Epitomcircuits webinar#1

SEMICONDUCTOR AS A
PROFESSION
EPITOMECIRCUITS
8884798955 | www.epitomecircuits.com | admin@epitomecircuits.com

WHY SEMICONDUCTORS
▫ Exiting Career
▫ Better Salaries and Work-Life Balance
▫ Phenomenal Growth and Promising Future

COMPANIES
Product
Intel , AMD , ARM
Qualcomm
Texas Instruments
Nvidia, Broadcomm
IBM
Google, Apple
Samsung
Global Foundries
TSMC
Services
Sankalp
Insemi
Altran
Wipro
Infosys
HCL
TCS
EDA
Cadence
Synopsys
MentorGraphics

DOMAINS
Front End
RTL design
Design Verification: Digital ,
Analog Mixed signal
DFT
Back End
Circuit Design
Characterization
Layout Design
Physical Design
Post Silicon Validation
Specialization
Standard Cells: Digital/AISC
Library
Analog: RF and Mixed Signal (PLL,
Bandgap, Opamps, Current
Mirrors)
Memory: SRAM, DRAM
IO: Bond Pads, Input/Output IOs,
ESD
Full Chip: Top Level Integration
for Test Chips or Products

QUESTIONS (COVID/FRESHERS)
• How is industry getting affected, will freshers hiring get impacted in colleges/companies due to covid19?
• Definitely semiconductors is affected and has slowed down. Don’t know when, but it will eventually be back to normal. So be
prepared for that moment.
• What (B.E/M.Tech) subjects should a fresher prepare to get into VLSI?
• Although domain specific training is advantageous, the candidates must also be thorough with below subjects. Everything related
to VLSI that you have already studied in your curriculum. For MTech students the expectation is bit higher. Intuitive
understanding of the concepts is vital. Start your preparations as early as possible (1st year of Engineering!!!)
• RC Circuits, Device Physics (Diodes, MOSFETs, BJTs), Basic Electronics, Logic Design, Network Analysis, Basic/Advanced VLSI,
Fabrication, Analog/Digital Design
• Verilog, VHDL (A Guide to Digital Design and Synthesis By Samir Palnitkar), Logic synthesis, STA
• Basic digital design blocks like multiplier, divider, sequence detector, clock gating cell, clock domain synchronizer, reset
synchronizer, edge detector, mealey and moore machines, fifo, counters, level shifter, isolation cells etc. (Digital Logic Design By
Morris Mano)
• Labs: Verilog, VHDL, Circuit/Layout/Physical Design Labs Cadence Virtuoso, Encounter (45nm, 20nm Finfet), Mentor
graphics/Synopsys EDA tools
• Implement Projects/Seminars/Internships/IEEE-papers on VLSI related topics
• Improve Aptitude, communication skills, prepare best resume

QUESTIONS (SCRIPTING/ONLINE-TRAINING)
• Is scripting knowledge necessary?
• Having knowledge of at least on scripting language is advantageous
• Scripting language (PERL, Python, Shell, Linux)
• What are free training options?
• Free tools: Electric, Spice simulation, LTSpice
• Online training material: Razavi (Basics and Advanced Analog design), Baker (Analog Design), Rabey (Digital Design), NPTEL, MIT
open course ware, Coursera
• Verilator : never used it though.
• Modelsim PE Student Edition: https://www.mentor.com/company/higher_ed/modelsim-student-edition
• Xilinx University Program: Its written that they will let you use their tools, can be used for synthesis:
https://www.xilinx.com/support/university/students.html
• Clifford cumming papers for synthesis, Verilog, system Verilog and other aspects of design:
 http://www.sunburst-design.com/papers/
8884798955 | www.epitomecircuits.com | admin@epitomcecircuits.com

