About us
Led by Dr. Tejasvi Das, RAMLab focuses on advancement in the RF, Analog and Mixed-signal semiconductor design space. Our goal is to break conventional barriers and constraints in this domain, with an emphasis on high-impact applications such as Biological sensing, Neuromorphic AI and HW Security. We also explore methodologies that can redefine current analog design paradigms by leveraging the unique characteristics of new and upcoming CMOS-compatible and post-CMOS devices.
RAMLab Space
RAMLab is equipped with end-end state-of-the-art IC design flow capability, from chip design to simulation, fabrication and testing:
- High performance compute servers (20+ Xeon servers with 1.5TB RAM each)
- Access to modern foundry PDKs, tapeout and fabrication facilities
- 28nm, 55nm, 65nm and 180nm CMOS processes
- EDA tools
- Cadence, Mentor Graphics, Synopys, Altium PCB designer
- 75-inch Interactive touch display
- HF validation bench
- 4GHz mixed-signal Oscilloscope
- 7GHz Spectrum Analyzer
- Arbitrary Waveform Generator and RF signal generator
- Source meter, LCR meter and other supporting equipment
- Supporting facilities at RIT
- RIT fabrication cleanroom
- RIT Packaging facility
- Wafer probing setup
Teaching
Courses directly related to the semiconductor/chip design focus area are listed below. Please get in touch with Dr. Das to learn more about these courses:
EEEE-480
Analog Electronics
Credits 4
This is an introductory course in analog electronic circuit analysis and design. The course covers the following topics: (1) Diode circuit DC and small-signal behavior, including rectifying as well as Zener-diode-based voltage regulation; (2) MOSFET current-voltage characteristics; (3) DC biasing of MOSFET circuits, including integrated-circuit current sources; (4) Small-signal analysis of single-transistor MOSFET amplifiers and differential amplifiers; (5) Multi-stage MOSFET amplifiers, such as cascade amplifiers, and operational amplifiers; (6) Frequency response of MOSFET-based single- and multi-stage amplifiers; (7) DC and small-signal analysis and design of bipolar junction transistor (BJT) devices and circuits; (8) Feedback and stability in MOSFET and BJT amplifiers.
EEEE-610
Analog IC Design
Credits 3
This is a foundation course in analog integrated circuit design and is a prerequisite for the graduate courses in RF & mixed-signal IC design (EEEE-726 and EEEE-730). The course covers the following topics: (1) Review of CMOS technology, MOSFET models and Frequency Response (2) Single-stage amplifiers (3) Current mirrors and biasing (4) Current and voltage references (5) Differential amplifiers (6) Cascoding (7) Feedback and Stability (8) OTAs (9) Matching and layout techniques (10) Multi-stage op-amps (11) Noise Analysis (12) Linearity in analog circuits (13) Switched-cap circuits.
EEEE-726
Mixed-Signal IC Design
Credits 3
This is the first course in the graduate course sequence in analog integrated circuit design EEEE-726 and EEEE-730. This course covers the following topics: (1)Fundamentals of data conversion (2) Nyquist rate digital-to-analog converters (3) Quantization noise and analysis (4) Nyquist rate analog-to-digital converters (5) Sample and hold circuits (6) Voltage references (7) Static and dynamic testing of digital-to-analog converters (8) Cell based design strategies for integrated circuits (9)Advanced topics in data conversion.
EEEE-789
Special Topics
Credits 3
Topics and subject areas that are not regularly offered are provided under this course. Such courses are offered in a normal format; that is, regularly scheduled class sessions with an instructor.
EEEE-620
Design of Digital Systems
Credits 3
The purpose of this course is to expose students to complete, custom design of a CMOS digital system. It emphasizes equally analytical and CAD based design methodologies, starting at the highest level of abstraction (RTL, front-end)), and down to the physical implementation level (back-end). In the lab students learn how to capture a design using both schematic and hardware description languages, how to synthesize a design, and how to custom layout a design. Testing, debugging, and verification strategies are formally introduced in the lecture, and practically applied in the lab projects. Students are further required to choose a research topic in the area of digital systems, perform bibliographic research, and write a research paper following a prescribed format.
