and characterization of a bandgap reference using 45 nm CMOS

Day 6 & 7: High-Speed Wireline Circuits (Part 1), Glenn Cowan, Concordia University

https://users.encs.concordia.ca/~gcowan/, (2 half-days theory and 2 half-days hands-on design

experience):

 Introduction to wireline communication,

 Fundamentals of equalization,

 Inverter-based circuits for transmitters,

 Amplifiers and equalizers.

Day 8, 9 & 10: High-Speed Wireline Circuits (Part 2), Michael Venditti, Design Engineering Director

at Cadence and Louis-Francois Tanguay, Sr Principal Design Engineer at Cadence (3 half-days

theory and 3 half-days hands-on design experience):

 Sense amplifiers and clocking,

 Serializers,

 Advanced topics: tips and tricks for efficient simulation,

 design partitioning, Intro to advanced wireline topics.

Technology (Cadence tools and process): CMOS 45 nm generic process

Contact for technical questions: Chris FAYOMI cfayomi@ieee.org