VLSI Design Engineering – A Growing Industry

VLSI or Very – Large – Scale Integration “is the process of creating integrated circuits by combining thousands of transistors into a single chip. VLSI began in the 1970s when complex semiconductor and communication technologies were being developed. The microprocessor is a VLSI device.” – Wikipedia

If the idea of designing the next “wonder chip” is been in your mind since quite some time, it is definitely worthwhile to learn VLSI Design Engineering. There are number of colleges that provide courses pertaining to VLSI Design Engineering, and it is advisable to choose the best at your preferred location. If you are looking to study in India, Pune should be on the top of the list of locations. While you shortlist form colleges that provide the course in Pune, consider MITAOE – ME in VLSI. 

Details can be found at http://mitaoe.ac.in/index.php/admission/postgraduate.

The scope of VLSI – Is one of abundant opportunities. There is a constant rise in the demand for VLSI Design Engineers but very few opt for the career option! 

“According to industry experts, the Indian VLSI industry requires anywhere between 10,000 and 20,000 highly trained engineers at present. According to a joint report of India Semiconductor Association (ISA) and Ernst & Young, the semiconductor design industry in India is expected to log a compound annual growth rate of 17.3 per cent over the next three years to reach $10.6 billion…” – Electronicsforu.com 

To survive in a growing industry you need to acquire the right skills and aptitude with a desire to learn while you work. Since this deals with the latest technologies that are ever changing, keeping up with the market might become tedious if it is not your passion. Some of the major organizations that require VLSI Engineers are: HCL, Intel, Micron Tech, Motorola, Philips Semiconductor, Wipro, TCS and many more. 

When these companies hire VLSI Design Engineers they are primarily looking for fundamentally strong individuals with expertise in electronics and knowledge in system design, timing and semiconductor physics. You need to be strong when it comes to languages like VHDL, Verilog, Spec-man and System Verilog along with skills to program and script.  

Surinder Bhagat, country HR manager, Freescale Semiconductor India, says, “We prefer an educational back-ground of BE/B. Tech, ME/M. Tech or PhD with specialization in electronics, telecommunications, electrical or VLSI domain. Typically, these professionals should have hands-on experience in systems design, digital ASIC design, physical design, mixed-signal IC design, VHDL or very high-speed integrated circuit, VLSI design, circuit design and simulations, microcontrollers, digital PCB design and routing.” - Electronicsforu.com

Professionals say, since there is a constant growth in the industry with shortage of resources, it is the right time to enter the market with ample opportunities. 

According to the director of VEDA IIT Dr. Subbarangaiah, 

“Even though around 250,000 engineers are graduating in electronics and other related streams every year, less than 3 per cent of them are equipped with the knowledge and skills needed for the VLSI industry.”- Electronicsforu.com

Understanding the complexities of VLSI Design and the need for more young students to take it up as a career option propels the need for Engineering Colleges to provide ME in VLSI Design. These institutes should be well equipped with technological libraries, design manuals, design flows and industry standard tools for practical studies. Technical knowledge or work experience in nano-technology will also be helpful.

Engineers who build strong domain knowledge and have sufficient fundamental knowledge of circuit, design, verification are given higher priority over the ones without. 

Hence, it is beyond doubt that innovation and technology are rapidly growing and need for VLSI is growing at par; this industry has grown over the last three years from SSI (Small-scale Integration), MSI (Medium- scale Integration), LSI (Large-scale Integration) to its current VLSI. The next to look forward to is nanometer designs! 

Know your business needs for data processing

Data processing as the name suggests, is putting together and manipulating data to produce meaningful information. The term is more used for business or commercial organization, to refer to some class of data processing applications. The right combination of data processing is specific to each business, and establishing the right mix is essential. Both automated and manual data processing has its pros and cons and which need to be taken care duly. As the name suggests, manual data processing is the traditional method which make use of pen, paper, chalk requires human effort for recording, sorting, and processing of data which can be boring, tedious, time consuming and more chances of human error.

And automated processing of data is use of electronic systems, programs in which data is fed and retrieved after being processed. Some of the examples of automated data systems are recognition technology and manual data processing. The accuracy of automated systems have been questioned since the technology was first introduced, the performance of a system is determined by information which is 100% correctly processed at a specified amount of time. Manual keying, is also not error-proof and hence the baseline of comparison.

Recognition technology does not face problems of human factor, but the performance depends on issues, such as application, quality of images etc. It is important to understand the application and its limitations for best results. Optimal Character recognition, and intelligent character recognition are for high levels of accuracy when working with texts such as boxes, lines and combs. A high quality machine print can give nearly 99.9% accuracy which is high enough to be used without additional controls. But the level of accuracy can differ with machine font.

Although manual data processing has been in use for millennia, the term has been used more since the 1950s. For example, book keeping for an organization involves report making such as balance sheets and cash flow management, and posting transactions. The methods which were completely manual were augmented with the use of mechanical or electronic devices. The person which performed functions of calculation manually or by using a device was called “computer”.

Because manual data processing was tedious, required much longer duration of time for processing complex data automatic data processing evolved. The term automatic data processing was used for operations, which were performed by means of unit record equipment that used applications such as Herman Hollerith’s application for punch card which was used in the 1890 United States Census. Computerized or electronics data processing further represents evolution, in which the computer replaced several pieces of equipment.

The term “data processing” is subsumed in the new usage of Information Technology instead. In the new context, data processing refers to use of older technologies and a negative connotation is associated with the same. In commercial data processing, the volume of data is large with less computation operations and large volume of output. In science and engineering, data processing and Information processing are too broad to be used, the term “data analysis” is used instead. Data analysis makes use of accurate algorithms and statistical calculations which are not observed in typical business environments.

Of all the advantages of automated data processing over manual is, it can process and forms and documents quickly and efficiently. The software recognizes the characters on the form, which can be transferred to electronic format. The accuracy of automated systems ensures, data is rightly extracted and used in the correct field. This helps employees, use their competencies in other capacities instead pore over forms for repetitive data entry.