Session 16 – Signal and Data Processing

Oak Ballroom, Tuesday Afternoon, September 18

 

Chair:  Charles Thomas

Co-Chair:  Ram Krishnamurthy

 

This session explores new signal and data processing integrated circuits for a diverse reange of applications including medical devices, video processing and high speed communications.

 

2:00 pm

Introduction

 

16.1

2:05 pm

Cochlear Implant Signal Processing ICs (INVITED PAPER),  B. Swanson, M. Goorevich, T. Nygard, Cochlear Ltd., E. Van Baelen, K. Van Herck, Cochlear Technology Center, and M. Janssens, NXP

 

The Nucleus Freedom cochlear implant system enables a profoundly deaf person to hear. The system consists of a surgically implanted stimulator and a battery-powered external sound processor. The processor is based on a 0.18 µm CMOS ASIC containing four DSP cores. The signal processing includes a two-microphone adaptive beamformer, a 22-channel quadrature FFT filterbank, multi-band automatic gain control, a psycho-acoustic masking model and non-linear compression. The key design challenge was power consumption.

 

16.2

2:55 pm

An 81.6 GOPS Object Recognition Processor Based on NoC and Visual Image Processing Memory,  D. Kim, K. Kim, J.-Y. Kim, S. Lee and H.-J. Yoo, KAIST

 

An 81.6 GOPS object recognition processor is developed by using NoC and Visual Image Processing (VIP) memory. SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) objects recognition requires huge computing power and data transactions among tasks. The chip integrates 10 SIMD PEs for data/task level parallelism while the NoC facilitates inter-PE communications. The VIP memory searches local maximum pixel inside a 3x3 window in a single cycle providing 65.6 GOPS. The proposed processor achieves 15.9fps SIFT feature extraction at 200 MHz.

 

16.3

3:20 pm

A Cost-effective Digital Front-End Realization For 20-bit Sigma-Delta DAC in 0.13µm CMOS,  R. Chen, L. Liu and D. Li, Tsinghua University

 

A cost-effective digital front-end used in 20-bit sigma-delta DAC is described in this paper. It includes an interpolator and a sigma-delta modulator. Mixed-radix number representation algorithm combined with poly-phase filtering technique and high efficiency hardware realization method are used to achieve high data conversion precision and reduce the area of the interpolator. A single bit distributed feedback structure is adopted for DSM to shape quantization noise. The overall digital front-end achieves above 130dB dynamic range.

 

3:45 pm – Break

 

16.4

4:00 pm

A 0.25µm 0.92mW per Mb/s Viterbi Decoder Featuring Resonant Clocking for Ultra-Low-Power 54Mb/s WLAN Communication,  F. Carbognani, S. Haene, M. Arrigo, C. Pagnamenta, F. Buergin, N. Felber, H. Kaeslin and W. Fichtner, ETH Zurich

 

Resonant clocking is applied to a Viterbi decoder for ultra-low-power WLAN communication. Clock skew balancing and excessive cross-over currents are identified as the most relevant issues: H-clock-trees and a new latch circuit are proposed as power-efficient design solutions. The 30000 gate-equivalent core in a 0.25 µm  CMOS process dissipates 50 mW at 54Mb/s throughput (1.75 V), with about 27% power savings compared to an equivalent circuit with one-phase single-edge-triggered clocking and a recently published competitor.

 

16.5

4:25 pm

A High-Throughput Maximum a posteriori Probability Detector,  R. Ratnayake, G.-Y. Wei, Harvard University, A. Kavcic, University of Hawaii

 

This paper presents a maximum a posteriori probability (MAP) detector, based on a forward-only algorithm that can achieve high throughputs. The MAP algorithm is optimal in terms of bit error rate. The proposed detector utilizes a deep-pipelined architecture implemented in skew-tolerant domino and experimentally measured results verify the detector can achieve throughputs greater than 750MHz while consuming 2.4W. The detector is implemented in a 0.13µm CMOS technology and has a die area of 9.9 mm2.

 

16.6

4:50 pm

A 3.3-Gbps Bit-Serial Block-Interlaced Min-Sum LDPC Decoder in 0.13µm CMOS,  A. Darabiha, A. Chan Carusone and F. Kschischang, University of Toronto

 

A bit-serial architecture for multi-Gbps LDPC decoding is demonstrated to alleviate the routing congestion which is the main limitation for LDPC decoders. We report on a 3.3-Gbps 0.13- µm  CMOS prototype. It occupies 7.3-mm2 core area with 1416-mW maximum power consumption from a 1.2-V supply. We demonstrate how early termination and supply voltage scaling can improve the decoder energy efficiency. Finally, the same architecture is applied to a (2048, 1723) LDPC code compliant with the 10GBase-T standard.

