Summary: the classic text of VLSI design
Rating: 5
Mead and Conway's book is still quite germane. For those of you new to VLSI, this book is one of the key texts in the field. In 1980, the authors managed to abstract the common steps in chip fabrication. In such a way that chip design could now be taught at the undergraduate level, using this book. Plus accompanying layout software. And the student's design could then be taped out and sent to a fab and actually made.

This was a huge breakthrough. Prior to this book, if you wanted to actually make a chip, using a reasonably current fab, then you could not, as a university student. You had to work for a semiconductor company that had a fab. A large gap in your education. It also meant that a lot of chip knowledge was not transferable if you changed companies.

In software terms, this book is a refactoring. Though this term itself did not come into use for software till the 90s. The book can still be profitably read. Its layout ideas have not become obsolete. In fact, if you were to compare this book with more current undergrad VLSI texts, there is little conceptually new introduced in the latter.


Summary: fascinating example of autogynephilic technical expertise
Rating: 5
This kind of technical talent is much more common in men than in women. But Lynn Conway (2nd author of the book) is a woman--who used to be a man. Several folks have pointed out that transsexuals with autogynephilia are especially likely to have hard core male-typical mathematical technical talent. Why should this be? Who knows? I don't. But the talent that went into this book is immense.


Summary: Introduction to vlsi
Rating: 5
hi,
i found out this book as the best one for VLSI course
.but it is not available throughout india
.can you just send me a xerox (photostat) of this book


Summary: VLSI Classic
Rating: 5
This reference continues the construction of actual integrated circuits introduced in the Feynman reference listed above. Theory behind various parts of a stored program (ie, von Neumann) computer, and its fabrication through VLSI techniques is clearly presented. As well, there are chapters on concurrent computation, for example arrays of processors to perform matrix computations, and the physics of computation. Connecting numerous components together is an important issue in biological computing architectures, and while the latter is not covered, this reference provides valuable insights with regards to the former. This reference was a classic on the subject in 1980, and its concepts still largely remain valid.
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