"Fundamentals of Digital Logic with VHDL Design" teaches the basic design techniques for logic circuits. It emphasizes the synthesis of circuits and explains how circuits are implemented in real chips. Fundamental concepts are illustrated by using small examples, which are easy to understand. Then, a modular approach is used to show how larger circuits are designed. VHDL is used to demonstrate how the basic building blocks and larger systems are defined in a hardware description language, producing designs that can be implemented with modern CAD tools. This book emphasizes CAD through the use of Altera's Quartus II CAD software, a state-of-the-art digital circuit design package. This software produces automatic mapping of designs written in VHDL into Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) and Complex Programmable Logic Devices (CPLDs).
Stephen Brown received the Ph.D and M.A.Sc degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Toronto, and his B.A.Sc degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of New Brunswick. He joined the University of Toronto faculty in 1992, where he now holds the rank of Professor in the Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering. He also holds the position of Architect at the Altera Toronto Technology Center, a world-leading research and development site for CAD software and FPGA architectures, where he is involved in research activities and is the Director of the Altera University Program.
His research interests include field-programmable VLSI technology, CAD algorithms, and computer architecture. He won the Canadian Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Councils 1992 Doctoral Prize for the best Ph.D. thesis in Canada.
He has won multiple awards for excellence in teaching electrical engineering, computer engineering, and computer science courses. He is a coauthor of more than 60 scientific research papers and three textbooks: Fundamentals of Digital Logic with Verilog Design , Fundamentals of Digital Logic with VHDL Design , and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays .