I have trained in physical design and now i wanna advance my learning and to learn more
Hi Rakesh,
It is good that you want to strong your basics and core concepts in digital electronics. I am listing out some important digital concepts you should master for Physical Design according to my understanding.
- COMS Fundamentals: Physical design ultimately implements CMOS transistors on silicon, so understanding CMOS operation is critical. Try to focus on these topics:
CMOS inverter operation, Pull-up and pull-down networks, Static vs Dynamic CMOS logic, CMOS switching behavior, Noise margins, Rise time / fall time, Fan-in and fan-out .
- Timing Concepts (Very Critical for PD): Timing is the core problem Physical Design solves. Learn about setup time, hold time, Clock-to-Q delay, Propagation delay, Clock skew, Clock uncertainty, Critical path etc. Solve more and more questions related to them.
- Sequential Circuit and Flip Flops: Physical design timing paths usually start and end at flip-flops. Learn about counters, registers, flip-flops, FSM, pipeline architecture etc.
- Power Concepts: Learn about dynamic power, Leakage power, Short circuit power, Switching activity, Power gating, Multi-VDD etc. Important in low power physical design and power grid design.
- Interconnect and RC Delay: Learn about resistance, capacitance, RC delay, Crosstalk noise etc.
Beside this, you should study about crosstalk, signal integrity, glitches, coupling capacity etc.
Since you are already trained in physical design, you must know about standard cells, cell drive strength, library cells etc. Try to learn use of PD tools as much as possible.
All the best for your future.
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