What's New @ IEEE in Circuits

VOLUME 3 NUMBER 4 APRIL 2002

CONTENTS:
1. JEDEC Discloses DRAM Roadmap, but 400-MHz DDR May Not Make the Cut
2. IEEE Board Approves Member Digital Library for 2003
3. RF-CMOS in Cell Phones: Fact or Fiction?
4. IEEE Standards Association to Exhibit at ISCAS-2002
5. The Microprocessor Business: An IEEE Spectrum Special Report
6. Silicon Remains the Speediest
7. IEEE Announces Newest Society and Council
8. Cutting-Edge Topics Covered at 44th Midwest Symposium
9. IEEE Fellow Receives First Gordon Prize
10. ISLPED Seeks Low Power Designs for International Contest
11. CMOS Technology Makes Portable Devices Possible
12. Learning Outside of the Box
13. Crosstalk Complicates IP Reuse
14. New Volume Covers Signal Integrity in Custom Chip Design

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1. JEDEC DISCLOSES DRAM ROADMAP, BUT 400-MHZ DDR MAY NOT MAKE THE CUT
Following a March announcement that the Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JADEC) "may or may not" ratify a new standard for 400MHz double-data-rate (DDR) SDRAMs, manufacturers are continuing to utilize the 200 and 266MHz versions of the DDR standard for PC "mainstream memory." Several manufacturers have been working on their first engineering samples of DRAMs based on the draft version of the long-awaited DDR-400 standards. www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20020325S0044

2. IEEE BOARD APPROVES MEMBER DIGITAL LIBRARY FOR 2003
The IEEE Board of Directors voted to approve a new member benefit offering for 2003: The IEEE Member Digital Library. Subscribers to the IEEE Member Digital Library will pay a monthly fee to download a pre-set number of papers from IEEE magazines, journals and conference proceedings. IEEE members have said that the number one reason they join is for access to current technical data. The new IEEE Member Digital Library will be available in early 2003.

3. RF-CMOS IN CELL PHONES: FACT OR FICTION?
RF-CMOS development has made long strides towards implementation in cordless devices, WLAN and Bluetooth products, but has suffered in competition with SiGe BiCMOS technology in cellular handset systems. Organizers Natalino Camilleri and Fazal Ali have assembled a panel for the Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) Symposium scheduled for 2 to 4 June in Seattle, WA, USA, that will endeavor to explain why. RFIC is an international conference dedicated to the advancement of integrated radio frequency circuits and subsystems for RF and communication applications. www.rfic2002.org/

Don't miss the next conference you need for your career. IEEE sponsors more than 300 technical conferences and workshops each year, highlighting the latest technological advances. Find events through the IEEE ConferenceSearch Web site at www.ieee.org/conferencesearch/

4. IEEE STANDARDS ASSOCIATION TO EXHIBIT AT ISCAS-2002
IEEE Standards Association (IEEE-SA) will feature its advanced products and services from 25 to 29 May at the IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems (ISCAS) in Scottsdale, AZ, USA. The Symposium will include regular technical sessions, plenary sessions, tutorials, and special sessions. For more information, visit www.iscas2002.com/ Or visit the IEEE Standards Association: standards.ieee.org/

5. THE MICROPROCESSOR BUSINESS: AN IEEE SPECTRUM SPECIAL REPORT
Moore's Law states that the number of transistors per integrated circuit will double every 18 months, but will that paradigm still stand in the near future? A new report in IEEE Spectrum magazine takes a look at the microprocessor business, and foresees a shift in the industry. The article finds that a reliance on developing new microprocessors on the Moore's Law schedule may actually leave companies behind in the marketplace. Middle- and lower-range microprocessors will be the most lucrative growth area, according to the authors, and customization and speed-to-market will drive the industry. Read more: www.spectrum.ieee.org/WEBONLY/publicfeature/apr02/mlaw.html

6. SILICON REMAINS THE SPEEDIEST
Despite development of higher and higher technology materials and circuit development, the world's fastest IC does not use high-speed semiconductors, but what might be considered old fashioned silicon-germanium technology. The latest IBM SiGe ring oscillator design operates at more than 110 GHz processing an signal in 4.3 trillionths of a second proving that silicon-based are as competitive as ever. www.siliconstrategies.com/story/OEG20020301S0105

7. IEEE ANNOUNCES NEWEST SOCIETY AND COUNCIL
The IEEE Board of Directors has established the IEEE Neural Networks Society and the IEEE Nanotechnology Council. They replace the IEEE Neural Networks Council and the IEEE Nanotechnology Committee, respectively. This brings the total number to 37 IEEE societies and four technical councils. An IEEE Society is made up of individual IEEE members and affiliates interested in a specific area of technology. An IEEE Technical Council is made up of individual IEEE Societies. Eighteen different societies co-sponsor the IEEE Nanotechnology council. For more information on IEEE societies, please visit www.ieee.org/organizations/tab/society.html.

