Teaching Integrated Circuits Design Using LASI

This paper presents the efforts to introduce integrated circuit (IC) design to Electronics engineering undergraduate students, using the LASI program. The professional Computer-aided Design (CAD) systems for IC design are expensive in terms of hardware, CAD tools and CAD licenses. The next problem connected to their use for educational purposes is the need of training on both the CAD software and the UNIX system. The Windows LASI system is a freeware CAD environment for a full-custom Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) microelectronic circuits design, intended for educational purposes. The LASI tool is employed for teaching IC design in Electronics engineering undergraduate program at the Department of Electronics, Ruse University, Bulgaria. The paper provides description of the Microelectronics courses, LASI system, technology, and an example design.