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MTE 421Introduction to Analog and Digital Transistor-Level Design

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Mechatronics Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 3 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: not on the schedule. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

An introduction to analog transistor-level circuits, including metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) single, differential, and multistage amplifiers, cascode configurations, current mirrors, active loads, and frequency limitations. An introduction to digital transistor-level design, including MOS static and dynamic behavior, complementary MOS (CMOS) inverters, combinational and sequential circuit design, arithmetic circuits, and clocking and timing considerations. Students complete a project using industry standard integrated circuit schematic and layout tools.

Prerequisites

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

No course lists it as a requisite.

Fall 2026 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 001519424 / 60TTh 13:30–14:50

Reviewed on UW Flow

56% liked it39% easy36% useful

From 9 ratings and 5 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • Content is straight out of the Microelectronic Circuits textbook (Sedra and Smith). Very easy course to do well in, but if you are coming into this course already having decent exposure to transistor basics and transistor-level design, it won't really be useful to you.

    Jan 2025 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Good content but mismanaged.

    Dec 2025 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Course content was interesting and covered a breadth of topics. Easy to get a good grade (95+) since lectures prepare you well for the exam questions and the projects were straightforward. Highly recommend taking this TE with Gaudet

    Dec 2024 · liked itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Took this course with Gaudet, and overall, it was a frustrating experience. The content was very basic and lacked the depth needed to prepare for projects. While Gaudet has probably the best handwriting of any professor at the university and is always punctual, his teaching approach feels apathetic—he just does what he’s paid to do: he shows up, delivers the lecture, and leaves when the time is up. There’s no effort to answer questions on Piazza or provide additional resources. The projects and exams were not only marked very harshly, but they were marked inconsistently, with the amount of points deducted varying randomly from person to person. Would rather take ECE444 with Levine instead.

    Dec 2024 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

  • The course seemed very sloppily put together. The course outline changed between when the course was selected and when the course was started. To me this is pretty unacceptable, if Waterloo is going to offer a course they should offer it, not tease us and then switch it up once classes have already started.The original course description said: "detailed study of operational amplifier", "stability and compensation for multistage and operational amplifiers", "A/D, D/A converters, PLLs" all of this was not covered.
    There was practically no real world applications discussed. The analog section was just here's a cascode here's a common-gate, well that's all folks
    For the midterm, the professor…

    Dec 2023 · didn’t like itOn UW FlowRemove this

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

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