Master of Science in Integrated Circuit Design

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MASTER OF SCIENCE IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DESIGN

Successful completion of this programme will equip students with the capabilities in the following technical areas: 1) Deeper knowledge in Analog IC design with EDA tools and Digital IC design flow; 2) Design methodology and automation together with system level architecture, modelling and analyses; and 3) Semiconductor process technology and devices for designing of mixed signal circuits.

The international Master of Science in Integrated Circuit Design which is jointly offered by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Technische Universität München (Technical University of Munich, TUM) aims to educate the next generation of engineers and entrepreneurial leaders for the fast moving semiconductor industry. Changes in integrated circuits (ICs) technology have had a huge impact on our day to day life. Incredible technological advances over the last 50 years enable us to integrate billions of transistors on a single integrated circuit. At the same time the cost of a single transistor has decreased exponentially. The result is that every day, new attractive applications for the use of ICs open up, enabling the semiconductor industry to grow much faster than the overall economy. However, the semiconductor industry’s capability to make intelligent use of all these transistors in designing successful products has not kept pace with the manufacturing capabilities. The electronics and semiconductor industries are therefore constantly looking for well-educated integrated circuit design engineers.

The 2-year full-time Master programme includes content that ranges from analog, digital and mixed-circuit design over architectural concepts for integrated circuits to design methodology and automation. Product manufacturing and testing are also addressed. Integrated circuit design is also placed in a broader context, by teaching fundamental concepts of signal processing which are at the core of today’s communications circuits. Students will also be taught essential non-technical topics such as product marketing, international management, patent law and aspects of culture and globalization. This will be mainly done by highly qualified lecturers from the industry.

Upon the successful completion of the programme, the student will be awarded a joint Masters degree from NTU and TUM.

“This programme is designed to equip us with solid theoretical knowledge as well as practical experience to be a successful IC Design Engineer in this competitive semiconductor industry.”
Douglas Chin Yi Ren (Graduate, MSc in Integrated Circuit Design)

DEGREE/FH DIPLOMA* REQUIREMENTS

In order to be eligible for the programme, you must have at least a Bachelor Degree** (completed in at least three years, depending on factors such as the rest of your education background) in Electrical/ Electronics Engineering or in a closely related discipline with remarkable results.

*If you meet the requirements for admissions, please refer to this page (Click on “Required Documents”) for the List of Required Documents for application to our Master of Science programmes.

**Academic requirements may differ for different countries of study. Please write to us at admission@tum-asia.edu.sg to verify your requirements.

ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS

As the Master of Science programme’s instruction medium is English, the applicant must be able to demonstrate a satisfactory level of proficiency in the English language.

Applicant whose native tongue or medium of instruction from previous studies (Bachelor / FH Diploma) is not English must submit at least one of the following:

TOEFL (www.toefl.org): Recent score with a Minimum 88 for the Internet-Based Test (TOEFL code: 7368)
IELTS (www.ielts.org): With academic IELTS result of at least 6.5

SPECIAL CRITERIA (China, India & Vietnam)

Additionally, an Akademische Prüfstelle (APS) certificate is required for applicants with education qualifications from China, India or Vietnam. The APS certificate is compulsory if your Bachelor studies was completed in a Chinese, Indian or Vietnamese university, regardless of nationality.

For example, a Singapore citizen who completed his entire undergraduate studies in a Chinese university, and holds a Chinese degree, must sit for the APS test and pass it in order to qualify for admissions to a German university.

If you are making any application to a German university (including the TUM degrees at TUM Asia), the APS certificate is required for all education qualifications from China, India or Vietnam. If you need more information, please contact our team.

More about APS:

- APS website (China)
- APS website (India) (For Indian applicants, please refer to our FAQ page under Admissions (Master Degree) – Questions on Admission Requirements (Master Programmes) – Q4 for a guide on how to apply for APS India.)
- APS website (Vietnam)

Your Internship

After two semesters of coursework, all students have to complete a three-month internship with the industry or with an academic institution. It is required for the student to complete an internship related to his or her field of study at TUM Asia.

