EE536a is principally an advanced circuits and systems analysis course that comprises the foundation for the more design-intensive analog and mixed signal integrated circuits and systems classes offered in the Graduate Division of the Ming Hsieh Department of Electrical Engineering. It teaches students computationally efficient manual and computer-aided methods for analyzing the electrical dynamics of both linear and nonlinear models of active networks destined for monolithic realization principally in complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) transistor technologies. More than teaching mere analytical problem solving techniques, the course couches analyses in forms that foster the engineering insights that underpin a meaningful characterization and performance assessment of active circuits embedded in high frequency and/or high speed system applications. These insights are fundamental to consistently creative circuit and system design, for they enable realistic comparisons among candidate active devices and among plausible circuit architectures. They are also indispensable to the omnipresent design problem of mitigating the deleterious effects that parasitic energy storage and other high order device and circuit phenomena have on such performance metrics as bandwidth, signal delay in both time and frequency domains, gain and phase margins, phase noise, distortion, and transient step and impulse responses. In short, the formulation of insightful design-oriented analysis strategies commensurate with the realization of modern integrated circuits, and particularly analog high performance integrated circuits and systems, is the focus of EE536a.

EE536a Coursework Materials

• Spring 2013 Assignments

• Computer Aids
  • Analog Artist Tutorial
  • Affirma^TM Analog Circuit Design Environment User Guide
  • Cadence Tutorial 1: Schematic Entry Basic Gates Drawing
  • Affirma^TM RF Simulator User Guide
  • Cadence Files (Zip Archive)
• Lecture Aids
  • 1 - Circuit Level Models and Sample Applications of MOS Technology Transistors
  • 2 - MOSFET Biasing Strategies and Circuit Examples
  • 3 - Canonic Analog MOSFET Cells at Low Frequencies
  • 4 - Feedback Circuit and System Principles
  • 5 - Signal Flow Analysis of Feedback Circuits
  • 6 - Analog MOSFET Canonic Cells at High Frequencies
  • 7 - Broadband CMOS Amplifiers: Theory and Circuit Examples
  • 8 - System and Circuit Level   Noise Models and Analysis
  • 9 - Device and Circuit Level   Noise Models and Analysis
  • 10 - Sinusoidal Oscillators  Circuits and Analysis
  • 11 - Characteristics and Analysis of Phase-Locked Loops (PLLs)
• Lecture Supplements
  • 1 - The Metal-Oxide-Silicon Field Effect Transistor
  • 2 - Principles and Examples of MOSFET Technology Biasing
  • 3 - Basic Circuit Cells of Analog MOSFET Technology
  • 4 - Distributed Circuit Architectures for Analog Signal Processing at Ultra High Frequencies
  • 5 - Characterization of the Dynamic Range of Active Networks

A look at the Historical Record

• From Spring 2012

• From Fall 2011

• From Spring 2011

• From Fall 2010