EE477L MOS VLSI Circuit Design Introduction

This set of flashcards covers key concepts from the EE477L MOS VLSI Circuit Design course, focusing on important terminology and principles in the field.

BJT

Bipolar Junction Transistor, a type of transistor that uses both electron and hole charge carriers.

CMOS

Complementary Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor, a technology for constructing integrated circuits.

Microprocessor

An integrated circuit that contains the functions of a computer's central processing unit.

Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI)

A level of integration allowing thousands of transistors on a single chip.

System-on-Chip (SoC)

An integrated circuit that combines all components of a computer or other electronic system onto a single chip.

Logic Gates

Basic building blocks of digital circuits that perform logical operations.

Transistor

A semiconductor device used to amplify or switch electronic signals.

NAND Gate

A digital logic gate that outputs false only when all its inputs are true.

Clock Signal

An electronic signal that oscillates between a high and a low state, timing the operation of a circuit.

Registers

Small amounts of storage available directly in the processor for fast access to data.

Flip-Flop

A circuit that has two stable states and can be used to store state information.

Moore’s Law

Observation that the number of transistors on a microchip doubles approximately every two years.

HLD

High-Level Design, abstraction in design methodology for complex systems.

FPGA

Field Programmable Gate Array, a device containing an array of programmable logic blocks.

Noise in Integrated Circuits

Unwanted electrical signals that can interfere with the operation of a circuit.

Power Dissipation

The process of energy loss in the form of heat in electronic circuits.

Data Center Growth

The rapid expansion of data storage capacities and computing power to handle increasing amounts of data.

XOR Gate

A digital logic gate that outputs true or 1 only when the number of true inputs is odd.

VLSI Design

The process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip.

D Flip-Flop

A type of flip-flop that captures the value of the D input at a specific part of the clock cycle.

Reliability

The ability of a circuit or system to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time.