The sensors and their interfaces with the circuits are important parts of electronic devices. They capture vital information from the real world. This course covers the design of sensors and interfacing circuits in the CMOS process. The student will learn to design the sensors for different sensing purposes and their front-end interfaces to process the acquired signals at both system- and circuit-level. Different design considerations will be discussed, such as noise, power consumption, distortion/nonlinearity. Fabrication of the micro-electro-mechanical systems and their integration with the CMOS integrated circuits will also be covered.

CILO-1: Design fundamental building blocks in the CMOS process for signal readout and sensing systems. CILO-2: Implement different sensing elements (thermal, capacitive, resistive, etc.) in the CMOS process and discover their potential applications. CILO-3: Simulate the sensing circuits and systems in the CMOS process using simulation tools and realize their limitations.