{"id":62,"date":"2020-06-18T07:37:52","date_gmt":"2020-06-18T07:37:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/ctnsite\/?page_id=62"},"modified":"2021-06-05T20:07:43","modified_gmt":"2021-06-05T20:07:43","slug":"teaching","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/ctnsite\/teaching\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Convenient links to select semesters of courses I have taught and put online at UC Berkeley now follow. (These do not include courses that I did not put online, so some early UC Berkeley courses are missing, as are all University of Michigan courses.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

EE 105: Microelectronic Devices and Circuits<\/a>
(Expand Course Description)<\/a>
Course Description: In this age of instant information and interconnectivity, few (if any) devices have had a larger impact than the transistor. Indeed, electronic circuits made using transistors have enabled the vast majority of technological advances over the past decade, from smartphones, to smart homes, to the ultrafast computers and networks that make the internet possible. Over the years, both analog and digital transistor circuits have contributed to this technological revolution. Analog circuits, which represent information in a continuous fashion (much like our own human perception of the world), have found use as amplifiers for a myriad of applications, from music to radio transmitters. Digital circuits, which represent information in a discrete encoded fashion, are now widely used in applications ranging from digital modelers to the most sophisticated supercomputers. Many of today\u2019s most important circuits, such as those used for wireless communications, utilize a combination of analog and digital circuits\u2014termed \u201cmixed signal circuits\u201d\u2014to enable interference free information transfer, global positioning (GPS) receivers, and commercial satel-lite links. All of this, again, made possible via the amplifying and switching capabilities of a tiny, nonlinear device\u2014the integrated circuit transistor.
EE 105 is the leader course for the Physical Electronics, MEMS, and Integrated Circuits programs in the EECS Department that aims to teach the basics of semiconductor device physics, modeling, and transistor-level circuit design\u2014both analog and digital\u2014and thereby prepare students for more advanced courses in these areas. The course will cover circuit modeling and operation of field-effect and bipolar junction transistors; properties of nonlinear elements; small-signal and piecewise analysis of nonlinear circuits; analysis and design of basic single- and multi-stage transistor amplifiers; biasing, gain, and frequency response of analog circuits; and digital oscillators, with emphasis on propagation delay and power dissipation.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EE 140\/240A: Analog Integrated Circuits<\/a>
(Expand Course Description)<\/a>
Course Description: Integrated Circuits have seen tremendous growth over the past decades and promise to continue that growth for many years to come.\u00a0 There are already silicon CPU chips using more than 5 billion transistors, and Moore\u2019s Law promises even larger transistor counts in the coming years.\u00a0 Analog integrated circuits are becoming ever more sophisticated and important, since they provide the very important function of interfacing many data acquisition and signal processing systems with purely digital computers.\u00a0 In addition, as mixed-mode analog\/digital systems become more important in many consumer products, such as cellular communications and wireless data acquisition systems, the design and analysis of analog integrated circuits has become a very important requirement for many designers of VLSI systems.\u00a0 One major component in many of today’s analog electronic systems is the operational amplifier. The op-amp is used as a circuit block in systems such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters, switched-capacitor functions, signal processing systems, integrated circuit filters, and virtually all systems where amplification of input signals is needed.\u00a0 Indeed, the op-amp is probably the most commonly used analog circuit block.\u00a0 As a result, it is important for students interested in electronic circuit design and analysis to have a thorough knowledge of the design and analysis of the operational amplifier. This course will examine the technology and circuit techniques associated with integrated monolithic amplifier circuits and the challenges that lie ahead in their development.\u00a0 The goal is to achieve a basic understanding and knowledge of the driving and limiting factors in circuit performance, of circuit design techniques, and of fabrication techniques and technology issues important to integrated amplifier circuits in general, and to op-amps in particular.
