Customer Reviews

Analog Design for CMOS VLSI Systems (The Springer International Series in Engineering and Computer Science)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I happened across this book at the local engineering library while looking for books to brush up on CMOS design. This was my favorite of several books I checked out. Professor Maloberti has taught a CMOS class in Italy for many years, and this is essentially the text of his course. The explanation in the book bears the marks of someone who has explained the topic many times and revised his explanation so that only the important parts remain and are presented in logical sequence. It is not an enclopedia of CMOS layout and circuits, like Baker's two books. It covers fewer topics but goes into more depth on each one.

The level is that of a first semester graduate course in CMOS, not for absolute beginners, but anyone with undergrad courses in electronics (like Sedra and Smith) ought to be able to follow Maloberti without a problem. The explanations are both quantitative and qualitative. He develops equations but also explains circuit behavior from an intuitive point of view. Even circuit topologies that are not obvious at first glance, like the folded cascode, become clear after Maloberti takes you through the predessor circuits.

He has quite a few examples conducted in Spice throughout the text. I find the examples are quite helpful both in gaining insight into how to similate CMOS circuits, and in getting calibrated on realistic circuit behavior. Although it is not a book on layout, he does give quite a few examples of representative layouts for different circuit elements and topologies.

The only reason I don't give it five stars is that English is obviously a second language for the author. Sometimes the English gets in the way of the exposition. However, if you stop and think for a minute, the context almost always makes clear what he is saying. Kluwer could have fixed this easily by having a native speaker edit the text. Perhaps they will in a future edition.

Overall, I highly recommend Maloberti as an introduction and reference text on CMOS. I think it is the one I will keep coming back to for reference in future design.

This might not be among the most comprehensive books out there dealing with analog design but, here the author includes something that many don't - he gives design tips. It is good once in a while being reminded about what is important. However, a big minus in this book is the language. I understand that the author is not a native English speaker but, Kluwer must have done something about it. It seems as though they just took the manuscript and printed it without reading/correcting it - which is a pity because their books are expensive, and in this case one wonders about where the quality is vis-à-vis the price. Well, for me, I frequently needed to read the text more than once to understand what the author is trying to convey. But this flaw is not related to the technical content of the book. The author's experience in the field is reflected in the technical details.

The book has some of the most commonly used analog circuits analyzed in detail. Very practical and good reference to have. Very easy to read.

Witulski's review is right on the money. The English is odd, but mostly it just makes reading it more fun. Exposition is clearer than a great many texts. At the level of Razavi "Design of Analog CMOS Integrated Circuits". Format is like a text book, with good figures and fonts, and text inserts to emphasize points: not the usual Kluwer kludge.