ECG 721 Memory
Circuit Design
Spring 2017, University of Nevada, Las
Vegas
Course lecture
notes and videos are located here
Homework
assignments, due dates, and project information are located here
Current
grades are located here.
In this course we will make extensive use of LTspice.
Examples from the lectures are found in ecg721_s17.zip.
Textbook: CMOS Circuit Design, Layout, and Simulation, Third Edition (Chapters 16-19) as well as handouts
Instructor: R. Jacob Baker (see office hours at this link)
Teaching Assistant: Shada Sharif
Time: offered as an online course to on-campus UNLV students
Course
dates: Wednesday, January 18 to Wednesday, May 3
Location: offered as an online course to on-campus UNLV students
Holidays: Monday, February 20 (Washington's Birthday), April 10 and 12 (Spring break from instruction)
Final exam time: Monday, May 8 from 6 - 8 PM in SEB-1240, open book and closed notes
Course content – A practical introduction to the
transistor-level design of memory circuits. Memory technologies including DRAM,
Flash, MRAM, Glass-based, and SRAM will be discussed.
Prerequisite EE
421 or ECG 621
Grading
25% Midterm - Wednesday, March 15 from 5:30 to 6:45 PM in TBE B-350, open book and closed notes
25% Homework
25%
Course Project
25% Final - Monday, May 8 from 6 to 8 PM in SEB-1240, open book and closed notes
After
completing ECG 721 students will be able to:
1.
Discuss the difference between an open and closed DRAM array
architecture
2.
Design, for a DRAM, an n- and p-sense amplifier, row and
column decoders, a data read/write path
3.
Design a sigma-delta sensing circuit for a Flash memory
4.
Design and simulate the operation of a charge pump for use in
generating a voltage in a memory chip
5.
Design and/or analyze an input buffer for a very-high speed
data path
6.
Design delay- and phase-locked loops for synchronization in
high-speed memory chips
7. Discuss the concerns when designing high-speed DRAM memory
chips including, the architecture limitations and how they relate to bandwidth,
latency, and cycle time, data control, and power delivery