The Superchip: Innovative Teaching of IC Design and Manufacture

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Description/Abstract

In this paper we describe how through intelligent chip architecture, a large cohort (~100 students) of undergraduates can be given effective practical insight into IC design by designing and manufacturing their own individual ICs. To achieve this, the “Superchip” has been developed, which allows (without excessive cost in terms of time or resources) multiple student designs to be fabricated on a single IC, and encapsulated in a standard package. We demonstrate how the practical process has been tightly coupled with theoretical aspects of the degree course and how transferable skills are incorporated into the design exercise. The paper provides details of the chip architecture, test regime, test vectors, and an example design.