VLSI skill set

  1 FIELD PROGRAMMABLE GATE ARRAY (FPGA) DESIGN: Field programmable gate array( FPGA) is a fully fabricated IC chip in which the interconnections can be programmed to implement different functions. An FPGA chip has thousands of logic gates which are to be connected to be implement any logic function. A typical FPGA architecture is shown in fig. It has the following three main components: 1.   1 .    I/O buffers 2.     2.    Array of configurable logic blocks(CLBs) 3.      3. Programmable interconnects.     Fig:Typical FPGA architecture Picture Source/courtesy: wikipedia In the FPGA- based design ,first a behavioural netlist is written to describe the functionally of the design. This is done using the hardware description languages such as Verilog or VHDL. Then the netlist is synthesized to come up with the gate level design. The next step is to map the logic blocks in to available lpgic cells. This progress is called the technology – mapping. This is followed by placement

VLSI is huge area of expertise as it requires good experience and many cutting edge skills to grow .There are very few colleges or universities which provide that kind of exposure to masters students in india ,so you need to be careful about that.Secondly, the scope for  VLSI in India is limited to only handful of metro cities like Delhi,Bangalore,chennai and Hyderabad.Companies like AMD,ST Micro,intel and qualcomm hiring for VLSI engineers are very specific about their requirements and it is somewhat difficult to crack them. Why it is difficult to fresher to enter in VLSI field ? less number of VLSI companies in india Even in those companies mostly recruit B.tech/M.tech mostly from IIT's and NIT's. Lack of required skills in the students. Scope and job opportunities : Electrical/Electronic students can easily enter in the field.From some profiles Computer science students can also get the job. Now a days because so many startups are working in the field.So the opportunities ar

  If we talk about VLSI skill set required to become a good VLSI engineer then there are some mandatory as well as add on set of skills. Mandatory Skills: One should have good knowledge of digital electronics , mostly focus should be on combinational circuits & Sequential Circuits, Logic gates and basics of Finite State machine. Comlplete knowlege of ASIC flow and related topics . Should be expert in Verilog/VHDL coding , one of them will be suffcient. Basic understanding of the Timing Analysis(STA) and all its related concepts will require. C programming and hands on experience of at leastone scripting language that are TCL and Perl.  Coding of SystemVerilog(Only for Asic Verification) and knowledge on verification Environment using Methods like OVM/UVM. Should know protocols like Advanced Peripheral Bus (APB), Inter-Integrated Circuit. Additional Skills:- Understanding of  Assertions and Functional Coverage as well as Code Coverage. Basic understanding on Design For Testification