To join an IEEE Society, visit www.ieee.org/addnewservices/

8. CUTTING-EDGE TOPICS COVERED AT 44TH MIDWEST SYMPOSIUM
The 2001 edition of the Midwest Symposium on Circuits and Systems, held in Dayton, OH, USA, focused on aspects of theory, design and application of analog, digital, and microwave circuits and systems. Designed for researchers, practitioners, and students interested in circuits and systems and their impact, the conference included six short courses, two plenary speakers, several invited sessions and a student paper contest. Topics ranged from digital signal processing and image processing and coding to formal verification microsystems and neural networks. Find the proceedings of this symposium at shop.ieee.org/store/product.asp?prodno=CH37257
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9. IEEE FELLOW RECEIVES FIRST GORDON PRIZE
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) presented two of engineering's top prizes at an awards ceremony in Washington, DC, during National Engineers Week. Dr. Eli Fromm, an IEEE Fellow and former IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow, received the first Bernard M. Gordon Prize, given for inventiveness in engineering and technology education. As a 1980 IEEE-USA Congressional Fellow, Fromm served the U.S. Congress on an assignment to the House Science Committee. IEEE-USA President LeEarl Bryant and 2000 IEEE President Bruce Eisenstein attended the NAE awards ceremony. For more information on Fromm and the NAE awards, visit: www.nae.edu/nae/naehome.nsf/weblinks/LRAO-57HK3U?OpenDocument

10. ISLPED SEEKS LOW POWER DESIGNS FOR INTERNATIONAL CONTEST
The International Symposium on Low Power Electronics and Design (ISLPED) is holding its second International Low Power Design Contest to provide a forum for universities and research organizations to showcase original "power-aware" designs. The best designs will be invited for presentation at ISLPED 2002, in Monterey, CA, USA, 12 to 14 August and receive an industry-sponsored cash award of US$2,500. The deadline for submission is 24 May. www.ee.ucla.edu/~islped/contest

11. CMOS TECHNOLOGY MAKES PORTABLE DEVICES POSSIBLE
Complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integrated circuitry is the technology that makes many of today's ubiquitous portable electronic devices possible. Designing and understanding these circuits has become of primary importance to so many engineers in the field. Written for engineers and students, "Analysis and Design of Analog Integrated Circuits" by Paul R. Gray, Stephen H. Lewis, Robert G. Meyer and Paul J. Hurst focuses on the analysis, design, and application of integrated circuits (ICs) offering a unified coverage of bipolar and MOS IC techniques. Buy this title through IEEE Fatbrain (now IEEE Barnes & Noble.com), an IEEE members-only site offering discounts on the most popular technology titles from the leading publishers in the field. www.ieee.org/ieeefatbrain (IEEE Web Account required)

12. LEARNING OUTSIDE OF THE BOX
Whether you're just starting your technical career or are well into it, education plays a key role in professional success. How do engineering professionals progress from being merely students to being self-directed independent learners? Vern Johnson has some ideas, in the March-April edition of IEEE-USA Today’s Engineer: www.todaysengineer.org/careerfocus/mar02/learning.html

13. CROSSTALK COMPLICATES IP REUSE
Dealing with interconnect crosstalk is one of the biggest challenges currently facing engineers in the design of systems-on-chip (SoC) which has led to the current critical trend in designs increasing in size and power consumption drawing on a limited power supply. The increasing current in these designs magnifies the power grid IR drop and ground bounce on chips resulting in insufficient power or timing failures that result in gate delays increasing beyond the path timing requirements. Raminderpal Singh of Virtual Socket Interface Alliance and IBM addresses this issue in EE Times: www.eedesign.com/techical_insights/OEG20020322S0062

14. NEW VOLUME COVERS SIGNAL INTEGRITY IN CUSTOM CHIP DESIGN
Over the course of the past several decades, semiconductor chip design has evolved to a point where technology scaling allows exceedingly fast integrated ICs with more signal integrity effects. "Signal Integrity in Custom IC and ASIC Designs" by Raminderpal Singh is a broad reference on these topics aimed at both expert and beginning engineers. shop.ieee.org/store/product.asp?prodno=PC5889
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***WHAT'S NEW SPECIAL - 15% OFF SELECT IEEE PRODUCTS LISTED IN THIS ISSUE!***
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What's New @ IEEE in Circuits is a monthly, opt-in email update designed to provide you with the latest news regarding IEEE activities, industry trends, career development tips, and new IEEE product releases. We welcome your feedback on this service.

Managing Editor: John Platt j.platt@ieee.org
Editor: Lyle Smith, ieeefeedback@ieee.org

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