One can secure an internship in Singapore, Germany, or in any other country in Asia, Europe or the rest of the world. Students who have secured a scholarship with their sponsoring company will undergo their internship in the company (this can be conducted in any branch of the company worldwide). Students without an industrial sponsorship are to look for internships independently and it is expected that all students take an active approach about it. TUM Asia will assist to provide students with any possible internship opportunities, but students are to lead the search for internships themselves.

Master Thesis

The 6-month long thesis work is the culmination of graduate work and an opportunity to apply the knowledge and skills that students have acquired through course work and research assistant-ships. Through this guided learning experience, students work in collaboration with industry partners or other researchers on a project of mutual interest and may in some cases publish manuscripts resulting from the thesis.

The thesis should be practical-based. Theoretical frameworks or conceptual models may (and should in many cases) guide the research questions. A strictly theoretical paper is not acceptable for a master’s thesis.

Organisation of the Thesis

Since the timeline for one’s Master studies is quite short, it is important to start exploring and discussing possible thesis topics as early as possible, recommended to be no later than the end of the first term.

After deciding if the thesis project will be carried out in the industry or an university, the student has to find an university supervisor. Professors or the TUM Asia staff will assist the student in finding the right supervisor depending on the programme, but the ownership of the search is still on the student himself or herself. The supervising professor will be a teaching lecturer from the TUM Asia Master programme.

For the completion of the thesis project, the student will have to prepare a written thesis that will be rated by the university supervisor together with (if applicable) the industrial supervisor.

The purpose of the internship is to provide a structured and supervised work experience, in application to the theory work learnt. It is also a platform to develop soft-skills not learnt in the classroom setting and this will help the students to gain job-related skills and achieve their desired career goals.

There will be an informative briefing session conducted for all students to equip them with the necessary knowledge regarding internship and thesis guidelines of TUM Asia. This briefing will be held during the first semester of your studies at TUM Asia.

The total tuition fees for this Master programme for the upcoming intake is SGD 44,800.00* (before GST).

The tuition fees are to be paid in three instalments as indicated in the table below.

	Registration Fee	1^st Instalment	2^nd Instalment	3^rd Instalment	Total*
Deadline for payment	Upon acceptance of offer	15 July	1 December	1 July (of the next year)
Gross Amount* (before GST)	SGD 5,000	Split across 3 instalments			SGD 44,800
Final Amount* (after GST)	SGD 5,450	Split across 3 instalments			SGD 48,832

* Note:

All fees quoted are in Singapore Dollars and are inclusive of the prevailing Goods and Services Tax (GST) imposed under the Singapore GST Act. From 1 January 2024, fees will be adjusted to reflect GST rate of 9%.
Tuition fees are subject to revision at the discretion of TUM Asia.

IMPORTANT: The provided information is accurate for AY2024/25 intake and is subject to change. Students from previous intakes should not refer to the total fee stated on this webpage as their reference.

Please note that the above fees include the following:

Matriculation fees at TUM and NTU, teaching and examination fees
Lab materials and expenses
Expenses for intercultural program, may include tickets for events and industry excursions
Soft copy files of all teaching materials
Usage of all university facilities at TUM and NTU or relevant universities (e.g. library fees)
IT Usage: Computer labs and internet access
Excursion and off-campus expenses for mandatory events

In addition to the tuition fee, all registered students will be subjected to the following fees:

Student Visa Processing and Issuance Fee (payable to the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (ICA) Singapore
Student Services Fees*
Health Service Fees*
Application Fees*: Applicants are required to pay a non-refundable NTU application fee of SGD 21.40 when sending in their admission application.

*For no. 2 to 4, the fees are payable to the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Note: Fees are subject to revision. All prices would be inclusive of the prevailing GST rates.

The respective amounts and payment instructions will be provided in the Student Agreement to all successful applicants.

For more information about our MSc in Integrated Circuit Design Professors, please click here.

IMPORTANT: The provided information is accurate for AY2024/25 intake and is subject to change.

