Welcome to the Fall 2011 CS250 web page. More details to follow.
| Week | Date | Instr | Lecture | Assignments |
| 1 | Mon Aug 29 | JW | Lecture 1: Course Introduction: History of VLSI in computer science. Early design representations and CAD, sIlicon foundry model, multi-project chips. Overview of course structure and student requirements. Lecture slides. |
Lab 1b out |
| Wed Aug 31 | JW | Lecture 2: VLSI Introduction. Chip-level alternatives: ASIC, FPGAs, full-custom, gate-array, via-programmable. IC Fabrication. RTL and other design representations. Quick tool flow overview. Lecture slides. | ||
| Thur Sep 1 | BZ | Discussion 1: Computer Setup & Lab 1 Introduction Discussion slides. | ||
| 2 | Mon Sep 5 | Labor Day | ||
| Wed Sep 7 | JW | Lecture 3: Introduction to Chisel hardware description language. Lecture slides. | ||
| Thur Sep 8 | BZ | Discussion 2: Python, Git, Unix, Makefiles Discussion slides. | ||
| 3 | Mon Sep 12 | JW | Lecture 4: Chisel Part II. Lecture slides. |
Lab 1 due (before class) |
| Wed Sep 14 | JW | Lecture 5: Physical Realities. Part I: Area & Timing. Circuit and wire-delay modeling. Circuit-level timing closure. Static timing tools. Lecture slides. | ||
| Thur Sep 15 | BZ | Discussion 3: Lab 1 Review, Chisel, Lab 2 Introduction | ||
| 4 | Mon Sep 19 | JL | Lecture 6: Physical Realities, Part II: Energy and power. Power consumption mechanisms. Power modeling and power-aware design overview. Power analysis tools. Power grid tools. Lecture slides. | Lab 2 out |
| Wed Sep 21 | KA | Lecture 7: Project details. Lecture slides. | ||
| Thu Sep 22 | BZ | Discussion 4: Debugging, ALUs Section slides. | ||
| 5 | Mon Sep 26 | KA | Lecture 8: Overview of hardware design patterns. Lecture slides. | |
| Wed Sep 28 | KA | Lecture 9: Memory and Memory Design Patterns. Lecture slides. | ||
| Thur Sep 29 | BZ | Discussion 5: Lab 2 Review, Lab 3 Introduction, Pipeline Hazards, Setup/Hold Times | ||
| 6 | Mon Oct 3 | KA | Lecture 10: Patterns for processing units and communication links. Lecture slides. |
Lab 2 due (before class) Lab 3 out |
| Wed Oct 5 | KA | Lecture 11: Rocket microarchitecture. Design verification strategies. Lecture slides. | ||
| Thur Oct 6 | BZ | Discussion 6: Memories and Matlab Discussion slides. | ||
| 7 | Mon Oct 10 | JL | Lecture 12: System Context: I/O signaling, Off-chip DRAM. Lecture slides. | Project Proposal due (before class) |
| Wed Oct 12 | All | Initial project proposal presentations. | ||
| Thur Oct 13 | BZ | Discussion 7: IC Compiler, Technology Kits, Real World Issues Discussion slides. | ||
| 8 | Mon Oct 17 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | |
| Wed Oct 19 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | ||
| Thu Oct 20 | BZ | Discussion 8: Lab 3 Review, Group Project Details, Introduction to Rocket | ||
| 9 | Mon Oct 24 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | Lab 3 due (before class) |
| Wed Oct 26 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | ||
| Thu Oct 27 | BZ | Office hours | ||
| 10 | Mon Oct 31 | All | Public project progress presentations. | |
| Wed Nov 2 | All | Public project progress presentations. | ||
| Thu Nov 3 | BZ | Office hours | ||
| 11 | Mon Nov 7 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | |
| Wed Nov 9 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | ||
| Thu Nov 10 | BZ | Office hours | ||
| 12 | Mon Nov 14 | All | Public project progress presentations. | |
| Wed Nov 16 | All | Public project progress presentations. | ||
| Thu Nov 17 | BZ | Office hours | ||
| 13 | Mon Nov 21 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | |
| Wed Nov 23 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | ||
| Thur Nov 24 | Thanksgiving | |||
| 14 | Mon Nov 28 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | |
| Wed Nov 30 | All | Private project meetings with groups. | ||
| 15 | Mon Dec 5 | All | Final Project Presentations | |
| Wed Dec 7 | All | Final Project Presentations | ||
| 16 | Mon Dec 12 | All | Final Project Reports Due 6AM (No Extensions) |