Analog IC design or Analog Electronics

This subject in the VLSI course will help the student to understand important analog concepts from basics. A lab also will be there for the same will help the aspirants to understand theory concepts with practical experiences.

The book Design of Analog CMOS Integrated circuits by Behzad Razavi is referred by many students of NIT and IIT colleges. There are two editions of these books that will be available the Third Edition and the Fourth edition.

• Analog IC design 3rd edition
• Analog IC design 4th edition

Also, study these articles from VLSI Universe for Analog,

The whole semester concludes with three exams, which are cycle test 1 or assessment 1, cycle test 2 or assessment 2, and the Main exam at the end of the semester. The portion will be divided into two halves for cycle test 1 and cycle test 2 and assessment will be conducted. The marks gained in cycle tests will also be considered for grade calculation.

• Analog IC design cycle test 1 question papers
• Analog IC design cycle test 2 question papers
• Analog IC design end sem question papers

I suggest candidates go through the above question paper sets at least once before attempting the assessment or exam, it really helps.
For this subject you must watch Razavi videos (Razavi electronics 1 and Razavi electronics 2) from YouTube, he explained the concept very well.

Solve as many as several problems based on OPAMP circuits and RC transient analysis from the GATE syllabus, which helps to clear written tests in interviews specially cadence, Texas instruments and maxim integrated, etc.

Basics of VLSI or VLSI System Design

This subject is the root of the VLSI System course, every VLSI engineer must know it and is a very important subject for the interview also. You must keep this material with you always till you be a VLSI engineer.

The book to refer to for this subject is CMOS VLSI Design by Weste and Harris. The 3rd and 4th editions of this book are available. It is suggested to refer 3rd edition of the CMOS VLSI Design by Weste and Harris.

In this book, there is a list of questions at the end of the chapter which you must solve. The solution manual for CMOS VLSI design is also attached below.

• CMOS VLSI Design by Weste and Harris 3rd edition
• CMOS VLSI Design by Weste and Harris 4rd edition
• CMOS VLSI Design 4th Edition Solution Manual

And all the topics are important from this subject. To study in detail CMOS inverters and the problems based on CMOS inverters refer to the book Digital Integrated circuit by M Rabaey.

• Digital Integrated Circuits by M Rabaey 2nd Edition

Method of logical effort i.e. delay estimation of CMOS circuits is one more important topic for which you need to refer to the below pdf and read the article.

• Method of Logical effort in Delay estimation
• Delay Estimation of CMOS circuits
• Backgate coupling | Threshold power drops | Hot spots | Supply noise
• Velocity saturation – Mobility degradation – body effect – CLM
• DIBL GIDL BTBT and Tunneling effect in CMOS Devices
• Stack effect and Charge sharing problem in Dynamic CMOS
• Latchup and its prevention in CMOS
• Crosstalk and Crosstalk delay effects
• Transistor sizing W/L | CMOS | VLSI
• The difference between latch and flipflop VLSI
• Threshold Voltage | VTCMOS | Body bias
• CMOS Inverter | VTC | Noise Margin June 2021
• Dynamic Power dissipation in CMOS

Also, refer to cycle test and end semester question papers of Basics of VLSI or CMOS VLSI Design.

• Basics of VLSI cycle test 1 question papers
• Basics of VLSI cycle test 2 question papers
• Basics of VLSI Main exam question papers

I suggest buying this book and keep it with you along with your professional career in VLSI, as this is the heart of the VLSI System Course.

Hardware Modeling with Verilog or Verilog HDL

It is one of the important subjects in the VLSI of a digital engineer’s career. It is very important to know at least one programming language such as C and one hardware description language such as Verilog HDL.

Several study materials and nptel courses will be available for Verilog. I did list out here very important and must study materials. First thing you must go through a nptel course on Hardware modeling using Verilog by Prof. Indranil Sen Gupta from IIT Kharagpur. These course videos are also available on YouTube for free.

The standard reference book for Verilog HDL is MD Gillette, and one more book on Verilog HDL by Samir Palnitkar is referred to by many college students as it is simple and easy to read.

• Verilog HDL by M D Cillette
• Verilog HDL by Samir Palnitkar
• PPTs on Verilog by VLSI Universe
• Verilog always @ posedge with examples – 2021
• Verilog code for sine cos and arctan using CORDIC Algorithm

Also, refer to cycle tests or assessments and end semester question papers of Verilog HDL.

• Verilog HDL cycle test 1 question papers
• Verilog HDL cycle test 2 question papers
• Verilog HDL Main exam question papers

This subject is also important for your career in VLSI. Be in touch with this subject after the first semester also at least till your job placement.

Digital System Design or Digital Electronics

One can say this subject might be included to brush up on your digital design skills. Carrying your gate-level digital knowledge and covering some of the important concepts such as Counter and Registers, Synchronizers, finite state machine FSMs, and Asynchronous FIFO or FIFO depth calculation and design-based analysis using logic circuits are important.

This is a very vast subject, I suggest you refer to your prescribed syllabus and study those topics from anywhere on the internet such as NPTEL videos, YouTube and books, etc.

• Morris Mano Digital Design 4th edition and PPTs
• Digital Design PPTs from MIT
• FIFO Depth Calculation
• Finite State Machine Solved Problems

Also, refer to cycle tests or assessments and end semester question papers of Verilog HDL.

• Digital System Design cycle test 1 question papers
• Digital System Design cycle test 2 question papers
• Digital System Design Main exam question papers

The suggestion is to study digital in parallel with Verilog. That is try to implement in Verilog whatever digital design you study in digital.

Optimization of DSP structures for VLSI design

This is one of the high-scoring subjects in the first semester of the VLSI systems course. One must completely refer to the book by K Parhi for DSP architectures based on the prescribed syllabus.

The problems which are at the end of each chapter in the book will be asked in cycle tests and assessments. You can find the solutions in the below links.

You can buy this at amazon.

• VLSI Digital Signal Processing by K Parhi
• Solutions of VLSI Design DSP by K Parhi

Also, refer to cycle tests or assessments and end semester question papers of Verilog HDL.

• DSP structures for VLSI design cycle test 1 question papers
• DSP structures for VLSI design cycle test 2 question papers
• DSP structures for VLSI design Main exam question papers

Referring to previous year question papers before attempting exams will always help to score high in this particular subject. You can study this subject only for the first semester and boost your CGPA. As per my knowledge, nothing from this subject will be asked in the job interview.

Graph theory with Application

Most of the students find it very difficult to understand this subject. Attending classes will always help to understand concepts clearly and it is a must for this subject. You cannot skip any class. Notes given in the class will be very useful to score in exams.

The standard book for this subject is Graph theory with applications by J A Bondy and Murty.

• Graph theory with applications by J A Bondy and Murty.

Also, refer to cycle tests or assessments and end semester question papers of Verilog HDL.

• Graph theory cycle test 1 question papers
• Graph theory cycle test 2 question papers
• Graph theory Main exam question papers

Well, this subject is mathematical and needs so much attention unclear the concepts. Study this subject only for the semester. Referring to previous year question papers is very important for the subject. I still remember that the five-color theorem is very important that it will appear every year in the question paper.

You can download all subject question papers for the year 2018, which includes cycle test 1, cycle test 2, and end semester question papers.

VLSI First Semester 2018 Question Papers

Study aptitude and C programming in parallel with the semester, as they are a must for clearing the job interview.

Also, revise your Gate syllabus especially analog and digital concepts fully.