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VLSI Design · Module 10 of 10

VLSI careers

How ECE students enter the chip industry.

📖 Key ideas

  1. Entry roles: design verification engineer, RTL design engineer, physical design engineer, DFT engineer, FPGA engineer.
  2. Core skills: digital electronics, Verilog/SystemVerilog, scripting (Python, Tcl, Perl) and Linux.
  3. EDA tools run on Linux, so command-line comfort matters.
  4. Build projects: a UART, an ALU, a FIFO with a testbench, on EDA Playground or an FPGA.
  5. Many companies hire through tests on digital logic, Verilog and aptitude.
💡 Real-life example: Like joining a car factory: you pick a station (design, testing, assembly) but must understand how the whole car works.
DV engineerDesign verification engineer
PD engineerPhysical design engineer
DFTDesign for testability
TclScripting language used in EDA tools