Advances in VLSI Design Automation and Methodology: A Tutorial on Modern SoC Physical Design

Modern SoC design methodologies enable the implementation of some of the most complex and powerful systems known today. This talk is intended to provide a tutorial of modern SoC physical design, beginning with the general concepts of VLSI design methodology. The talk will then cover the degrees of freedom in physical design and the interaction between human designers and CAD tools. The content of the talk is modeled after a graduate-level course at Columbia University named “Advances in VLSI Design Automation and Methodology.” In essence, the course pushes students to automate the actions and decision processes of human designers through machine learning and other techniques. Advanced design methodology components are also introduced in the class, such as, low power design techniques, design-for-test, and optimization approaches, such as, design flow tuning.