Up until this decade, integrated circuit design was an activity generally only undertaken by engineers in the large electronics companies or IC foundries. A major change has occurred in this decade however, with the ready availability of sophisticated CAD tools, powerful personal computers, and multi-project wafers, all at a relatively low cost, which allow even small companies to incorporate custom-designed application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in their products. This book is an introductory text which aims to cover all aspects of IC design, fabrication, and test.

Chip architectures, technologies, and both digital and analogue building blocks are discussed, along with a discussion of the CAD tools available to help designers, and how the major problem of testing fabricated chips is tackled. The book concludes with lengthy appendices on the fabrication process, and an example student project taught by the author. A small number of exercises are given at the end of each chapter.

This book is most suitable for second-year undergraduates on electronic engineering courses with some experience of electronic design using discrete devices, but might also be of interest to graduates from other disciplines who require clarification of the many terms and concepts used by IC designers.

Readers should be aware that the field of IC design is changing rapidly, so some of the topics covered (particularly the CAD tools) may quickly become dated. However, this is a potential problem for all texts on the subject, and is not restricted to this book. Those aware of this limitation will find this a useful addition to their library.