Wake up Electronics Engineers (future lies in VLSI
Printed From: One Stop GATE
Category: GATE AT A GLANCE
Forum Name: IIT, IISc, NIT Cutoffs and interview
Forum Discription: Please discuss the cutoffs of IITs, IISc, TIFR, IIITH, the NITs and any other institute along with their interview processes.
URL: http://forum.onestopgate.com/forum_posts.asp?TID=1200
Printed Date: 27Feb2025 at 3:52pm
Topic: Wake up Electronics Engineers (future lies in VLSI
Posted By: vaishnavi
Subject: Wake up Electronics Engineers (future lies in VLSI
Date Posted: 26Apr2007 at 10:05pm
nterestingly we guys are very alert when we opt for a branch in UG but when it comes to Masters ppl tend to be least bothered.
VLSI Design or Microelectronics is the next boom set to hit India. With
the roadmap laid out for semiconductor industry with the much awaited
Indian Semiconductor Policy drafted out last month, industry is having
opportunities in plenty for budding VLSI Engineers. For a glimpse have
a look at the following
http://www.arcweb.com/txtlstvw.aspx?LstID=a05d0007-51af-4060-998b-b39fe3490802 - http://www.arcweb.com/txtlstvw.aspx?LstID=a05d0007-51af-4060-998b-b39fe3490802
A TCS- IITB combined research predicts a need for more than 5000
Microelectronics and VLSI Design Engineers annually in India. Industry
has been constantly complaining of the lack of adequate manpower in
this particular field. So what it takes to have a career in VLSI
Design. As many of you might be aware that VLSI Design or
Microelectronics is the most sought after branch in M Tech admissions.
To get an admission in M Tech in VLSI Design from an IIT, needs you to
be at least among the top 250 rankers in GATE Exam of EC or relevant
discipline to get a call. With at most 15-20 seats per IIT you can
workout yourself what is the final number of students admitted in this
program at IITs. So what do you do just mess up your career in some
pity branch at below average NITs, or some other college. Now what
makes is so difficult to move into VLSI firms. First one is the common
problem throughout the Indian education system. It is very difficult to
find good faculty to teach these advanced courses. VLSI industry is
majorly research driven, faculty that keeps pace with this research can
only justify teaching these courses and crop seeds of VLSI talent
across India. Second one that is particular to the VLSI industry is the
cost factor, whereas majority of research in S/W domain is based on
Open Source Technologies, which just needs a computer and internet
connection, colleges find it very difficult to get licenses for the
expensive VLSI tools. The reason in some cases is the mismanagement of
funding provided to colleges and in many a case there is no funding at
all.
You can still make into a VLSI Design firm and pursue you dream career
provided you make some smart choices while opting for a program in M
Tech. Some of the colleges
that offer a good M Tech program in VLSI Design are as follows.
IIT Delhi (VLSI Design Tools & Technology, Integrated Electronics and Circuits)
IIT Bombay (Microelectronics)
IIT Madras (Microelectronics and VLSI Design)
IIT Kharagpur (Microelectronics and VLSI Design)
IIT Kanpur (Electrical Engineering- VLSI Design Group)
IIT Roorkee (Semiconductor Devices and VLSI)
IIT Guwahati (Microelectronics)
BITS Pilani (Microelectronics)
IIIT Hyderabad ( VLSI & Embedded Systems)
NIT Tiruchirappalli (VLSI System )
NIT Warangal (VLSI System Design)
NIT Surathkal (Microelectronics)
NIT Calicut (Microelectronics & VLSI Design)
DA-IICT Gandhinagar (ICT)
CDAC NOIDA (VLSI Design)
IIITM Gwalior (VLSI Design)
VEDAIIT Hyderabad (runs an MS(VLSI) Prgram in collobaration with JNTU and AMD)
Following article will make the picture more clear
VSI Vision – August 2005
Debate – Are the graduating students “industry-ready”?
C.P. Ravikumar CTO Texas Instruments Bangalore
Talk to managers who are hiring today and ask them how many students
they have to interview before they hit upon a success. The numbers they
quote are staggering – sometimes as high as 30. This speaks volumes
about the gap in the expectations of the industry and the output coming
from academic institutions. At the VLSI Education Workshop held in
Jaipur in March 2005, a work session was held to debate this issue.
