ECE-539
CMOS VLSI DESIGN METHODOLOGIES
Offered Fall 2026
Term
Overview
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students generally rate the course well. Best for students who are genuinely interested in the topic and willing to engage with the course on its own terms.
DepartmentELEC&CMP
Terms offeredFall
Typical enrollment18–35
Semesters of data3
5.9
Hrs / week
34
Responses
73
Enrollment
47%
Response Rate
Evaluation Scores
Overall quality
Teaching, content, and experience combined.
4.4
Intellectually stimulating
Challenges students to think deeply.
4.2
Instructor effectiveness
Explains concepts and facilitates learning.
4.4
Difficulty
Higher means harder.
3.7
Feedback Analysis
Feedback Analysishigh
Analysis based on student evaluations
Based on 36 comments across 3 sections
Feedback is mostly positive. The strongest signal is that students generally rate the course well. Best for students who are genuinely interested in the topic and willing to engage with the course on its own terms.
Student Reports
How hard is the A?
A is doable but not automatic
The signal here is more do-the-work-and-you-should-be-fine than easy-A chatter. Students do not describe the A as automatic, but the evidence also does not paint grading as punishing.
Homework Load
Moderate homework load
Homework load looks moderate. The recurring signal is steady weekly work, but not a course that turns every assignment into a grind.
Lecture Load
Regular lecture load
Lectures matter here, but the evidence points to a fairly standard lecture burden rather than a course dominated by long or exceptionally dense lectures.
Strengths
• Instructor ratings are strong even when the comments do not cluster around one obvious positive theme.
Tradeoffs
• There is no single dominant complaint theme, but the feedback is not uniformly glowing either.
Best fit for
Best for students who are genuinely interested in the topic and willing to engage with the course on its own terms.
Watch out for
• A large share of the evidence comes from one instructor's version of the course, so this may not generalize cleanly.
Student Responses
How to use popular design tools to design VLSI layouts. Introduction into MOS theory. Trade offs of different design methodologies.
Fall 2024 · Morizio, James
Being someone not from hardware background , i learnt how to : absorb knowledge from people course material and the software(cadence itself) different perspective on looking at hardware at a minute scale
Fall 2024 · Morizio, James
-planning -Transistor level design -Industry level layout software -group work -classmate engagement
Fall 2024 · Morizio, James
I learned a lot of things that I've never accessed before, like transistors, all kinds of theories, Cadence, etc.
Fall 2024 · Morizio, James
1. basic digital CMOS circuit design 2. cadance simulation skill, schematic, layout 3. circuit performance analysis and error detection
Fall 2024 · Morizio, James
Rating History
Rating history
Error bars show \u00B11 std dev
| Term | Instructor | Overall | Difficulty | Hrs/wk | Enrolled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2025 | Morizio, James 3.4Rate My ProfessorsQuality3.4Difficulty3.0Would retake100%Based on 11 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | — | — | 7.0 | 35 |
| Fall 2024 | Morizio, James 3.4Rate My ProfessorsQuality3.4Difficulty3.0Would retake100%Based on 11 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.7 | 4.0 | 5.6 | 20 |
| Fall 2023 | Morizio, James 3.4Rate My ProfessorsQuality3.4Difficulty3.0Would retake100%Based on 11 ratingsClick to view on RMP → | 4.0 | 3.4 | 5.2 | 18 |
Instructor
Morizio, JamesELEC&CMP
Also teaches
ECE-532 ANALOG INTEG CIR DSGN4.1ECE-590 ADVANCED TOPICS IN ECE3.8