An interactive learning environment for VLSI design

The interactive learning environment (ILE) is designed to combine the traditional resources of a textbook with the “hands-on” design experiences that are vital to a real understanding of basic engineering principles. The ILE builds on the technology developed for the World Wide Web to provide a learning environment that can be easily accessed from any browser. In addition to browseable text, JAVA-based computer-aided design (CAD) tools can be accessed through interactive figures embedded in the text, where students can investigate circuit behavior under the guidance of focused tutorials. Keywords—Computer-aided instruction, design automation, educational technology, electrical engineering education, integrated circuit design, interactive computing, unsupervised learning, very large scale integration (VLSI). I. TODAY’S LEARNING ENVIRONMENT Very large scale integration (VLSI) design classes have been very popular at universities for at least two decades and continue to be in high demand as students seek to exploit the rapidly expanding technological base. Today, these design techniques are taught by a combination of lectures, recitations, teaching assistant tutorial sessions, textbook reading assignments, problem sets, and laboratory exercises, culminating in a term project that is often submitted for fabrication, the resulting chip being returned later for testing. Students appreciate the increasingly central role of VLSI in our technical culture and seek to understand and appreciate the MOS VLSI design process, even if they do not intend to become professional VLSI designers. They sense the excitement of creating a design from scratch (i.e., synthesis) and of actually building something useful. Synthesis implies choice among design alternatives and, hence, exploration of the consequences of design decisions. However, today’s learning en