CICC Gives Chip Designers a Jump Start

In today's fast-moving world, maintaining leading-edge technical skills is more important than ever. Now is the time to invest in your technical future and stay competitive. Attending the 2002 IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference will provide educational and networking opportunities crucial to design engineers in the current economic environment.

The 24th IEEE Custom Integrated Circuits Conference (CICC) will be held 12–15 May 2002 in Orlando, Florida. CICC is dedicated to IC development, showcasing original first-published technical work and innovative circuit techniques tackling practical problems. Long known as a premier conference for information on leading-edge analog and digital circuits, CICC has evolved with the industry to cover a broad spectrum of technical topics. CICC offers attendees a total educational experience including paper presentations, exhibits, panels, tutorials, and interesting networking events.

This year the program consists of three in-depth educational sessions, twenty-one advanced technical sessions, and three panel discussions, enhanced by a technical/commercial exhibit, exhibitor preview sessions, and networking opportunities.

Educational Sessions — Sunday, 12 May

The conference starts with three full-day educational sessions on Sunday, 12 May. These sessions are taught by practicing experts who work at the leading edge of their field. The topics for these sessions are:

Educational Session 1: Advanced RF: From Devices to Systems

RF Performance and Modeling of CMOS Devices—Dirk Klaassen, Philips Research Labs
RFIC Receiver Circuits—John Long, Delft University of Technology
Key Issues in Transmitter Blocks—Earl McCune, Tropian Inc.
From RF System to Silicon—Asad Abidi, University of California

Educational Session 2: Advanced Data Converter Design and Test Techniques

Introduction to Delta-Sigma Data Converters—Bob Adams, Analog Devices
Multi-Bit Mismatch-Shaping DACs for High-Performance Delta-Sigma Data Conversion—Ian Galton, University of California, San Diego
Practical Aspects of Nyquist-Rate Switched-Capacitor ADCs—David Nairn, Analog Devices
State of the Art Lab Characterization Methods for High-Speed ADCs and DACs—Steve Reine, Analog Devices

Educational Session 3: High-Performance and Low-Voltage Design Challenges and Techniques

Low-Power Circuits and Xscale—Larry Clark, Intel Corporation
Leakage Control and Leakage-Tolerant Circuits—Kaushik Roy, Purdue University
SOI Design Challenges—Andrew Marshall, Texas Instruments
Low-Power Memory Design—Betty Prince, Memory Strategies International Inc.

Technical Program—Monday, 13 May–Thursday, 16 May

Keynote speaker Christine King, CEO of AMI Semiconductor, opens the technical program with "Smart Management of ASIC Requirements and Technology (SMART)," a candid description of the semiconductor industry's battle to balance cost, performance, power, productivity, and time to market.

Technical sessions following the keynote showcase exceptional, in-depth technical papers describing the latest advancements in IC technology and design methods. As always, the technical sessions are highlighted by invited and tutorial papers presented by leading experts from industry and academia. This year there are many excellent papers, especially in the areas related to the communication revolution:

Reconfigurable Hot SOCs
Multi-Gigabit Systems and
Circuits
Modeling and Optimization
Techniques
Copper-Wired Communications
Innovations in Programmable
Logic: Architectures and
Applications
Design Approaches for
Testability and Reliability
Advances in Embedded Memory
Low-Power Circuits and I/O
Application-Specific Signal
Processing
Oversampled Data Converters
Modeling for RF Design
Receiver Architectures
Sensors and Imaging
Enhancement Techniques for
Integrated Passives
SOC Design Methodologies
Analog Techniques
DSP for Communications
Wireless Networking
Nyquist Converters and
Techniques
Directions in Process Tech-
nology and Integration
Modeling for Signal Integrity

There also is a special in-session educational tutorial presented during Session 10 entitled "Delta-sigma converters for wireless transceivers" taught by Dr. Ian Galton of the University of California.

Panel Discussions—Tuesday, 14 May

Three spirited panel discussions feature experts sure to offer strong opinions on the following topics:

Design Challenges in Wireless LANs

Experts summarize the current state and next generation of the WLAN standards and debate whether 802.11 and Bluetooth are complementary or competitive technologies. Engineers designing these systems discuss issues involved in designing custom ICs for low-cost wireless LAN applications.

Will the Next Great Killer Technology Application Please Stand Up!

Who will lead the charge in the new millennium? Will it be the industry leaders with their R&D or will it be a few of the masses of high-tech startups that will rise to the top? Is the economy affecting innovation? The panelists share their views of where technology is taking us and what engineers will be working on in the future. This certainly will not be a single-minded perspective!

Can Scaling Continue at the Same Rate Below 0.10 µm? What Is the End of CMOSÉand What Is Next?

Where does it end—or does it? Experts share their vision of the future process technology roadmap. Their opinions, based on their experiences, will help all involved in IC development to better prepare for the next technology advances.

Exhibits—13–14 May

Monday afternoon the exhibitor preview sessions kick off the opening of the Exhibits Hall. Here, many exhibitors present overviews of new products and services. As always, exhibits include displays and demonstrations by semiconductor manufacturers, software tool suppliers, design service houses, and leading electronics industry publications providing the latest technical information on new integrated circuit design products. The Exhibit Hall is also the site for Monday's Exhibitors' Reception and Tuesday evening's Happy Hour, opportunities for attendees to network with their colleagues and the exhibitors.

Luncheon Presentation—Wednesday, 15 May

The luncheon guest speaker is Eugene Trinh, director of the Physical Sciences Research Division in the Biological and Physical Research Enterprise at NASA. Dr. Trinh was a member of the Space Shuttle Columbia's crew in 1992. In his talk "Accomplishments and promises of research in low gravity," Dr. Trinh shares the results from his orbit research and gives the audience insight into future program directions. This promises to be a fascinating and educational experience.

Caribe Resort Suites, Orlando, Florida

The conference takes place at the Caribe Royale Resort Suites, Orlando, Florida. The Caribe Royale is an "all suites" hotel. Every room has a bedroom and a living/dining room. Parking at the hotel is free. The hotel features five restaurants, offers a complimentary full American breakfast buffet daily, and has an outdoor swimming pool with a water slide and a hot tub.

Orlando is "world famous" for its theme parks and family entertainment. The Caribe Royale is only 1.5 miles from the Walt Disney World Parks¨ and is close to Seaworld, Universal Studios, and MGM Studios.

Additional Information

Registration forms can be downloaded from the web at http://www.ieee-cicc.org. For additional information and general inquiries about the CICC, please contact the Conference Manager, Melissa Widerkehr, CICC: Tel: 301-527-0900, ext. 207 or email: cicc@his.com.