Santa Clara University

Certificate Program & Requirements

Certificate programs are designed to provide intensive background in a narrow area at the graduate level. At roughly one-third of the units of a master's degree program, the certificate is designed to be completed in a much shorter period of time. These certificate programs are appropriate for students working in industry, who wish to update their skills or for those interested in changing their career path. More detail about certificates may be found from the department Web site or handbook.

Admission

To be accepted into a certificate program, the applicant must have a bachelor's degree and meet any additional requirements for the specific certificate. Exceptions based on work experience may be granted for the Certificate in Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering.

Grade Requirements

Students must receive a minimum grade of C in each course and an overall GPA of 3.0 or better to earn a certificate of completion.

Continuation for a Master's Degree

All Santa Clara University graduate courses applied to the completion of a certificate program earn graduate credit that may also be applied toward a graduate degree. Students who wish to continue for such a degree must submit a separate application and satisfy all normal admission requirements. The general GRE test requirement for graduate admission to the master's degree will be waived for students who complete a certificate program with a GPA of 3.5 or better.

Academic Requirements

ASIC Design and Test

This certificate program has a dual purpose: (a) to strengthen fundamental knowledge of the design process that helps the designer adapt to future innovations in technology; and (b) to introduce the designer to state-of-the-art tools and techniques. The program consists of the eight courses listed below. Any change in the requirements must be approved by the academic advisor.

Required Courses (16 units)

• ELEN 387 VLSI Design I (2)
• ELEN 388 VLSI Design II (2)
• ELEN 500 Logic Analysis and Synthesis (2)
• ELEN 603 Logic Design Using HDL (2)
• ELEN 605 High-Level Synthesis (2)
• ELEN 608 Design for Testability (2)
  
• ELEN 620 Design of System On a Chip (2)

Analog Circuit Design

This certificate provides a background in the basic devices and circuits that are fundamental to analog circuit design. The program will also introduce the student to state-of-the-art analog IC design tools. The program consists of the courses listed below totaling 16 units.

Required Courses (14 units)

• ELEN 252 Analog Integrated Circuits I (2)
• ELEN 253 Analog Integrated Circuits II (2)
• ELEN 254 Advanced Analog Integrated Circuit Design (4)
• ELEN 264 Semiconductor Device Theory I (2)
• ELEN 251 Transistor Models for IC Design (2)
• ELEN 387 VLSI Design I (2)

• ELEN 351 RF Integrated Circuit Design (2)
• ELEN 352 Mixed Signal IC Design for Data Communications (2)
• ELEN 265 Semiconductor Device Theory II (2)
• ELEN 266 Semiconductor Device Theory III (2)
• ELEN 384 Advanced MOSFET Physics and Modeling (2)
• ELEN 388 VLSI Design II (2)

Digital Signal Processing

This certificate program provides a firm grounding in fundamentals of digital signal processing (DSP) theory, technology and its applications. It is appropriate for engineers involved with any application of DSP who want a better working knowledge of DSP theory and its applications. A novel feature of the program is a hands-on DSP hard- ware/software development laboratory course in which students design and build systems for various applications using contemporary DSP hardware and development software. This certificate assumes a knowledge of probability.

Core Courses (8 units)

• ELEN 233 Digital Signal Processing I (2)
• ELEN 234 Digital Signal Processing II (2)
• ELEN 334 Introduction to Statistical Signal Processing (2)
• AMTH 308 Wavelet Theory (2) or
• AMTH 358 Fourier Transforms (2)

• ELEN 223 DSP System Development (2)
• ELEN 235 Estimation (2)
• ELEN 242 Digital Communication Systems I (2)
• ELEN 243 Digital Communication Systems II (2)
• ELEN 244 Information Theory (2)
• ELEN 335 Optimal Filtering (2)
• ELEN 431 Adaptive Signal Processing I (2)
• ELEN 432 Adaptive Signal Processing II (2)
• ELEN 640 Digital Image Processing I (2)
• ELEN 641 Image and Video Compression (2)
• ELEN 643 Digital Image Processing II (2)

Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering

This certificate has been designed for those who have a bachelors degree or masters degree in a field other than Electrical Engineering, and have significant work experience in some area of Electrical Engineering and wish to take graduate level courses, but may lack some prerequisite knowledge because they have not earned the BSEE degree. This one-year program consists of 16 to 28 units, depending on the background of the individual student, and covers electrical engineering core areas. Eight of these units may be credited towards an MSEE degree after successful completion of the certificate. Interested students should use the department Web page or the department handbook for further information.