Overview

Having an understanding of digital integrated circuits (at least to a moderate degree) is becoming almost essential for an engineer doing system design. This is true because practically every modern system contains digital integrated circuits as critical subcomponents. As the capability to integrate a greater number of transistors in a single die or integrated circuit (IC) grows, it is becoming more common that an application-specific IC (ASIC) is required, at least for high-volume application. The chances of being able to design competitive products using only off-the-shelf is continually diminishing. Very often, the systems designer must design the ICs, as well as the systems. Thus, this text is intended not only for electrical engineering students who will be designing digital ICs, but also for other engineers who may eventually need to design digital ICs or work cooperatively with a digital IC designer.

In the early 1980s it was commonly thought that future VLSI chips would be designed using high-level computer tools or silicon compilers. This has seldom proven to be the case. Although, computer-aided design (CAD) tools are now indispensable when designing digital ICs, almost always, critical parts of an IC often must be designed at a transistor level to save on space and/or to improve speed. This is particularly true for commodity ICs that will be produced in large volume where an imaginative design, based on a thorough understanding of the IC technology and transistor models, can result in a 50 100% increase in speed over what...