Satisfying ABET criterion using an industrial Microelectronic Skills Incubator

An undergraduate System-on-Chip (SoC) design group modelled after industry provides a rich environment for students to achieve most ABET outcomes while working in a variety of classes. The Microelectronic Skills Incubator engages a team of primarily undergraduates in the process of iteratively improving, prototyping, fabricating, and testing an ARM® DesignStart™ Cortex®-M0 based SoC. Two versions of the chip have been fabricated so far, the first time unsuccessfully, but the second time silicon was obtained which executes code and drives peripheral. Production of working silicon is exciting, but it also creates strong incentives much as it does in industry to re-use intellectual property (IP), use well-defined standard interfaces, and verify the design thoroughly before fabrication. This paper documents the steps taken to create the incubator, the experiences provided to students, and it details the ways in which students meet or exceed most ABET outcomes for an ECE program.