Fast structured design of VLSI circuits

It is suggested that a structured, user-friendly, cost-effective tool for rapid implementation of VLSI circuits which encourages students to participate directly in research projects is the key component in digital integrated circuit (IC) education. The authors introduce their VLSI education activities, with emphasis on the presentation of path-programmable logic (PPL) design methodology as well as a short description of a representative student project. Students using PPL are able to implement MOS or GaAs VLSI circuits with several thousand to over 100000 transistors in a few weeks. They have designed and built numerous VLSI architectures and computer systems which play an influential role in various research areas