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Level 2 · M.Sc

MSc Theory & Applied Hardware

Hardware · Live · v0

Theory and applied hardware — digital logic, computer organisation, memory hierarchies, and the hardware/software interface.

Path type

Hardware

Requirements

Open entry

Enrollment

€9.95

Deadline

Next cohort starts 2027-09-06 (AY 2027/28)

Length

~1 year · 42 phases

Language

English · Español

Content freshness

Curriculum updated 2026-08-22 · content rev 25fe8719

Cortex Credits (CC)

126 CC
What are Cortex Credits?

Syllabus

View the phase syllabus

0. Foundations & tooling
1. The HDL & Methodology
2. Semiconductors & the diode
3. The MOSFET as a switch
4. CMOS logic
5. Boolean algebra & truth tables
6. Universal gates: everything from NAND
7. Multiplexers, decoders & encoders
8. Adders & subtraction
9. The ALU & Karnaugh-map minimization
10. Latches & the bistable element
11. Flip-flops & clocks
12. Registers, shift registers & counters
13. Finite-state machines & timing
14. SRAM & DRAM cells
15. Register files & the memory array (build one)
16. The memory hierarchy & locality (the conceptual capstone)
17. ISA design: the toy instruction set
18. Number representation revisited (explain it)
19. The datapath (build the body)
20. The control unit (the nervous system)
21. The single-cycle CPU (build it)
22. The instruction cycle end-to-end
23. Multi-cycle & the case for pipelining
24. Machine code & the toy ISA encoding
25. Writing an assembler
26. A first program on the CPU
27. Memory-mapped I/O & a simple peripheral
28. Pipelining in depth & hazards
29. Branch prediction & speculation
30. Caches
31. SIMD & data parallelism
32. Multicore, the roofline model & arithmetic intensity
33. Buses & interconnect
34. Interrupts & DMA
35. GPUs & accelerators
36. FPGAs & reconfigurable logic (optional synthesis path)
37. Power, clocking & thermal
38. Verification: testbenches, formal-lite checks & sign-off
39. Capstone
40. Hardening, postmortem & "What's Next"
41. Portal integration

Syllabus →

Enrolment prerequisites

• A verified account and admissions-committee approval.