You must have heard the famous quote" A journey of a thousands miles begins with a singe step". That is so true. This article is about that very first step. Its about that phase when a student has joined an engineering college and wants to know about VLSI. How would he start? How would he proceed? Lets try to find the answers.
1. Start with what you have:
Well the vast sea of VLSI/EDA consists of droplets of semiconductor. So very basic is with you. Your text book. Understand semiconductor. Its physics. How it works. Then basic devices. Diode,Transistor, MOSFET all you need to know. All the devices that you read in your text book are fabricated in real chip. So if you know them, well then great! You have taken very first step successfully.
2. Understand the mapping:
What you read in text book and what a VLSI engineer does in industry are absolutely related although it seems both are disjoint. Try to understand the mapping for broader picture! If base is strong the structure will stand there for years.
3. Understand the requirements :
You must understand the requirements of the industry. Requirements means technical and non-technical both. Understanding electronics is the technical requirement and we will discuss this in detail . The non technical requirements are Problem solving mindset, thinking out of the box , learning attitude, working in a group mindset, corporate work pressure handling.
i. Problem solving mindset : Problem solving attitude is the most desirable quality for this industry. Every morning when you reach your desk expect some new bug is there, some tool has failed and your manager expect an answer from you before lunch. If you enjoy this problem solving situation under pressure on almost daily basis then you r fit for this industry.
ii. Thinking out of the box : Not all problems are known. Many time out of the box thinking will lead you to desired result. So try to think differently.
iii. Learning attitude : VLSI is a very dynamic domain. You always need to learn new things. If that is OK with you great!
v. Corporate Work Pressure Handling : Corporate job has good reward, challenge and dense work pressure. Ask yourself whether you are truly interested to handle this work pressure for few decades.
4. Start your technical preparation:
You are interested in core electronics and understand the prerequisite of joining VLSI domain. So lets move to technical requirement. You need to know CMOS Fundamentals, EDA tools, Verilog/VHDL, Scripting language, Semiconductor fabrication process, Static Timing analysis, Linux/Unix
i. CMOS Fundamentals : Your CMOS fundamentals must be very clear. Any standard book will help you. Online materials are also available.
ii. EDA tools : Commercial tools are super expensive , you cannot afford to have them. Free and open source tools are there to help you out. Such tools are very popular among VLSI freshers. Which tool is used for which purpose you need to know. We have already covered this topic in a video.
iii. Verilog/VHDL : Any hardware description language like Verilog/VHDL you need to know. We have created course on verilog and we have exemplified with two different free VLSI tools namely VIVADO and ECARUS VERILOG. For both windows and linux operating systems.
iv. Scripting language : Scripting language like TCL, PERL, BASH, Python is required in day-to-day work. Both for back end and front end jobs. There are lots of material available online. In our channel we have already have complete course for TCL, PERL, BASH .
Series in PERL :
Series in TCL :
Series in BASH :
One more thing to be mentioned here. All the full length courses are free of cost and as per industry standard which we take care.
v. Semiconductor fabrication process : Semiconductor fabrication process is part of your syllabus. Read it thoroughly and carefully.
vi. Static Timing analysis : STA or Static Timing Analyses is the most important topic to write the gigahertz to tera hertz speed improvement of upcoming processors. We have covered the theory and hands on practical sessions using open timer VLSI tool. This tool is free of cost and the download and installation is demonstrated in single video.
Video Lecture in STA is here :
vii. Linux/Unix : In the world of VLSi you cannot proceed or progress without learning UNIX/LINUX. Basic UNIX commands are required. Materials are available online. We have a detailed series also. From installation of UBUNTU in your exiting windows operating systems up to the command line usage through practical sessions are covered.
Series in LINUX :
5. Gather Domain Knowledge:
Gather domain knowledge. There are so many ways to do so.
i. Free materials: You can find lots of free materials online. Read them.
ii. NPTEL content : NPTEL contents are really very good. During our tenure in industry we used to watch them for better understanding of fundamentals.
iii. Tech simplified TV : We have quite a good collection of topics covered both in YouTube channel and in blog. Watch them. Many in depth series are there. Watch them, read them. They are absolutely free. Individual topics are covered in QnA or FAQ series. Those who are supercharged for VLSI career , we have recently introduced another series called RnD. Watch it.
iv. Online courses: There are so many online paid courses. If you can afford , join them.
v. Project/Internship : Industrial project or internship will give you a glimpse of real corporate world. This experience will help you to get jobs later. How to find the internship, we have a QnA video. Link is provided in the description.
vi. Webinars : Attend free webinars that are conducted by the expert or professors. You will learn a lot from the webinar because they will share their experience.
vii. Start to look into different job profiles. That will give you good idea abut positions and there requirements.
VLSI/EDA is a vast and dynamic domain. If you have decided to pursue career in this domain be prepared for learning new things on almost daily basis. We have tried to give a pointer about many ways of gathering knowledge. Which one you choose, depends on your inclination, convenience and time in hand. Always remember " You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great".
So take the first step. Preparation, persistence and perspiration will take you to your desired domain, job or company.