The first part of the course reviews the small-signal models of both Bipolar Junction Transistor (BJT) and Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (MOS) transistors. The course assumes that students have had a significant amount of experience in the analysis and design of discrete BJT amplifiers, and some experience in the design and analysis of MOS amplifiers. Consequently, MOS amplifier stages will be emphasized initially and more lab experiments will be geared towards illustrating specifically the design of MOS amplifiers. BJT and MOS multi-transistor amplifiers are reviewed next with an emphasis on inspection analysis of multi-transistor circuits. After covering basic material on transistor amplifiers, we will review the application of transistors in the design of various basic analog circuit blocks that are utilized in the implementation of a complete integrated operational amplifier circuit. These circuit blocks include current sources and current mirrors, level shifters, active loads, and differential amplifier stages. These circuit blocks are needed in the design and analysis of many amplifier circuits, and are particularly required for the design and analysis of op-amps. Although much of the lecture coverage will be on MOS op amp design, you will assemble and design an operational amplifier in the laboratory using several different circuit blocks based on BJT devices, which are more robust for use in a laboratory setting. Since it is impractical to build an actual CMOS op-amp in the laboratory using off the shelf components, you will be given a design project that involves the design and simulation of a CMOS op-amp using available CAD tools. This laboratory will be a software lab assignment, and will focus on the design tradeoffs involved in the design of CMOS op-amps. There will be no hardware labs during this time. Note that the design project will be due before the end of the semester, unless circumstances dictate otherwise. An important topic in the design of any amplifier circuit is that of feedback and amplifier stability, and this course will spend sufficient time discussing feedback and the use of feedback techniques to stabilize the response and performance of amplifier circuits. The course concludes with coverage of some practical issues in analog circuit, such as stability against variations in power supply and temperature, for which supply and temperature independent bias references will be needed.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EE 143: Microfabrication Technology<\/a>
(Expand Course Description)<\/a>
Course Description: Integration density and performance of digital and analog integrated circuits have undergone an astounding revo\u00adlution in the last few decades. Over this time period, clock frequencies of microprocessors have doubled every three years, and for both logic IC\u2019s and memories, integration complexity and density has doubled every 1 to 2 years. Although innovative circuit and system design can account for some of these performance increases, technology has been the main driving force. This course will examine the basic microfabrication process technologies that have enabled the integrated circuit revolution and investigate newer technologies and layout\/circuit techniques aimed at expanding this revolution to other domains, such as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS), and beyond. The goal is to first impart a working knowledge of the methods and processes by which micro and nano devices are constructed, and then teach approaches for combining such methods into process sequences that yield arbitrary devices. Although the emphasis in this course is on transistor devices (in order to leverage material in prerequisite courses), many of the methods to be taught are also applicable to MEMS and other micro-devices, and some attention will be directed towards issues and aspects pertinent to MEMS devices.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

EE C247B \/ ME C218: Introduction to MEMS Design<\/a>
(Expand Course Description)<\/a>
Course Description: In its most common definition, the field of microelectromechanical systems (or MEMS) encompasses tiny (generally chip-scale) devices or systems capable of realizing functions not easily achievable via transistor devices alone. Among the useful functions realized via MEMS are:
1. Sensing of various parameters that include inertial variables, such as acceleration and rotation rate; other physical variables, such as pressure and temperature; chemicals, often gaseous or liquids; biological species, such as DNA or cells; and a myriad of other sensing modes, e.g., radiation.
2. Control of physical variables, such as the direction of light (e.g., laser light), the direction of radiated energy, the flow of fluids, the frequency content of signals, etc. \u2026
3. Generation and\/or delivery of useful physical quantities, such as ultra-stable frequencies, power, ink, and drug doses, among many others.
Although useful, the above definition and functional list fall short of describing some of more fundamentally important aspects of MEMS that allows this field to accomplish incredible things. In particular, MEMS design and technology fundamentally offer the benefits of scaling in physical domains beyond the electrical domain, to additionally include the mechanical, chemical, and biological domains. We are all well aware of the benefits of scaling when applied to integrated circuits. Specifically, via continued scaling of dimensions over the years, integrated circuit transistor technology has brought about transistor-based circuits with faster speed, lower power consumption, and larger functional complexity than ever before. All of these benefits have come about largely through sheer dimensional scaling.
By scaling the features of devices that operate in other physical domains (e.g., mechanical), MEMS technology offers the same scaling benefits of
1. Faster speed, as manifested by higher mechanical resonance frequencies, faster thermal time constants, etc., as dimensions are scaled.
2. Lower power or energy consumption, as manifested by the smaller forces required to move tiny mechanical elements, or the smaller thermal capacities and higher thermal isolations achievable that lead to much smaller power consumptions required to maintain certain temperatures.
3. Higher functional complexity, in that integrated circuits of mechanical links and resonators, fluidic channels and mixers, movable mirrors and gratings, etc., now become feasible with MEMS technology.
Unfortunately, although scaling does bring about significant benefits, it can also introduce penalties. For example, although miniaturization of accelerometers lowers cost and greatly enhances their g-force survivability, it also often results in reduced resolution\u2014a drawback that must be alleviated via proper design strategy. This course will examine the pros and cons of scaling via MEMS technology, with a specific focus on the physical principles, tools, and methodologies needed to properly model MEMS devices and concepts to the point of being able to identify methods for maximizing the advantages while suppressing any drawbacks.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"