What's New
Registration is now open for the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society February 2021 Webinars. We're excited to bring you a diverse set of webinars for 2021.
Prof. Behzad Razavi Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles, will present "The End Is Near: The Problem of PLL Power Consumption" on February 5th at 12:00 PM ET.
Abstract - Phase-locked loops (PLLs) play a critical role in communications, computing, and data converters. With greater demands for bandwidth efficiency in wireless systems and higher data rates in wireline transceivers, the maximum tolerable jitter of PLLs has fallen into the sub-100-femtosecond range. Similarly, analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) require extremely low clock jitters as they push for higher resolutions and higher speeds. These trends inevitably raise the PLL power consumption, potentially making it a significant part of the system's power budget. This presentation formulates the jitter-power trade-offs in PLL design, predicting some alarming trends. It is shown that, even if only the VCO power consumption is considered, jitter values falling to a few tens of femtoseconds will translate to watts of power. Moreover, it is observed that PLLs are likely to draw more power than the ADCs that they drive. For example, a 12-bit, 10-GHz ADC will require that the VCO drain more than 3 W for a 3-dB SNR penalty due to jitter. These trends call for innovations in the design of PLLs, crystal oscillators, and ADCs.
SSCS Webinars for Young Excellence Present- Soft Skills: Secret Ingredients for a Successful Career with SSCS Pioneer Marcel Pelgrom
Registration is now open for the first SSCS Webinars of Young Excellence webinar of 2021.
Soft Skills: Secret Ingredients for a Successful Career with SSCS Pioneer Marcel Pelgrom will be presented on February 9th at 10:00 AM ET.
This webinar is part of the SSCS Webinars for Young Excellence program. Following through the commitment of IEEE SSCS to help professionals evaluate their career goals, the IEEE SSCS Webinars for Young Excellence (WYE) is dedicated to YP members to gain more insights in industrial design practices, collect career advice, present research ideas and beyond.
Abstract - You have developed solid technical skills with an established record of university accomplishments and are now in the first few years of your career. Have you planned for career advancement in the future? Are you comfortable to lead a team? Have you thought of how to shift from a technical to management position? Is this even the right thing to strive for? Or more generally and importantly, what soft skills do you need as your career progresses? In this webinar, SSCS pioneer Marcel Pelgrom will offer his insights on requisite soft skills for a successful career and insights on career strategies and planning. Our interview will conclude with live questions from participants.
Feature Article
SSCS Establishes Educational Fund in Honor of Professor James D. Meindl
The IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society (SSCS) working with a group of former students of Professor James Meindl has established the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Society James D. Meindl Memorial Educational Fund in honor of him. The fund will provide long-term support to enable SSCS to nurture, encourage, and celebrate students and early career innovators in the field of solid-state circuits. The Society intends to use the fund to support the establishment of a new award named for Professor Meindl that perpetuates his passions. The Award will celebrate accomplishments of young innovators and financially support the awardees to engage high school and undergraduate students through research projects related to integrated circuits technology. In addition to recognizing and encouraging the future leaders of SSCS, the Society would like the award to increase excitement about the solid-state circuits profession amongst young people.
Professor Meindl, a giant in the world of semiconductors and among the founding fathers of Silicon Valley, passed away on June 7, 2020. Prof. Meindl was an active member of the IEEE Solid-State Circuits Council, the predecessor of Society. He was a Past President of the Society, served as the founding editor of the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, and chaired the 1966 and 1969 International Solid-State Circuits Conference.
Professor Meindl had an infectious spirit and was passionate about nurturing future generations of solid-state circuits innovators. Mentoring over 90 Ph.D. candidates during his time at Stanford, RPI, and Georgia Tech, Prof. Meindl was a trusted confidante and had a profound impact on his students. He can rightly be said to be among the founding fathers of “Silicon Valley”, and the list of companies created by his students or those mentored by him is extensive.
Those interested in reading more about Professor Meindl's legacy can click here. If you are interested in donating to Professor Meindl’s fund, you can do so through the IEEE Foundation.
If you have questions or wish to hold a personal consultation regarding the Fund or ways to contribute, please call +1 732-562-3915 or email donate@ieee.org.
Technology Spotlight
A. Paul Brokaw Receives the 2021 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits
The recipient of the 2021 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award in Solid-State Circuits is A. Paul Brokaw for leadership in the design of voltage references, amplifiers, and power management, and for contributions to the principles of analog circuit design
A. Paul Brokaw has created many of the foundational integrated circuit topologies employed over the last four decades in successful semiconductor devices and helped establish an entire philosophy of analog circuit design. Brokaw improved on temperature-compensated bandgap circuits with what would become known as the “Brokaw Bandgap Reference,” now the dominant reference/bias source for analog and mixed-signal circuits. This work was also integral to the analog transition from bipolar to CMOS technologies. His contributions to analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters pushed the level of precision available in integrated converters with innovations that improved the matching accuracy of scaled reference currents over a wide dynamic range and temperature range, leading to best-selling products from Analog Devices, Inc.
An IEEE Life Fellow, Brokaw retired as an Analog Devices Fellow with Analog Devices, Inc., currently residing in Tucson, AZ, USA.
