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July
2008 Issue
The Electronic Watch and Low-Power Circuits
Renowned as an expert in low-power CMOS circuit design and for groundbreaking work with miniature electronic devices, Dr. Eric A. Vittoz relates his life, work and times in this original retrospective for the SSCS News. According to Yannis Tsividis, also in this issue, Dr. Vittoz's influence continues to grow, as low voltage and low power become increasingly important in the engineering of mobile devices. Dr. Vittoz is a Research Fellow at the Swiss Center for Electronics and Microtechnology in Neuchatel, Switzerland, an IEEE Fellow, and a professor at EPFL, the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. He has published more than 130 papers and holds 26 patents.
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A Short Story of the EKV MOS Transistor Model
The EKV MOS transistor model and design methodology evolved from the first weak inversion transistor models of the 1970's. In this first-hand account, Christian Enz chronicles the evolution of the hierarchical structure, limited parameters and flexibility of the EKV model that he developed with colleagues such as Francois Krummenacher and Eric Vittoz (the "E" "K" and "V" of EKV) at the Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH) in Neuchatel. With the aggressive downscaling of CMOS technologies today, the EKV compact model is shifting increasingly from the traditional strong inversion region toward moderate and weak inversion regions.
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Watch Microelectronics: Pioneer in Portable Consumer Electronics
In this article, Mougahed Darwish, Marc Degrauwe, Thomas E. Gyger, Gunther Meusburger and Jean Claude Robert -- a group of Swiss engineers at ETA and EM Microelectronic, the semiconductor manufacturer of the Swatch Group -- describe the consraints of the watch-making industry that have shaped watch microelectronics, and relate how the pioneering skills and solutions of quartz watch-making have diffused into other portable consumer electronics applications.
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It's About Time: A Brief Chronology of Chronometry
The evolution of clock making, recounted in this article by Thomas H. Lee, advanced dramatically after low-power, quartz-controlled watches were first developed by Eric Vittoz and others at the Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH) over forty years ago. Due in great part to their work, even the least expensive wristwatches today are so precise that the need for better stability no longer drives their evolution. Instead, the ability to integrate more functions per unit volume explains why many watches are becoming multipurpose information appliances including PDAs, infrared remote controls, pagers, radios, TVs, walkie-talkies and MP3 players. In the future, low-power will become increasingly important as engineers struggle to address the constrained power budgets of the wristwatch form factor.
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History of the Development of Swiss Watch Microprocessors
While the microprocessors used today in most personal computers, PDA's and self-phones are very well known, the evolution of watch microprocessors is a completely unknown and a very "Swiss" or "Neuchatel" story. Christian Piguet, a designer of low-power low-voltage integrated circuits in CMOS technology and the author of more than a dozen patents on digital design, microprocessors and watch systems, provides a first hand view of this chronology.
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Eric Vittoz and the Strong Impact of Weak Inversion Circuits
In a groundbreaking and now classic 1977 paper, Eric Vittoz and J. Fellrath meticulously characterized and developed models for devices operating in the weak inversion region, as well as a variety of circuit building blocks that could operate and exploit the exponential characteristics in this region. Their killer application -- the electronic watch -- employed techniques that are now used in a score of low-voltage, micropower applications, such as biomedical devices, hearing aids, pagers, sensor interfaces, motion detectors for pointing devices, and a variety of portable instruments.
This tribute to Vittoz as an educator and industrial researcher is by Yannis Tsividis of Columbia University, an esteemed scientist and educator in his own right.
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Executive Summary: Advances in Ultra-Low-Voltage Design
The idea of exploiting weak-inversion operation for low power circuits was pioneered by Dr. Eric Vittoz in the 1960's, and has led to many recent advances in sub-threshold circuit design. Today, sub-threshold operation provides a compelling solution for a number of emerging energy-constrained systems implemented in scaled CMOS technologies. This article by Joyce Kwong and Anantha Chandrakasan, to be printed in full in the SSCS Fall News, outlines some recent advances and challenges associated with sub-threshold circuit design, including the design of new logic and memory circuits, support circuitry, and the use of redundancy.
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Executive Summary: Gigasensors for an Attoscope
The introduction of silicon chips in particle physics experiments went by steps. In this summary of an article to be printed in full in the Fall News, Erik Heijne of CERN, the elementary particle accelerator laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, traces some of the history of silicon detectors and readout chips for tracking detectors that form the inner shells of the equipment.