The teaching faculty in the programme are predominately from TUM and NTU, as well as additional modules taught by industry leaders and other expert academics.

COURSE COMMENCEMENT
Single yearly intake, with course commencement in August every year.

COURSEWORK & STUDENT-TEACHER RATIO
All coursework are conducted in English and students will be taught by German and Singaporean lecturers. Student-teacher ratio averages between 20:1 to 35:1. Only live teaching is conducted in all TUM Asia classes. All examinations will be written by the student him/herself, and examination results are released approximately 1-3 months after the examination.

COURSE DURATION
The Master of Science in Integrated Circuit Design degree is a 2-year full-time programme. Students must complete their coursework, 3-month internship and 6-month of Master Thesis writing to qualify for graduation.

COURSE COMPLETION
In order for a student to graduate, he/she must obtain a minimum overall CAP score of 4,0 or below and CGPA score of 2.50 or above. An academic warning will be issued to students if their CGPA score falls below 2.50. There is also a risk of candidature termination for failure in any modules if overall CGPA score falls below 2.50. A student will successfully complete his/her degree course in the n+2 year, n being the year of enrolment and assuming the circumstances that the student will not have any failed modules that he/she is required to retake.

Laboratory Core Modules

Each module carries 3 AUs (academic units) and 6 ECTS-credits

NM6007 Lab 1: Analog IC Design (NTU)

Introduction to Cadence design tools. CMOS high speed analog circuits, HF charakteristics of CMOS Transistors and integrated passive elements, low noise amplifier, mixer, VCO, prescaler, power amplifier, transceiver as complete system.

An overview and a fundamental analysis of the building blocks of a Power Management ASIC (PMU) and their usage in the system is given.

Lecturers: Assoc. Prof Siek Liter / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NM6008 Lab 2: Digital IC Design (NTU)

Synchronous digital circuit concept; description of sequential and combinational logic cells; basic components of digital circuits; state machines; simulation; synthesis, static timing analysis; implementation and test.

Lecturers: Assoc. Prof. Gwee Bah Hwee / Assoc. Prof. Lim Meng Hiot / Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

Core Technical Elective Modules* (Choose 6)

Each module carries 3 AUs (academic units) and 5 ECTS-credits

NM6001 Digital IC Design (NTU)

Review of Integrated Circuit Fundamentals. Layout and Design Issues. CMOS Circuit designs. Low Power Design. BiCMOS Digital Circuits. Sub-System Design in Digital Circuits. Design Methodologies.

Lecturers: Assoc Prof Goh Wang Ling / Prof Chang Chip Hong / Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

NM6002 Analog IC Design (NTU)

Review of fundamentals. Noise. Modeling. Analog Building Blocks. Components Layout. Switched Capacitor Circuits. Current Mode Circuits. Transconductor. Auto-tunning. Gm-C and MOSFET-C Filters. Continuous-Time Filters. Switch Current Circuits. Class D Amplifiers.

Lecturers: Assoc. Prof. Siek Liter / Dr. Natalie Kong / Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

NM6003 System-on-Chip Solutions & Architecture (TUM)

Basics of CMOS integrated circuits from a system´s perspective

– From MOSFET transistor to realisation of combinatorial/sequential logic, Finite State Machines (FSM), SRAM, DRAM, FLASH, FPGA, CPU core building blocks

– Packaging and i/o technology

– System modeling

– Projection of IC technology scaling and implementation alternatives

– Moore´s law and what it will mean for different IC technologies today an in the future

Investigation of the role and applicability of IC technology blocks in state-of-the-art VLSI products from various vendors in form of case studies:

– Ethernet LAN MACs and Switches

– Control Point Processors and Communication Controllers

– Network Processors

– Backplane and SAN (System Area Network) Switches

– SONET/SDH transport framers and digital cross connects

Lecturers: Prof Dr. Andreas Herkersdorf / Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

NM6004 Design Methodology & Automation (TUM)

