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(5)Whataregoodwaystolearntogetbetteratdigitaldesign?Quora

VLSI:Whataregoodwaystolearntogetbetterat
digitaldesign?

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KiranBulusu,Semiconductorexpert&Technologist
3.1kViewsKiranhas20+answersinVLSI.

Verilog

Shortanswerisbyapplyingwhatyoulearned..ButIguessthisisnotwhatyou
wantedtoknowwhenyoupostedtheqn.Trytoparticipateinopencores
projects..getanaccountinPageonUpverter ,engageinpublicprojects,build
yourownelectronicckts...tryitwitharduinoandthenwithraspberrypior
betterraspberrypiwitharduinoshield...IncontextofVLSIdesign,thereare
tonsofresourcesongoogle..nowadayseveryunivhascourseworkondigital
designeitheratundergradoratgraduatelevel..IansweredfewqnsonQuora
itselfonthesametopic...

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Iamnotabeginner.HowshouldI
proceedindigitalVLSIdesign?

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VHDL

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Butunlessyouknowhowtobuildandprogramsimplecktsinpractice,
everythingelseisuseless...
Written26Jul2013ViewUpvotes
Upvote 18

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Whatshouldbethewayofapproachone
shouldadhereto,inordertogetintoa
goodVLSIcompanyotherthanlearning
Veri...
Whichsuitsmebetter,andwhichhas
betterscopeinfuture:VLSIoranyoffer
withgoodpay?

IshanSaini

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VarunNagpalRequestBio
1.7kViews

Well,IguessIalsowanttodothesame.Itsanoeasytasktodo.

HowcanIlearnanalogVLSIDesignfrom
scratchonmyownusinghelpfrom
onlinematerialsandbooks?
Whataretherequiredsubjectstolearnto
becomeaVLSIdigitalICengineer?
WhiledesigningaSynchronousFIFOin
DigitalVLSIDesignenvironment,what
aretheissuesinFIFOandhowdoI
solvethos...
WhatisthebestwaytolearnDigital
VLSIdesign?
Whataregoodwaystolearnhowto
designHighVoltageSOIsemiconductor
devices?
Howdifficultwoulditbetotakean
introductiontoaVLSI(undergraduate)
courseatthesametimeasadigital
designco...
Cansomebodysuggestmefewgood
collegesforgettingaMastersdegreein
fieldofVLSIDesign?
MoreRelatedQuestions

Digitaldesign(RTL)isnotanisolatedactivityandtherearelotsofside
areasthatonemightneedtotouchuponwhiledoingso.Thesecouldbeability
tounderstandalgorithmsandwritecode(referenceimplementation),
familiarity(orabilitytounderstand)ofsubjectssuchassignalprocessing,
communication,computerarchitecture,compilers,Networking,analog
electronics,cryptography,informationtheoryetc.Mostoftheseothersubjects
aredomainareaswhichrequiredigitaldesignimplementations
Alsotherearelotofareasindigitaldesignthatmanybookssimplydonot
spendtimeon.Thosearethegreyareaswhicharehardtolearnandrequires
R&D(orjustaskonQuora/stackoverflow)andcomewithpractice/experience
only.Thesearetheskillswhichdifferentiatesexpertdigitaldesignersfrom
novice
HerearemysuggestionsandthewayIamtryingtodoit.
Firstyoushouldcommityourselftoreadqualitymaterialandtopracticeon
regularbasis.Therearemanyresources(Iwillsuggestsomeintheend)
available.ButitsimportanttostartandsticktooneHDLlanguageinitiallyand
masterit.
Second,youshouldtrytogethandsononthetoolsofthetrade.Buyadecent
FPGAboardsuchasXilinxZynqSoCbasedboard.AlteraalsohasSoCbased
FPGAboards(CyloneV).MostboardscomeupwithaModeslimsimulatorand
avendor/devicespecificHDL(RTL)synthesistools.Iwouldalsoliketo
mentionSmartFusion2SoCboardsfromMicrosemithatcomeswithafree
Synplifyprolicense(qualitytoolforsynthesis).Whenyouworkinacompany,
youarealsoexpectedtobecomfortableusingtoolssuchasoscilloscope,signal

