18-644 Intro to ASIC and FPGA Chip Design

12 units, Carnegie Mellon University

This course is an introduction to chip design. The student will learn how to design, implement, emulate, and verify an ASIC chip. Along the way, the student will be exposed to many common tools and techniques in the chip-implementation area. Many of those tools focus on FPGAs for emulation and development. For the final project in the course, students will tapeout a non-trivial digital design, to be fabricated using an open-hardware flow. It may take six to twelve months, but students will eventually end up with an actual chip that contains their design. This course is cross listed with 18244. Although students in 18244 will share lectures and in-class assignments with students in 18644, those students in 18644 will be expected to complete a more challenging semester-long project. Additionally, students in 18644 have an additional assignment, one in which they investigate a research topic and write an in-depth literature review.

Prerequisites: 18-240 (min B)

Offered: Spring 2027, Spring 2026

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