Computer-aided design of primarily digital integrated circuits. VLSI design flow. Overview of system level, algorithmic level, register transfer level, logic level, circuit level VLSI design methods. Focus on: logic synthesis, digital simulation, test. Techniques from discrete mathematics and computer science. Emphasis is placed on techniques that are applicable to very complex, industrially relevant circuits.

i) Introduction to Semiconductors and Design Flow (2hrs)

ii) Representation of digital circuits by Boolean functions (2 dim, 3 dim, general) (5hrs)

iii) Optimisation of combinatorial two-level digital circuits: Quine-McCluyskey; Karnaugh diagram; cube graph; resolution method; combinatorial optimisation (cofactor, Boole’s expansion); BDDs (8hrs)

iv) Optimisation of multi-level, multi-output, incompletely specified Boolean functions: Sharing of logic; finding common cubes; utilising “don’t cares”; functional decomposition (6hrs)

v) Optimisation of sequential circuits: Representation of sequential circuits by FSMs; optimisation of FSMs; binary coding of FSMs (3hrs)

vi) Fundamental introduction to digital simulation concepts and VHDL (3hrs)

vii) Testing of digital circuits: Introduction to testing; Fault tables; Boolean difference; structure-oriented computation of Boolean difference; fault simulation; fault trees; D-Algorithm; testing of sequential circuits; Design for testability (18hrs)

Lecturers: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ulf Schlichtmann / Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

NM6005 Digital Signal Processing (NTU)

Introduction. Discrete Fourier transform (DFT) and fast Fourier transform (FFT). Z transform. Digital filters. Linear prediction and optimum linear filters. Power spectrum estimation.

Lecturers: Assoc. Prof. Zheng Yuanjin / Assoc. Prof. Lin Zhiping / Asst. Prof Wen Bihan Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

NM6006 Mixed Signal Circuit Design (TUM)

Specifics of semiconductor process technology and devices for the building of integrated circuits
Transistor level circuits and the implementation in CMOS technology: amplifier, current and voltage reference, power supply as well as clock generation, regulation and distribution, A / D and D / A converters
Non-idealities and their compensation: operating point, frequency response (with feedback), how to optimize for disturbances (parasitic, power supply and common mode rejection, …) and error sources (variability, noise, …)

Lecturers: Dr.-Ing. Florin Burcea / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NM6010 IC (Integrated Circuit) Packaging (NTU)

Plastic Packaging Materials. Manufacturing Processes for Plastic Encapsulated Microelectronics. State-of-the-art Packaging Techniques. Failure Mechanisms, Sites, and Modes. Qualification Process. Accelerated Testing for Packaging. Effects of Packaging on the Electrical Performance. Future Trends and Challenges in Packaging.

Lecturers: Prof. Tan Chuan Seng / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

Specialisation Technical Elective Modules* (Choose 4)

Each module carries 3 AUs (academic units) and 5 ECTS-credits

NM6009 RF IC Design (NTU)

System Design Considerations. CMOS RF Components and Devices. Low-noise amplifier (LNA); Mixers; Voltage-controlled oscillators (VCOs). RF power amplifiers (PA). Phase-locked Loops (PLL) and Frequency Synthesisers.

Lecturers: Prof Zhang Yue Ping / Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

NM6011 IC Marketing/Business Management (NTU)

Trends in the IC industry: Technology and manufacturing trends, Demand applications and product trends. Market Characteristics: The customers, Business cycles, Demand lead and supply lag (the bull-whip effect), IC Industry, supply and value chain, stakeholders, Geographical distribution of excellence centers, Technology centers, design centers, fabrication centers, The dis-integration of the value chain, outsourcing trends. Managing the marketing function: The sources of product ideas, The role of standards, formats, and intellectual property. Strategic partnership, distributorship, Demand forecast, matching supply with demand.

