EECS 4340: Computer Hardware Design

About this course

EECS 4340 is practical course on the art and practice of digital system design. This course will teach you almost everything you need to know to build a microprocessor. We will cover a hardware description language (Verilog), using commercial synthesis tools and rigorous design testing methods. This is not a circuits course per se, but we will discuss some circuit related issues as necessary. We will also discuss high-speed board design and I/O interfacing.

The focus of this course will be on labs and a design project that will help you appreciate the fine discipline of microarchitecture. Through four labs you will complete an implementation of the MIPS pipeline. The second part of the class is exclusively dedicated for the design project and will give you an opportuntity to demonstrate what you learned in through the labs.

4340 is both an advanced undergraduate course and an introductory graduate course (suitable for EE, CE and CS programs). It is one of the lab electives for the Computer Engineering undergraduate major and will provide a strong background for advanced graduate work in computer architecture, embedded systems, networking and hardware security. The prerequisite for this course is CSEE W 3827: Fundamentals of Computer Systems.

Note: Students interested in digital circuit design should also consider taking ELEN E4321. Those interested in more detailed treatment of Computer Architecture should consider CSEE W4824 and CSEE W6824.