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Complementary-Mos Low-Power Low-Voltage Integrated Binary Counter
In May 1962, Dr. Eric Vittoz was the first electrical engineer hired by Centre Electronique Horloger (CEH), the research laboratory founded in Neuchatel, Switzerland by several organizations representing most of the Swiss watch industry. This paper represents Dr. Vittoz's early work there on an integrated complementary MOS-transistor binary counter stage realized in monolithic form, which allowed p-channel and n-channel MOSTs to be grouped together within two distinct surface areas, resulting in a reduction of the surface necessary for given circuit functions. The integrated frequency divider was used in the first prototypes of electronic watches.
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Summer Course on Switched Capacitor Circuits, June 9-12, 1981
Exemplifying the contributions of Dr. Eric Vittoz to low-voltage, low-power CMOS logic, this paper examines the CMOS implementation of the three basic components of SC circuits in the context of low power and low voltage, and explores the trade-off between lower power, settling time, and noise considerations. This paper will be reprinted in full in the Fall 2008 SSCS News.
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Frequency Divider Circuit - US Patent 3,619,646
Granted in 1971, Eric Vittoz's patent for the first binary frequency divider was used in the first prototypes of the electronic watch.
His frequency divider circuit included at least one logical structure complying with certain Boole Relations including two complementary input quantities and two output quantities. The logical structure comprised three pairs of field effect transistors, such as MOS-transistors having isolated gates. A cascade of such binary frequency divider circuits could be made as an integrated circuit. The SSCS News includes pages 1-2 of this patent.
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Timekeeper - US Patent 3,895,486
Patented in 1975, Eric Vittoz's "Timekeeper" was comprised of a quartz crystal resonator with a stable frequency and a relatively large tolerance, and a frequency divider with an adjustable division ratio. This divider had auxiliary electrical inputs whose logical state determined the division ratio, and an electrically alterable electronic memory that supplyied stored data to determine the logical state of the auxiliary inputs and the division ratio. The SSCS News provides pages 1-2 of this patent.
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Introduction
According to Dr. Erik H. M. Heijne, who originated the concept of the Summer '08 issue, the reciprocity between microelectronics and consumer products and habits is perfectly illustrated by the summer 2008 issue of the SSCS News in first-hand accounts that reveal how the use of microelectronics circuits in wristwatches has forced them to improve power usage and tools for device and circuit simulation. This collection demonstrates the dynamic of IEEE as an international community of engineers with high profile and great potential, and will assuredly lead to new ideas and stimulate many in our community.
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Editor's Column
In Summer 2008, we feature the work and impact of Dr. Eric Vittoz, including an exclusive lead article by him entitled "Electronic Watch and Low Power Circuits." I am grateful to Dr. Erik Heijne for suggesting Dr. Vittoz as a potential subject and feature author, and for recommendating experts to attest to the impact of Dr. Vittoz's career on the development and commercialization of electronic Swiss watches. As a result, we are honored to offer original papers by Christian Enz, Thomas E. Gyger, et al., Tom Lee, Christian Piguet, and Yannis Tsividis. Two more papers by Eric Heijne and Joyce Kwong and Anantha Chandrakasan will appear in full in our Fall issue.
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President's Message
SSCS members ask me, is hardware disappearing? Has it gone virtual, or has it been globalized out? The Journal of Solid-State Circuits is hardware. However, the thick pack of paper we are used to receiving every month is disappearing, virtualized together, perhaps, with our desk. Nowadays the circuit "paper" comes in layers, organized per screen. The layers go up and down -- up for the applications, down for the circuit details -- with one delta of understanding added per screen. Thus, design has gone virtual. Or is it the hardware (chip) that has gone virtual? Has the design of this hardware gone soft? A conference, on the other hand, is like the premiere of a painting exhibit. We receive a catalogue beforehand. Then we then get together with a few colleagues or friends to make a short tour. We exchange our impressions and at the reception at the end we have a drink (free for SSCS members).
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Symbiosis in the Technology World
The trick in any symbiotic arrangement is to bind it with deliverables that can and act as a convenient brake if the project starts to go off the rails and enable you to track and measure output to justify your resource expenditure and facilitate staged payment deals. A workable relationship depends upon the parties involved and the nature of the programme. In some cases, its value may lie in the unbounded, free thinking that academics can bring to the dynamics. In other cases, closely confined, structured research may be more applicable to realize the aspirations of the commercial partners. Either way, whatever is decided needs to be agreed upfront and be manageable. Intellectual property issues, such as sole right to use versus open access, single versus multiple use licences, royalty based agreements based upon volume sales, one-off costs and inferred rights transfer, indemnification and post sales support, can run aground for a variety of reasons. My advice is simple -- be realistic.
