New Education and Training Model (NETM) Upskill now with industry-led microcredentials.

A semiconductor or silicon chip is a physical product designed to manage and control the flow of current in electronic devices and equipment. Semiconductors are the foundational elements of modern computing and are responsible for powering nearly every electronic device we use on a day-to-day basis. Their rapid growth in performance and integration density resulted in the birth or exponential growth of new industries such as 5G communication and artificial intelligence (AI).

This microcredential will develop skills and knowledge that support semiconductor silicon chip design, including Electronic Design Automation (EDA), digital integrated circuit design fundamentals, and high-level synthesis of digital design.

This microcredential is the first in a series of three that cover the three phases of semiconductor design (system, logical and physical), digital design verification and digital implementation. The stackable microcredentials develop skills in hardware description language (HDL) coding principles and practices and includes applications using Cadence electronic design automation tools.

Aims

This course aims to deliver the foundational and technical expertise and skills required to become a digital integrated design engineer. It includes practical applications using industry standard electronic design automation tools, and insights from industry professionals and academic experts.

Outcomes

By the end of this microcredential, you should be able to: 

• Understand and describe the semiconductor landscape.
• Understand the foundational principles of digital semiconductor design and create, verify and implement system level designs and architectures via a top-bottom design flow.
• Define and work with system-level requirements, concept of digital twining, and develop specifications for semiconductor design (scaling, costs, physical attributes, power and area constraints) and identify the distinction between digital integrated circuit (IC) design, verification and implementation.
• Recognise the different stages of front-end design and pre-silicon verification, develop register-transfer level (RTL) systems, and system integration before fabrication.
• Design specification and RTL coding, design simulation, synthesis stages, gate-level simulation, and timing analysis and debug.
• Understand the high-level synthesis, logic level implementation, and gate-level simulation.

Content

After a series of introductory recorded lectures that set the scene for the microcredential, the course is divided into three key modules. Each module is made up of a combination of online lectures and discussions, and practical exercises using the Cadence design software accessed through a virtual lab. Key topics that will be covered in each module are:

Module 1: Digital IC Design Fundamentals

• Digital IC design flow overview
• Digital IC functional design
• SystemVerilog for design
• Functional verification
• Digital implementation
• IC Packaging

Module 2: RTL to GDSII (Tool Training)

• Design specification and RTL coding
• Design simulation using the Xcelium simulator
• Code coverage using the integrated metrics centre
• Synthesis stage
• Test stage
• Equivalency checking stage
• Implementation stage
• Gate-level simulation
• Timing analysis and debug

Module 3: High-Level Synthesis

• High level synthesis flow and System C
• High level synthesis using Stratus HLS

Intended audience

This microcredential is designed for individuals who are living or working in the Western Parkland City, who are either currently employed or seeking to enter (or re-enter) the labour market. It assumes prior studies at the Undergraduate or Postgraduate level in electrical engineering, computer science, biomedical engineering or physics, or equivalent experience. Final year students completing relevant tertiary studies are welcome to apply.

Prerequisites

The microcredential assumes that you have completed, or are completing, a tertiary degree in one of the following areas, or have equivalent knowledge:

• Electrical Engineering (specialised in electronics, internet of things, on-chip and edge AI).
• Biomedical Engineering (specialised in bionics, bioelectronics, biomedical microsystems).
• Computer Science (specialised in computing architectures, computer engineering, edge AI).
• Mechanical Engineering (specialised in robotics or mechatronics).
• Physics (specialised in applied physics and semiconductors)​.

Delivery style

Online

All course materials and activities will be accessed through the University’s learning management system, Canvas. 

There will be 4 to 5 live sessions weekly, each for approximately 2-hours, and opportunities to attend live discussions with your cohort. All live sessions will be recorded allowing participants to work at their own pace through the material. Attendance is highly recommended, but it's not mandatory. Schedule of the live sessions will be made available in Canvas closer to the class commencement date.

Non-contact hours will be labs and self-study times that are recommended to the 1:1; for every 1 hour of lectures, 1 hour of self-study through the same material.

Materials

All course materials are provided electronically. There are no costs for accessing the course materials and virtual labs for enrolled participants

Volume of learning and course credit

This microcredential will involve a volume of learning of 50 hours of student effort. You may be eligible to receive credit of up to one third of a standard unit of study (0.125 EFTSL) in a relevant award course if you successfully complete all assessment tasks.

Digital badge and certificates

On successful completion of the microcredential assessment tasks, you will be issued with a University of Sydney digital badge to recognise your achievement. You can share your secure digital badge with your networks on social media platforms.

Terms and conditions

Microcredentials Terms and Conditions

Expression of Interest

Follow the 'JOIN' link below to complete your expression of interest.