EEEE-720
Advanced Topics in Digital Systems Design
Credits 3
In this course the student is introduced to a multitude of advanced topics in digital systems design. It is expected that the student is already familiar with the design of synchronous digital systems. The lecture introduces the operation and design principles of asynchronous digital systems, synchronous and asynchronous, pipelined and wave pipelined digital systems. Alternative digital processing paradigms are then presented: data flow, systolic arrays, networks-on-chip, cellular automata, neural networks, and fuzzy logic. Finally, digital computer arithmetic algorithms and their hardware implementation are covered. The projects reinforce the lectures material by offering a hands-on development and system level simulation experience.
EEEE-712
Advanced Field Effect Devices
Credits 3
An advanced-level course on MOSFETs and submicron MOS devices. Topics include MOS capacitors, gated diodes, long-channel MOSFETs, subthreshold conduction and off-state leakage, short-channel effects, hot-carrier effects, MOS scaling and advanced MOS technologies.
Supplementary courses to consider:
EEEE-530
Biomedical Instrumentation
Credits 3
Study of fundamental principles of electronic instrumentation and design consideration associated with biomedical measurements and monitoring. Topics to be covered include biomedical signals and transducer principles, instrumentation system fundamentals and electrical safety considerations, amplifier circuits and design for analog signal processing and conditioning of physiological voltages and currents as well as basic data conversion and processing technology. Laboratory experiments involving instrumentation circuit design and test will be conducted.
EEEE-715
Photonic Integrated Circuits
Credits 3
This course focuses on photonic integrated circuits (PICs) - an emerging technology where photonic chips (consisting of waveguides, lasers, detectors, modulators and more) are manufactured using integrated circuit technology and closely integrated with microelectronics. The circuits are finding applications in high performance communication, computing and sensing systems. The technology is rapidly growing in complexity and demand, and as the advantages of using photons are realized and the manufacturing hurdles are overcome, photonic circuits will become ubiquitous in future microsystems. Course topics include, fundamental concepts (waveguides, interference, light-matter interaction), PIC component modeling, schematic and layout driven design, PIC fabrication techniques, and PIC testing to round out the students understanding of integrated photonics.
CMPE-677
Machine Intelligence
Credits 3
Machine intelligence teaches devices how to learn a task without explicitly programming them how to do it. Example applications include voice recognition, automatic route planning, recommender systems, medical diagnosis, robot control, and even Web searches. This course covers an overview of machine learning topics with a computer engineering influence. Includes Matlab programming. Course topics include unsupervised and supervised methods, regression vs. classification, principal component analysis vs. manifold learning, feature selection and normalization, and multiple classification methods (logistic regression, regression trees, Bayes nets, support vector machines, artificial neutral networks, sparse representations, and deep learning).
CMPE-789
Special Topics
Credits 3
Graduate level topics and subject areas that are not among the courses typically offered are provided under the title of Special Topics. Such courses are offered in a normal format; that is, regularly scheduled class sessions with an instructor.
CMPE-361
Introduction to Hardware Security
Credits 3
The objective of this course is to build the knowledge and skills necessary to design, evaluate, and implement secure hardware systems. Course topics will span the fundamentals of hardware security and trust, which may include security principles and properties, encryption/decryption, side-channel attacks, hardware manufacture and test, physically uncloneable functions (PUF), true random number generation, hardware trojan detection, secure system design, and trusted execution environments. Laboratory assignments and projects facilitate the hands-on learning of course topics including cryptographic hardware design, side-channel attacks, integrated circuit test and verification, PUFs, true random number generation, and secure system design using a field programmable gate array (FPGA) and an embedded processor as an implementation platform.
MCEE-601
Microelectronic Fabrication
Credits 3
This course introduces the beginning graduate student to the fabrication of solid-state devices and integrated circuits. The course presents an introduction to basic electronic components and devices, lay outs, unit processes common to all IC technologies such as substrate preparation, oxidation, diffusion and ion implantation. The course will focus on basic silicon processing. The students will be introduced to process modeling using a simulation tool such as SUPREM. The lab consists of conducting a basic metal gate PMOS process in the RIT clean room facility to fabricate and test a PMOS integrated circuit test ship. Laboratory work also provides an introduction to basic IC fabrication processes and safety.