Bridging circuits and electromagnetics in a curriculum aimed at microelectronic analog and microwave simulation and design

Higher operating frequencies and increased integration have led to electromagnetic effects being ubiquitous in microelectronics for digital, analog, and RF applications at the board, package, and chip levels. Classical curricula have tended to teach circuits and electromagnetics as two distinct areas. This paper presents courses at the University of Washington that aim to bridge the circuit-electromagnetic gap by teaching electromagnetics top-down "on demand" i.e. at the level of complexity required for a given application rather than the bottom-up approach of classical electromagnetics that did not necessarily mesh well with circuits curricula.