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18/10/2015

(5)Whataregoodwaystolearntogetbetteratdigitaldesign?Quora
generators,logicanalyzers,multimeters,etc.Mostofthesetoolscanbe
bought(notveryexpensiveexceptoscilloscopeandsignalgenerator).Youcan
alwaysgoforsecondhandequipmentsifthingsoutofbudget.
Third,youshouldbuildskillsfrombottomupi.e.firstbuildbasicdigital
circuitsorbuildingblocks,trytocoverasmanyofthem.Thiswillmakeyou
comfortablewithbasicstuffandgiveconfidencetomoveuptheladder.Once
youhavedonethat,startbuildingsomethingofmediumcomplexitysuchas
Peripheral(UART,I2C,SPI),Memorycontrollers,FIRfilter,ALUs,8bitISA
Microprocessoretc.Fromthereonyoucanexplorebiggerdesignssuchas
Audio/VideoCodecs,Pipelined32bitmultcycleprocessor,Cryptography
algorithms,Microarchitecturecircuits.Goingstepbystepisthekey.
Lastly,readlessandDIYmoreandhavefunwhiledoingallthis.Justdont
writeRTLandsimulateinModelsim,pleaserun/debugontheboardinreal
time.
Handsonhandson..practicepractice..funfun...allthatmatters.
PreBasicBooks
FundamentalsofLogicDesignbyCharlesRoth
BasicRTLBooks(VHDL/Verilog)
RTLhardwareusingVHDLPongChu
FPGAPrototypingbyVHDLExamplesPongChu
CircuitdesignandsimulationwithVHDLPedroni
FPGAPrototypingbyVERILOGExamplesPongChu
AdvancedDigitalDesignwiththeVerilogHDLCiletti
GeneralBooks(Systemverilog/VHDLandforHigherlevel
understanding)
DigitaldesignandComputerArchitectureHarris&Harris
TopdownVLSIdesignbyHubertKaeslinwhichcoversFPGA/ASICfront
endflow
ApracticalintroductiontoHW/SWcodesignPatrickSchaumont(2nded)
Topicspecificbooks
FSMinHardware(VHDL/SystemVerilog)byPedroni
ConstrainingdesignsforSynthesisandTimingAnalysis
DigitalDesignofSignalProcessingSystemsKhan
HighlevelsynthesisBluebook
Greyareas
SimulationonlyHDLconstructsvsSynthesisonlyHDLconstructs
MixedHdlcoding
Readingdatasheets,schematics
TimedandConcurrentFSMs
ApplyingVerificationconceptstocreategoodTestbenches
Incircuitdebugging(ChipscopeonXilinxandSignaltaponAltera)
Clockdomaincrossing
Derivingclocks(PLL)
Handlingasynchronousdata/controlsignals
CreatingandIntegratingIPs
CreatingSoCbusesandattachingIPstothem
InteractionbetweenFPGAandfirmwareCcode
InterfacingFPGAwithexternalcomponents(ADC,DACoruController
SDRAMetc)
ConstrainingDesigns(SDC)forSynthesisandTimingClosure
WritingTCLscriptsandPerlscriptsforautomatingtoolflow
Understandingtradeoffs(circuitspeedvsarea)
Logicsynthesisconceptsandhowdifferentsynthesis/simulationtoolwork
internally
HighLevelSynthesis(AlgorithmtoRTLmapping)isagreattohaveskill
TLM(Transactionlevelmodeling)
HW/SWCodesign:partitioningalgorithmimplementationeffectively
betweensoftware(microcontrollerorapplicationprocessor)and
hardware(fpga/asic)
PS:SeemslikeIwrotethisanswermoreformyselfthentheguywhoaskedthis
question.

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(5)Whataregoodwaystolearntogetbetteratdigitaldesign?Quora
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PasqualeFerrara,Ph.D.studentdoingresearchinElectronicDesign
Automation

Ishan

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2.3kViewsPasqualehas50+answersinVLSI.
Pleaserefreshthispagetoreceivenewupdates.

SeePasqualeFerrara'sanswertoIamnotabeginner.HowshouldIproceedin
digitalVLSIdesign?andPasqualeFerrara'sanswertoEmbeddedsystemsor
VLSIdesign?.
DonottakeupKiranBulusu'ssuggestions.
Ifyouwannadesignembeddedsystems,usedesignmethodologieslike
applicationspecificinstructionsetprocessors(ASIP)andcontemporary
techniquesforhardware/softwarecodesignandcoverification.Thestuffthat
Kiranmentionedwon'thelpyougethighendR&Djobsindigitaldesign.
Updated20JanViewUpvotes
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ShubhamAgarwal,VHDLcoding=NOT(programming)
1.4kViews

Iwouldrecommendbeginningwiththefollowing:
1.ReadingbasicDigitalDesignBooklikeMorrisMano
2.ReferringsomeonlinecoursemateriallikeMITOpencourseware
3.Applyingtheseintosimpleprojectsbyusingprojectsdownloadedfrom
simplewebsiteslikevlsiexpert,asicworldandtestbench(Pleasegooglethese
websites)
4.Useaopensourcesimulatorandsynthesizertoimplement.
Written2May2014ViewUpvotes
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ArunkumarMourougappane,JobSeeker.....Enthusiast.....Interestedin
interestingstuff:P
1.2kViews

Doingprojectsthat'saway...Yougetbetterandmodernexposurecomparedto
readingbooks...Foranexample,youlearnaboutbasicgates,adder's,clocking,
dataholdingandafewmorewhenyoutryoutasimpleprojectlikeawallace
treemultiplier,AfourbitALUofamicroprocessor,etc.Projectsshortenyour
learningcurve.
Updated20JanViewUpvotes
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