An innovative design project for teaching analog IC design

After an overview of the electronic design sequence taken by electrical engineering majors at the United States Military Academy, a design project is described that gives students design experience in analog integrated-circuit topologies without the prerequisite of a full IC layout and fabrication course. The students design and build an operational amplifier circuit that has the power to drive an 8 Ω speaker. The student must demonstrate an understanding of the material taught by designing the circuit to meet required gain, bandwidth and phase margin specifications. The project is performed in three phases. The first phase is the design phase. The student uses SPICE and hand calculations to arrive at a design that meets design specifications. The student implements the design during the second phase of the project. Parts are drawn and characterized. The circuit is built on a printed circuit board to reduce construction and troubleshooting time. During the final phase of the project, the student writes a report which describes the theory of the circuit. Hand calculations using simple methods are compared to simulation results. Measurement results are compared to both the hand calculation and simulation results. Students address any discrepancies and attribute them to modeling error, measurement error, or parametric error