QUESTIONS (M.TECH/GAP/COLLEGE)
• Is Mtech necessary? Should I go for training instead?
• Mtech from premium colleges is absolutely important to increase technical knowledge on VLSI
• If you are not getting into premium institutes, alternate option is training
• I have few years gap after B.E/M.Tech. Can I switch my domain from SW to VLSI?
• If you have 1-2 years of gap, because you joined software job or still searching for VLSI job, better go for training. Revise the
topics. Improve the skills. You will still be considered as fresher
• If you are a SW engineer and want to switch, don’t wait for more than three years. Check for weekend classes and get trained
• Is IIT/NIT Tag important?
• Yes. IIT/NIT/Good-aggregates are very important. Any company would want to hire the best candidate on its team.
• But there are plenty of opportunities for the rest. So improve your grades/skills-set and be industry ready

• Which domain should I choose? Which domain is better with respect to salaries/job-opportunities/stability/career?
• You need to have some understanding of the domains if you want to make an informed decision.
• RTL Design, Verification (Digital/AMS), Circuit/Layout/Physical Design are major domains in the industry.
• Based on what are your skillsets/interests, and what domain interests you, you can choose the domain.
• For many, the domains change over time once they get placed, primarily due to changing business needs of the company/team.
• You can also switch domains if your company facilitates it.
• Is training necessary? Does it makes sense to spend huge amount? Which training institute should I choose?
• If there are two candidates equally good from all perspective, one with the training is always preferred.
• If financially its not possible to join training, enhance VLSI related skills and prove you are the best candidate
• Inquire the course content of your domain of interest, tools used & job opportunities.
• Who is the mentor?
• Are there better training institutes with lesser fees
• Check with semiconductor professionals for reference.
QUESTIONS (DOMAIN/TRAINING)

 How to prepare resume?
 Limit the resume to two pages only.
 Ensure both the pages are full.
 70% of it should contain VLSI related project/study/training you have done
 Remove irrelevant information (projects, long list of competitions, paper presentations, participation)
 Have clear objective and skills avoid tables as they take up space
 Describe the projects with clear title & sub bullets for technology, tools, duration, sub module description, challenges.
 Avoid lengthier paragraphs.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tdyZWbGWO0
• How to job-hunt?
 Prepare a good linkedin profile and connect with semiconductor professionals.
 Worst responses on Linked to a job post: Interested. Go through my profile, Hey bro/sis, please let me know if you have a job opening for my profile.
 It can be bit more professional.
 No one has time to go through your profile, check for suitable job openings, ping you back.
 Instead, visit company's career page, check for jobs, upload resume. Ping with job-id/link, ask for referral.
QUESTIONS (RESUME/JOB-HUNT)

• What kind of companies to choose? Do companies prefer trained candidates only? Product or service company?
• Students are mainly hired from premium institutes, bit hard to be picked as design engineer offcampus.
• Better to have sound knowledge of basic digital design blocks, STA, synthesis, Verilog and asic design flow.
• Do some labs available from online courses and you can upload it as part of your github repository where the recruiters can see
that as live reference.
• Product companies rarely hire freshers from normal college, but they have intern/project-trainee programs.
• Mostly the requirements are for trained candidates in service based companies.
• Few of them later get converted to full time employees based on the company requirements and candidate's performance.
• Most of the service based companies have bond for certain years & amount. Some companies don't pay until the candidate gets
placed at client location and gets billed.
• We personally don't recommend them but if you have no other options and still want to explore such opportunity, ensure no-pay
months don't exceed three months.
• Ensure you get the offer letter with all the terms & conditions mentioned before you sign up for the job.
• Don’t join a company that asks for money to train you. Its simply a training institute. Not a semiconductor company.
QUESTIONS (COMPANIES)

• The job hunt can span between months to close to a year.
• Because of the limited number of companies and hence the opportunities, it is very
important for you to continue your preparation until you get placed & start the
professional learning curve from then on !!
• Finally your commitment & enthusiasm towards learning throughout the job
hunt/preparation alone matters. No one will guarantee you a job.
• Your placement is a factor of your efforts, training quality, market trend and a bit
of luck.
• All the Best !!!
TENACITY IS THE KEY

”
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well
enough.
Albert Einstein
THANK YOU

Epitomcircuits webinar#1

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