A prospective on education of new generations of devices in the FDSOI and FinFET technologies: From the technological process to the circuit design specifications

Abstract

The upcoming of FDSOI and FinFET technologies at nanoscale enlarges the gap between education and industry. Indeed, no university is able to provide access to such technologies before post-graduation. In addition, the situation is similar when looking at the integrated circuit design. The incredible degrees of freedom offered by the CAD tools to designers and the need to integrate more constraints makes really challenging the design of complex integrated circuits. The universities are facing really difficult issues on pedagogical point of view: designing and fabricating integrated circuits with no real experience in the advanced technologies and the design techniques. In this context, this paper investigates what should be the content of curricula of Masters or engineers diploma in order to efficiently prepare the students to work as well in this industry as in the research laboratories. Several suggestions will be provided.