Program Information and Requirements
GPA: Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA once accepted to the program. Annual reviews of students will be conducted. Students falling below a 3.0 will be notified with what steps they need to take.
Grading: At least 8 credits must be taken with the A-F grading. You can take up to 4 credits with the Pass/Fail grading option. If you go on to add the PhD EE or MS ECE, you will not be able to use any course taken with the Pass/Fail grading toward these graduate degrees.
This certificate does not offer any sub-plans or minors.
Advising: Every student will be assigned a faculty advisor. The Graduate Program Coordinator, will work with students for any administrative and program requirement related processes.
Time Limit: The standard timeline for the certificate is one academic year for a full-time student. Students may distribute credits over multiple semesters, provided the program is completed within five years. Students unable to meet this deadline may petition the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) for a 12-month extension, per Regents’ policy.
Continuous Enrollment -- Students must enroll every fall and spring semester from the time of matriculation through the semester of certificate conferral, except for cases with an approved Leave of Absence on the student’s record. Students, only in the certificate program, may be eligible to register for the Grad 999 option for a semester to hold their active status.
Certificate conferral -- Certificate students must have an approved certificate degree plan on file with their collegiate unit in order to apply for certificate conferral.
For current MS or PhD students wanting to add this certificate to their student account, you will need to apply through the U’s application system and pay the application fee.
The program requires a minimum of 12 credits that could be completed in one academic year. The curriculum is adapted from the current MS ECE program and comprises three specializations that a student could choose to focus on: Fabrication, VLSI Design, and VLSI CAD. The courses are chosen from the following list.
Note 1: At least 6 credits taken by students must be 5000-level or above.
Note 2: At least 7 credits must be completed after being admitted to the certificate program.
Note 3: Certain courses listed below are available in both online and in-person formats, and students may select either format.
Note 4: 4 credits can be earned with the Pass/Fail grading option. If you plan to apply to the ECE MS or EE PhD program, we can not use any course taken with the Pass/Fail grading toward those degree requirements.
A subplan/concentration will not be noted on the final degree certificate.
Fabrication
EE 5141 - 4 cr - Introduction to Microsystem Technology
EE 5163 - 3 cr - Semiconductor Properties & Devices I
EE 5164 - 3 cr - Semiconductor Properties & Devices II
EE 5171 - 3 cr - Microelectronic Fabrication
EE 5173 - 1 cr - Basic Microelectronics Laboratory
EE 5181 - 3 cr - Micro and Nanotechnology by Self Assembly
EE 5657 - 4 cr - Physical Principles of Thin Film Technology
VLSI Design
EE 4111 - 4 cr - Advanced Analog Electronics Design
EE 4301 - 4 cr - Digital Design With Programmable Logic (FPGA and Verilog)
EE 4341 - 4 cr - Embedded System Design
EE 4363 - 4 cr - Computer Architecture and Machine Organization
EE 5323 - 3 cr - VLSI Design I
EE 5324 - 3 cr - VLSI Design II
EE 5327 - 3 cr - VLSI Design Laboratory
EE 5329 - 3 cr - VLSI Digital Signal Processing Systems
EE 5333 - 3 cr - Analog Integrated Circuit Design
EE 5334 - 3 cr - CMOS VLSI Data Converter Design
EE 5364 - 3 cr - Advanced Computer Architecture
EE 5549 - 3 cr - Digital Signal Processing Structures for VLSI
EE 8310 - 3 cr - Advanced Topics in VLSI
EE 8331 - 3 cr - Advanced Analog Integrated Circuit Design
EE 8337 - 3 cr - Analog Circuits for Wired/Wireless Communications
VLSI CAD
EE 5301 - 3 cr - VLSI Design Automation I
EE 5302 - 3 cr - VLSI Design Automation II
EE 8310 - 1-3 cr - Advanced Topics in VLSI
EE 8320 - 1-3cr - Advanced Topics in Design Automation
EE 8350 - 3 cr - Advanced Verification Methodologies for VLSI Systems
EE 8351 - 3 cr - Design Automation Techniques for Variation-Aware Computing
Graduate credits taken before the award of the baccalaureate degree may be counted toward the certificate under limited circumstances. Graduate courses used to meet either credit or degree requirements for the baccalaureate degree may not also be counted toward a certificate.
Additional graduate course credits (as noted above) that can be included on the student’s certificate degree plan to meet minimum requirements for the certificate, is at the discretion of the certificate program and subject to college approval. These credits may include those earned from within or outside the University, from previous or concurrent graduate degrees, and/or those taken as a non-degree seeking or non-admitted student.
A student’s certificate degree plan for the certificate must include at least seven graduate course credits earned while enrolled as a degree-seeking student in that certificate program.
Graduate course credits taken while enrolled as a degree-seeking student in a certificate program may be applied to meet credit requirements of University master’s and doctoral degrees, at the discretion of the graduate program and subject to college approval.