Shift from SW to Chip designing

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biswami

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Hi all,
I am an electronics engg graduate from India.Used to be an an active member of edaboard during my college days.I am in java for the last one year or so.However my interest lies in DSP processor design.So i want to make the shift from sw to chip design.I would appreciate some inputs on how i should go ahead in making the shift.I must get some formal training in VHDL,and the tools in some good institute.Many thanks in advance.
Biswa
 

Hi
My recomendation is tat not to take up any courses.
u get a lot of books to start over.
try doughlas smith for VHDL & Verilog and CMOS design by Weste.
any how u need to do some digital fundamentals brush up.
morris mano would be helpful
 

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    biswami

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thanks a lot srinivas for ur reply...ya i do have to brush up ...mano is great...have to go thru the others also..since i m in office most of the time i guess i have to study online..any e-book equivalent to mano??Thanks again!!

Added after 1 hours 53 minutes:

i have heard abt a couple of good institutes in India related to chip design..like sandeepani,etc....maybe getting their diploma would help my cause...any opinion on those?thanks
 

sandeepini!!!!!!!!
they charge u like hell!!!!!!
tat is CG-Coreel a xilinx brand distributor in INDIA.
Even i was stuck at whether to choose VLSI or Embedded for my PG and i chose Embedded 4 my masters but wasn't happy with it.
But now i tookup a project under VLSI and i am asked to refer these books and they are simply great.
if u need pdf's try
verilog golden reference but this would be after u brush up ur basics.
do mail me if u need any of the materials
 

Hi,

my recomandation is that dont change u r field unless u have strong desire that u have to be in the asic design field.if u have strong desire then u have to study once again the digital design fundamentals and the microprocessor fundas. then think about the languages.
for languages point of u verilog is sutable for u since it is very similar to that of the c

regards
rameshs
 

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    biswami

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First off, I'm sure you that you can easily move to ASIC Filed if you used to be a software engineer (Especially if you familiar with Firmware, MicroP ...)

Programming for ASIC is not so far from works of a solfware engineer. You just need good tools to practice in the early days. Book is just everywhere ...

But ASIC Field is kinda boring I think. The limits & requirements of Hardware limit your imagination !!!
 

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    biswami

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regarding sandeepani:
if the training is good and can offer placement assistance,i may ignore the cost factor...i have more than one year exp in java...and believe that doing a course at sandeepani will erase that history and make myself as suitable as other candidates for chip design industry.

secodly,current work is intellectually barren...i see chip design as far more noble,worthwhile and thought provoking,ISN'T
 


Hello,
If u really want to do a training then go for CDAC VLSI PG Diploma instead of sandeepani which is far better and the course is very good as compared to Sandeepani. Or I think u r in Bangalore, then may be IIIT may be a better choice if they have any part time course, I am not aware.
 

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    biswami

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i am willing to quit my current job and do a full time course.....CDAC s are in many locations...any idea which one is the best?
 

No need for quit, just reading some book, but in my experience, you 'd better to learn the basic CMOS circuit, it help you to design the hight performance circuit.
 

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    biswami

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First of all,thanks to all u guys for responding
If i look ahead into the future in my field,i see myself developing applications that take data from distributed users and processe it ..hit distributed databases .process it and display back to the user in a well presented and convenient manner.

If u ppl dont mind,u may share what u ppl r doing...like maybe designing mp3 processing chip,etc??what u see urself doing in near future?
 

Hi
Designing chips is not so easy man
an average project takes nearly 5+ years to get the final product into the market tat too for a team of 10 or so.even a small project would take an year +.
by the way i am doing some speech synthesis algo n matlab code it in HDL, synthesise put into an FPGA.

by the way where do u work.
 

biswami said:
i am willing to quit my current job and do a full time course.....CDAC s are in many locations...any idea which one is the best?
Click to expand...

CDAC Pune is good for VLSI and for Embedded Pune Thiruvananthapuram and Bangalore.

And if u r ready to do a Masters then consider IIIT Bangalore/Hyderabad
 

5 years is really long......what issues do u face?
I believe there is CUT ThROAT competion IN CET for CDAC PUNE....thats why i need info abt second rung institutes with decent placement record ,to fall back upon if i fail to make it to CDAC pune.


srinivas,i am with a well known sw company...
 

quit your job for full time course is risky... ASIC word is small and not easy to get in
 

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    biswami

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Hi Biswami,

My honest advice is to follow your dream.I am telling this bcoz you shouldnt be in a position where 10 years down the lane you keep regretting for what you should have done early. I guess you are having enough time to switch to ASIC Design

I did my PGDiploma in Sandeepani and I feel its quite decent bcoz it is the one of the few institites giving hands on training on tools widely used in the Industry(Mentor,Magma and Xilinx)

And regd the nature or work in my company, currently we are working on a finger print sensor chip and typically we tape out chips every 7 months or so. I am not sure what kind of chips Srinivas was telling about.

Hope it helps
 

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    biswami

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hey VEDAIIT is another institute with Gud inductrial training !! chk out www.vedaiit.com
 

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    biswami

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U ppl seem to be working on exciting stuff ....speech recognintion,finger print analysis,..kind of stuff i too want to be involved with...i presume these requires fairly good knowledge of DSP,infact all chips may be having some DSP involved....I would aim to join a PG diploma course with a bit of DSP inclided as well.I thank u ppl for telling abt ur ur work as it gives me a clear picture of what goes in the minds of a chip designer.more such inputs are welcome...as of now i definitely feel its more interesting than my currrent work.
VEDAIIT:has an online Verilog certification course...doing it while at current work might help my cause....
srinivas might be talking of some micro-processor kind of chip thats why maybe 5 yrs??
rakesh,may i know how was the selection process at sandeepani ?...if u dont mind,i can pm u or vice versa.
i agree that asic field is small compared to say, java...but i also hear that there is and will be many openings in india due to more and more design outsourcing.thats another reason for taking the risk..and its not easy to get in ..thats why a good institute.

Added after 2 minutes:

hey bulma,why do u find asic design boring?
 

biswami said:
hey bulma,why do u find asic design boring?
Click to expand...

If you really love ASIC Field (that's what I feel), so ... nothing is so hard & nothing is boring

Me ? Maybe becouse I works with network protocols most of the time while I want something more "art" like speech recognization or image processing or mp3 or sumthin else ... Maybe coz my work exhausted me & that's why I don't like it ! There's many elec fans here so I'd better keep it quiet now
 


The is also an institute in Chandigarh and Gurgaon called VEDANT, run by SCL. They have very good placement and the course is very good.

**broken link removed**
 

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