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Corrections
On page 5 of the SSCS News Vol. 13, No.2, the author of "Charles Babbage and the Quest to Build the First Computer," should be Swade, not "Swore."
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Clark Nguyen Presents DL Talk on RF-MEMS in Japan
SSCS Distinguished Lecturer Clark T.-C. Nguyen presented a talk entitled "Integrated Micromechanical Circuits for RF Front-Ends" to a crowd of 150 at Nihon Dempa Kogyo (NDK) in Sayama-city, Saitama, Japan on 24 April, 2008. The one and one-half hour lecture and discussion was part of NDK's annual engineer educational program. Dr. Nguyen gave a shorter version of this talk at the 2008 IEEE VLSI-TSA plenary session in Taiwan and presented another DL talk on behalf of the Society at National Semiconductor in Santa Clara, CA on 8 May.
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Congratulations New Senior Members
35 Elevated in February, March and April
C. Albina, J. T. Barrett, J. Barth, R. Betts, S. Borkar, T. Bourdi, A. Carusone, M. Check, P. Chow, J. Covington, P. Gillingham, R. Ho,
N. Jain, S. Jung, K. Leung, K. Lokere, A. Shirvani-Mahdavi, Y. Manoli, S. Masud, Y. Miyamoto, W. Namgoong, J. Poulsen, H. Pretl, C. Samori, T. Sato, U. Schaper, D. Seo, W. Serdijn, S.Siskos, T. Sugawara, R. Thewes, S. Wedge, A. Zadeh, M. Zargari, H. Zirath.
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Tools: Tips for Making Writing Easier
Part 2: Narrow Your Questions, Shape Your Answers
In "The Five-Minute Miracle" -- a quick and easy way to approach a short piece of writing (reprinted in the Spring '08 SSCS News) -- you set up an imaginary conversation with your reader, beginning with your main message and continuing with answers that anticipate his or her probable questions about that message. Using the "Key Point & Backup" method, you give each answer first and then make that answer credible by bolstering it with an example, illustration, or explanation.
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ISSCC Student Forum
Thirty graduate students from around the world met in February 2008 preceding the ISSCC to exchange brief presentations about their work in progress. According to Patrick Mercier, a graduate student from MIT, "the short five minute presentations encouraged students to succinctly present only their key ideas and contributions - a skill that is becoming increasingly important today's busy world." A Call for Participation in the 2009 Student Forum will be available in November at www.isscc.org.
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2007 VLSI-TSA/DAT Best Paper Awards in Hsinchu, April, 2008
In opening ceremonies on 21 and 23 April, 2008, the 2008 International Symposia on VLSI Technology, Systems and Applications (VLSI-TSA) and VLSI Design, Automation and Test (VLSI-DAT) presented a Best Student Paper Award for 2007 to Donovan Lee, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, and a Best Presentation Award for 2007 to Prof. Tsung-Hsien Lin of National Taiwan University. SSCS is a cosponsor of both meetings.
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Now It's Japan's Turn to Host A-SSCC
4th Asian Solid-State Circuits Conference, November 3-5, 2008, Fukuoka, Japan
The fourth A-SSCC will be held on 3-5 November in Fukuoka, Japan. Its unique Industry Program will examine the IC industry dynamics that have resulted in a blossoming semiconductor business in Asia by spotlighting state-of-the-art technological achievements, emerging product chips, and the speed at which research results are turned to actual products. A-SSCC is fully sponsored by the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society.
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Hot Chips Celebrates 20th Anniversary
The 20th annual Hot Chips conference at Stanford University's Memorial Auditorium on August 24-26, 2008 will offer a tutorial on the challenges of solving the "memory wall" and a plenary address by Standford's Sebastian Thrun on "Cars that Drive Themselves." A second keynote by Dr. Richard Swanson will relate the history and technology of SunPower, a leading solar energy company.
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CICC Celebrates 30th Year
More than 400 Expected on 21-24 September in San Jose
More than 400 engineers are expected to attend the 30th CICC in San Diego, CA on 21-24 September. The conference, which is fully sponsored by SSCS, will consider the latest trends and circuit techniques for analog and digital ICs, major university and industrial research on ADCs, PLLs, RF-circuits, high-speed transceivers, and 3D integration, and how circuit designers are solving major issues today on power, variation, noise, jitter, GHz performance, system-on-chip integration, and limits to CMOS scaling.
