Integrated Electronic Circuits

This textbook takes a unique approach to fundamental courses in electronic circuits, providing the students with early exposure to Integrated Circuit (IC) technology and Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tools using a Process Design Kit (PDK). This aims at preparing the students to participate in the advancements taking place in the field today and in the foreseeable future.

The book follows a novel, hands-on approach to electronics education, combining a unique pedagogy that balances theory with practice. The starting point consists of circuit simulation results rather than device physics. Therefore, hand calculations and simulations are readily used, and the loop between the two is closed. The information is presented visually not only for the circuits, but also for the signals involved, all of which being simulation results. The book is aimed to be easily read and understood by the students, which gives the instructors ample time to concentrate on the important points.

The book discusses technology and its applications and limitations along with the IC design flow. It goes in depth into various types of circuits including analog, digital, and mixed-signal, where the students are encouraged to discover the connections between the different applications. This is because future electronic circuit designers should be able to understand system and technology aspects, and be able to switch easily between applications. This results in the students being better-prepared for future cross-disciplinary innovations.

Jad G. Atallah, an educator, researcher, author, and consultant in the field of integrated circuits, has more than 15 years of experience in education including curriculum design for integrated electronic circuits and their applications such as signal processing and communications. He is an associate professor at the Notre Dame University - Louaize, and the founder of the ndu ecas lab.

Dr. Atallah has been involved with industry, startups and multinationals, in the fields of integrated circuits design and EDA tools. He specialized in electronic and computer systems, particularly RF, analog, and mixed-signal system-on-chip implementations, at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). Having published in a multitude of venues, he also co-authored a book on frequency synthesizers for convergent wireless solutions as well as EDA educational material used in numerous universities and research centers worldwide.

Mohammed Ismail, a prolific author and entrepreneur in the fields of system-on-chip design and test and nanotechnology, spent over 30 years in academia and industry in the US and Europe. He is professor and Chair of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at Wayne State University and the Founding Director of the WINCAS Center of Excellence.

He is one of the world pioneers in the field of CMOS design of analog, mixed signal and RF integrated circuits and has graduated over 55 PhD students and more than 100 MS students. Prior to joining Wayne State in December 2016, he was a Professor at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio for 20 years and held several appointments in Sweden with KTH, Finland with Aalto University and Nokia Research Center, Norway with NTH and University of Oslo, The Netherlands with Twente University, Japan with Tokyo Institute of Technology and the UAE with Khalifa University. He has co-founded several startup companies in semiconductor technology and IC design. He received the US Presidential Young Investigator Award from the White House, the Ohio State Lumley Research Award four times, and the US Semiconductor Research Corporation’s (SRC) Inventor Recognition Award twice as well as several best paper awards. More recently, he received the 2018 UNESCO Medal for contributions to nanoscience, Paris, France and the SRC Board of Director Special Recognition for Leadership of Semiconductor Research in the UAE. He is a Fellow of IEEE and of the Asia-pacific Artificial Intelligence Association.