There were about 60 participants in the workshop, including students
and faculty. Since I have the privilege of talking to many colleagues
in the industry, I began by loosely defining what industry feels about
being “industry-ready.” Some fellow-professionals complain that
students are weak in fundamental concepts. Some interviews go sour
because the student cannot answer simple questions on electrical
circuits, digital logic, concepts regarding setup and hold times of
flops, or MOS transistors. I have heard it from multiple sources that a
working knowledge of VHDL or Verilog is not a requirement from
graduating students – the industry would be happier if the student was
strong in fundamentals and was able to apply his/her knowledge to solve
the problem using any hints provided by the interviewer. Basic computer
skills are assumed to be a given from the graduating student; most
companies assume the knowledge of assembly language, at least one
high-level programming language, editors, compilers, debuggers and
other system-software. Soft skills are being emphasized by the
industry. Good communication skills, such as documentation, making
presentations, and clear articulation, are expected. It is important
that the new-hire is a team-player rather than an individual performer;
during college education, the student is competing with fellow students
to excel – after joining industry, he/she must work with colleagues and
make the team win. What can this gap be attributed to? Is the
curriculum in the Universities outdated? Some teachers disagree. They
feel the curriculum is already strong in fundamentals. It is the
execution which needs improvement, they point out. Colleges do not have
sufficient resources for recruiting faculty, develop labs, and invest
in software tools. The examination system promotes rote learning. In
some Universities, the exam papers have choices of questions – making
it unnecessary for a student to know all the topics and tempting a
student to skip studying important chapters. The “ready made kits” that
offer canned experiments in labs have taken away the challenge and
creativity in experiments. Lack of industry interaction has had its
toll. What should be emphasized and what could be deemphasized? When I
have posed this question to some of my industry colleagues, the
responses I have obtained are that CMOS circuit design, design flows,
effect of interconnects, design timing, verification and testing must
be emphasized. They have felt that BJT can be de-emphasized. In some
Universities, courses relating to semiconductor devices, circuit deign
and test either do not exist or are made optional. The lack of exposure
and motivation often drives the students to pursue careers in software.
The investment
in a software lab is smaller – often, a student can use a home computer
to do software assignments, reducing the dependence on labs. There is
also a belief that the number of job opportunities is higher in the
software industry. To the industry’s complaints about the quality of
outgoing students, some academicians have an acerbic response. “If
industry wants high quality, let them pay for it!” Faculty point out
that Indian semiconductor industries do not have sufficient University
interaction programs. Universities require assistance in terms of
student and faculty internships, student projects, and research
funding. The lack of a body such as the SRC (Semiconductor Research
Corporation) in India is a problem. Some faculty is also sore about the
apathy meted out by Industry. “Does any Indian semiconductor industry
even want anything from the academia, other than students?” asked a
teacher. Several others complained about lack of support from EDA
vendors who sell their tools to the colleges. To make the University
interaction programs sustainable, it is important to make the situation
a “win-win” for all concerned – students, industry, and the faculty. To
make the work session lively, I invited two participants from the
audience to do a role-playing. One participant acted out the role of a
faculty member and the other one acted out the role of an industry
professional. The situation is, the faculty member is trying to get
research project from the industry. In the initial role-play, the
faculty member (actor) explained what his objective was and sought help
by asking the industry to off-source some of their work to the college.
It would be a win-win situation, he explained, the students have good
projects to work on, and the industry can get some development done at
a lower cost. The industry professional (actor) agreed to this proposal
and there was a happy ending! When the audience was asked to comment on
this transaction, a number of flaws were pointed out – how does the
faculty member convince that he and his students can indeed carry out
the development work, what about IP protection, what will the faculty
member gain from this arrangement, … We then asked the actors to
reverse their roles and repeat the role-play. Armed with all the
feedback from the previous act, they now had a more meaningful (albeit
stormy!) dialogue. The semiconductor industry indeed needs to get into
such dialogues with faculty from the colleges to initiate meaningful
relationships. With the formation of the Indian Semiconductor
Association and the announcement of their University Gateway program,
we can look forward to the beginnings of such relationships.
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Replies:
Posted By: dinaganesh
Date Posted: 01Dec2007 at 8:38am
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hello friend , i am doing my front end design in vlsi, but can u tell me the no. of seats and cutt off for vlsi in iits. and some universities in abroad for research in vlsi . thanks in advance
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