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Sister Conferences ESSCIRC/ESSDERC Meet on 15-19 September
2008 European Forum for Solid-State Circuits is in Edinburgh, Scotland
This year's ESSCIRC/ESSDERC conferences on 15-19 September at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC) will share six keynote presentations and technical sessions on topics bridging both communities while keeping separate Technical Programs. In adddition to six workshops, ESSCIRC tutorials will cover CMOS at the "bleeding edge," nanoelectronics, and integrating CMOS with other technologies.
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2008 BCTM to Meet in Monterey in October
Everyone interested in cutting-edge processes, devices, and circuits used in state-of-the-art telecommunications and power control systems will not want to miss BCTM on October 13-15 in Monterey, CA. Focusing especially on HBT BiCMOS, BCTM will include a one-day short course, two full days of invited and contributed papers and a keynote address by Dr. Gil Amelio, CEO of Jazz Semiconductor, entitled, "Technology Cnvergency Creating new Opportunities for Innovation."
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2008 CSICS to Collocate with BCTM in October
The 2008 CSIC Symposium, collocated with BCTM on 12-15 October in Monterey, CA will offer its annual Primer Course on Basics of Compound Semiconductor ICs, a three-day technical program with approximately 60 papers and four panels, two short courses on phased arrays and RF, and a vendor exhibition.
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SSCS-Green Mountain Organizes North Atlantic Test Workshop
IEEE NATW Special Session on Solid-State Circuits & System Test Held on 14-16 May, 2008
Sponsored by the SSCS-Green Mountain chapter on May 14-16, 2008, the 17th annual North Atlantic Test Workshop (NATV) included a special session on solid-state circuits and system test focused on advances in built-in self-test for 65nm and 45nm nodes, adaptive test, and on-product reliability testing. Featured presenters were IBM's Mike Ouellette, Matt Grady and Kevin Stawiasz.
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Oregon State University SB Chapter Inaugurated in March
Prof. Tom Lee Presents a History of Radio
As its inaugural activity, the Oregon State University (OSU) SSCS Student Branch Chapter hosted a presentation by SSCS distinguished lecturer Tom H. Lee on the history of radio. The OSU SSCS student chapter was founded in 2007 to help students interact and communicate with experts and to promote membership in SSCS by demonstrating what we do and what we intend to do through the Engineering Expo at OSU and other local activities.
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Sansen and Matsuzawa Visit National Taiwan University
Meeting and Seminars in April Organized by SSCS-Taipei Chapter
SSCS President Willy Sansen and AdCom member Akira Matsuzawa met with National Taiwan University President Prof. Si-Chen on 24 April, 2008. In a lecture there, Sansen termed the continuing advancement of microelectronics technologies "More Moore," and labeled the emerging trend toward integrated sensor and MEMS applications "More Than Moore." Prof. Matsuzawa spoke on the history and future of high-speed ADC's.
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Eight Candidates Vie for Five AdCom Positions
The SSCS Administrative Committee will hold elections next fall. Tohru Furuyama, Bruce Gieseke, and Ken O are new candidates. Ali Hajimiri, Paul Hurst, and Ian Young are incumbents. C.-K. Wang, and Domine Leenaerts currently serve as appointed members of the AdCom and are running for election. A petition process is available for adding candidates.
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Call for Nominations for Sensors Awards!
Deadline for three awards is August 15
SSCS is a founding member of the Sensors Council, which recognizes individuals who are recommended by its Societies. Please take the initiative to nominate candidiates for the Council's Technical Achievement Award, Meritorious Service Award, and Journal Best Paper Award by 15 August, 2008.
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CEDA Currents
Since its founding in 2005, the Council on Electronic Design Automation has sponsored an impressive list of publications, conferences, workshops, and new activities focused on advancing the EDA profession. Today, CEDA is a financially sound, permanent council of the IEEE thanks to Al Dunlop, its creator and first president, its officers and committee chairs. Newly elected Executive Committee members are John Darringer (President), Andreas Kuehlmann, (President-Elect), Al Dunlop (Past President and Nominations Committee Chair), Soha Hassoun (Vice President of Activities), Bill Joyner (Vice President of Conferences and acting Awards Committee Chair), Donatella Sciuto (Vice President of Finance), Rajesh Gupta (Vice President of Publications) and David Atienza (Secretary).
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