Lecturers: Assoc. Prof. Lim Meng Hiot / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NM6012 Advanced MOSFET & Novel Devices (TUM)

Historical development of mainstream MOSFETs until today; economical, technological and physical fundamentals; properties of long channel and short channel MOSFETs, hot carrier effects; short channel effects, scaling rules; basics of charge carrier transport (quantum mechanical, hydro dynamics, ballistics); proposed new MOSFET structures (strain engineering, metal-gate, high-k, vertical MOSFETs, double gate MOSFETs); hot electron transistors; tunneling transistors; low dimensional devices; single electron transistor, single electron memories, quantum electronics.

Lecturers: Dr.-Ing. Josef Biba / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NM6013 Nano-Electronics (TUM)

Low dimensional structures: quantum wells, quantum wires and quantum dots. Electronic, optical, transport properties of nanostructures. Quantum semiconductor devices. Fabrication and characterisation techniques of nanotechnology. Applications of nanostructures, nanodevices and nanosystems. The bottom-up approach to nanotechnology: introduction to molecular electronics and optoelectronics. Organic materials for electronics: self-assembled monolayers; conducting polymers; carbon nanotubes. Circuit implementations and architectures for nanostructures: quantum cellular automata and cellular nonlinear networks. Introduction to quantum computing.

Lecturers: TBA / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NM6014 Design for Testability of VLSI (NTU)

Fault Models and Testability concepts. Test Generation and Fault Simulation Algorithms. Shift-register polynomial division. Pseudo-random sequence generators. Special purpose shift register circuits. Random pattern BIST. Build-in boundary scan structure. Limitations and other concerns of random pattern test. Test techniques for automatic test equipment.

Lecturers: Assoc. Prof. Kim Tae Hyoung / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NM6015 Embedded Systems (TUM)

The Lecture covers the topics:

– Basics of embedded processor architectures

– Bus and memory architectures

– Performance/Timing analysis of embedded systems

– Models for real-time systems

– Principles of embedded software development,

– Basic real-time programming language concepts (e.g. Esterel)

– Real-time operating systems

– Power management

– Design space exploration

Lecturers: TBA / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NM6016 Simulation and Optimisation of Analog Circuits (TUM)

Principles of circuit simulation: DC/AC/TR analysis. Basic analog optimisation tasks: worst-case analysis, yield analysis, nominal design and design centering. Basic principles of optimisation: optimality conditions, line search, Nelder-Mead method, Newton approach, Conjugate Gradient approach, Quadratic Programming, Sequential Quadratic Programming. Structural analysis of analog circuits.

Application of a commercial analog optimisation tool (WiCkeD) to an analog design example.

i) Circuit Simulation (5 hrs)

DC analysis; AC analysis, Newton-Raphson; TR analysis, numerical integration; modified nodal analysis, linearised and discretised circuit model.

ii) Worst-Case Analysis (10 hrs)

Lagrange function, optimality conditions (constrained, unconstrained); classical worst-case analysis, realistic worst-case analysis, general worst-case analysis.

iii) Yield Analysis (10 hrs)

Multivariate statistical distribution, transformation of distribution functions, expectation values, estimation of expectation values; statistical yield analysis, geometric yield analysis, Monte-Carlo analysis.

iv) Circuit Sizing (5hrs)

Design objectives and derivatives, nominal design, tolerance design; yield optimisation; design centering; structure of an optimisation process.

v) Basics of numerical optimisation (10 hrs)

Univariate optimisation, line search, multivariate optimisation, polytope method, coordinate search; Newton approach (Quasi-Newton, Levenberg-Marquardt, Least-Squares, Conjugate Gradient; Quadratic Programming (equality/inequality constraints), Sequential Quadratic Programming (SQP).

vi) Structural Analysis of Analog Circuits (5 hrs)

Hierarchical analog building block library, sizing rules.

Lecturers: Apl. Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Helmut Gräb / Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

NON-TECHNICAL ELECTIVE MODULES* (CHOOSE 2)

Business Administration

The primary purpose of the module is to introduce students to the different areas of business administration with the final objective to give them a basic understanding of how to face decision problems in a company. Most importantly, we will analyse long-term investment decisions, how to set up strategic planning in a company, how to gather timely information about the current situation of a company, and how to set up its long-term financial structure.

Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Christoph Kaserer/ Prof. Dr. Isabel Welpe/ Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

Industrial Marketing

Marketing strategies are developed for a typical commodity and speciality business. Students will work in teams to develop business cases, make their own business decisions and develop marketing concepts based on provided information of a real case study.

The module covers the following topics:

– Principles of marketing

– Marketing strategy and environment

– Creating customer value, satisfaction, and loyalty

– Information management and market research

– Analysing consumer and business markets

– Competition and differentiation from competitors

– Segmenting, targeting, and positioning

– Creating and managing products and services, brand management

– Pricing

– Marketing communications, marketing channels, and service P’s.

Students will work out, in teams, business cases, make their own business decisions and develop marketing concepts based on provided information of a real case study.

Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Christian Braun/ Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

Innovation and Technology Management

This module presents the dynamics of technological development through innovation and the related management issues, the difference between creating a new product (invention) and improving an existing product/idea (innovation), start-ups and financing of innovation, innovation-driven economic cycles and innovation impact on growth and jobs.

The module covers the following topics:

1. Innovation vs. invention

2. Creating value through innovation

3. Four forces of innovation

4. Value to the customer and Hi-Tech Marketing

5. Business system innovation and Service innovations

6. Technological discontinuities, S-Curves and Scenario techniques

7. Managing uncertainty and agility of enterprises

8. Innovation, productivity and restructuring

9. Venture capital, Start-ups and financing of innovation

10. Innovation-driven economic cycles and Innovation impact on growth and jobs

The lecture presents the dynamics of technological development through innovation and the related management issues, the difference between creating a new product (invention) and improving an existing product/idea (innovation), Start-ups and financing of innovation, Innovation-driven economic cycles and Innovation impact on growth and jobs. This course is useful for students who plan to take up careers in manufacturing and service companies or in R&D organisations that make significant use of research and technology to build their portfolio.

Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Edward Krubasik/ Hours: 45 / Semester: 1

International Intellectual Property Law

This module will give a brief introduction to intellectual property rights and focus on insights into general principles of patent law and international conventions governing the patent law. Current developments and criticism of the current patent law system will also be addressed. In addition, practical (legal) aspects of the commercialisation of patents will be dealt with.

Lecturers: Dr. Marian Majer/Attorney Bayani Loste/ Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

Modern Developments in Industry

The module will provide insights into the core elements of Industry 4.0 such as: introduction to Cyber-Physical System, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technologies, information collection with intelligent sensors, industrial networking to connect the machines and processes together, Manufacturing Execution System (MES) for order management, production control and value adding to the complete supply chain management.

Lecturers: TBA / Hours: 45 / Semester: TBA

Production Planing in Industry

Manufacturers are confronted with special requirements of their production processes. Cycles, by-products, batches and campaigns are difficult to handle by nowadays ERP software packages (ERP = Enterprise Resource Planning). Concepts of material requirements planning, supply chain management (SCM) combined with basics in cost accounting will be explained. As a highlight a simulation model, based on modern simulation software, will be used by students to simulate production planning and achieve the ‘best’ production plan.

The module covers the following topics:

Part A: Overview

Part B: Industries – Chemical, Plastics and PVC

Part C: The World of PVC

Part D: Production Planning – Introduction

Part E: Production Planning Process

Part F: Procurement Process

Part G: SAP & Enterprise Resource Planning

Part H: Simulation Theory and Simulation Models

Lecturers: Dr. Hanns Zeltinger/ Hours: 45 / Semester: 2

Paradigm Shift to Industry 4.0

Introduction to Industry 4.0; Core elements of Industry 4.0; Fundamental workshop on AR/VR and digital twin; Fundamental workshop on additive manufacturing; Fundamental workshop on collaborative robot; Site visit and workshop on indoor vertical farming with disruptive technologies; Case study on Aquaculture 4.0; Site visit to Competence Centre for Digitalisation, Technology and Innovation (CDTI) and Advance Manufacturing Transformation Centre (AMTC).