 

 

 

Session 17 – Wideband Techniques

Fir Ballroom, Tuesday Afternoon, September 18

 

Chair:  Tony Chan Carusone

Co-Chair:  Ed Van Tuijl

 

This session focuses on the design of high-speed wireline circuits for data connectivity up to 100 Gb/s.  Novel architectures and methodologies are presented.

 

 

2:00 pm

Introduction

 

17.1

2:05 pm

A Heterodyne Phase Locked Loop with GHz Acquisition Range for Coherent Locking of Semiconductor Lasers in 0.13µm CMOS,  F. Aflatouni, O. Momeni and H. Hashemi, USC

 

A heterodyne electro-optical phase-locked loop (EOPLL) architecture is proposed that can lock the frequency and phase of semiconductor lasers. An aided-acquisition circuit inspired by the combination of RF image-rejection receivers and digital PLL architectures is used to extend the frequency-acquisition range.  An integrated circuit prototype is implemented in a 0.13 µm  CMOS technology and includes a wideband transimpedance amplifier and PLL circuitry. Measurement results for the locking of Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Lasers are reported.

 

17.2

2:30 pm

A Synthesis-based Bandwidth Enhancing Technique for CML Buffers/Amplifiers,  D. Pi, B.-K. Chun and P. Heydari, University of California

 

A synthesis-based bandwidth enhancing technique for current-mode-logic (CML) buffers/amplifiers is presented, which achieves bandwidth-enhancement-ratio (BWER) of 4.84, close to a proven theoretical upper limit of 4.93. By employing a complete step-by-step design methodology, the proposed technique can be applied to any load condition, which is characterized by the ratio between the load capacitance and the output capacitance of the transconductor cell. Several prototype buffer/amplifier circuits are designed using lower order passive networks to save chip area. The test chip is fabricated in a 0.18 µm  CMOS process, and measurements show a BWER of 3.8.

 

17.3

2:55 pm

Towards a sub-2.5V, 100-Gb/s Serial Transceiver (INVITED PAPER),  S. Voinigescu, R. Aroca, S. Nicolson, T. Chalvatzis, University of Toronto, P. Chevalier, P. Garcia, C. Garnier and B. Sautreuil, STMicroelectronics, T. Dickson, IBM

 

This paper describes first a half-rate, 2.5V, 1.4W, 87-Gb/s transmitter with on-chip PLL fabricated in a production 130nm SiGe BiCMOS process. Next, the most critical blocks required for the implementation of a full-rate 100-Gb/s serial transceiver are explored. State-of-the art 105-GHz, SiGe HBT static frequency dividers and VCOs operating from 2.5V, as well as 65-nm CMOS, 1.2V, 90-GHz static frequency dividers, low-phase noise VCOs, and 100-GHz clock distribution network amplifiers are fully characterized.

 

3:45 pm -  Break

 

17.4

4:00 pm

Future Microprocessor Interfaces: Analysis, Design and Optimization (INVITED PAPER),  B. Casper, G. Balamurugan, J. Jaussi, J. Kennedy, M. Mansuri, F. O'Mahony and R. Mooney, Intel Corporation

 

High-aggregate bandwidth interfaces with minimized power, silicon area, cost and complexity will be essential to the viability of future microprocessor systems. Optimization of microprocessor interfaces at the system level is crucial to providing the most cost-effective and efficient solution. This paper details a comprehensive interconnect and system level analysis method  that can be used to accurately evaluate platform-level tradeoffs and has been correlated to link measurements with 10% accuracy. System tradeoffs with respect to interconnect quality, equalization, modulation, clock architecture are shown. Interconnect and circuit density improvements are identified as a promising research direction to maximize the bandwidth and power efficiency of future microprocessor platforms.

 

17.5

4:50 pm

Time-Variant Characterization and Compensation of Wideband Circuits,  A. Amirkhany,  M. Horowitz, Stanford University, A. Abbasfar, J. Savoj, Rambus, Inc.

 

Many wideband circuits use interleaving to extend bandwidth leaving them with a cyclically time-variant output.  This paper describes a technique for characterization of these types of circuits based on Least-Squares Estimation of the time-varying response of circuits. Applying the methodology to a 90-nm, 12-GS/s 8-bit digitally-equalized DAC, shows significant timing varying behavior.  Furthermore, using the data obtained from characterization to construct linear time-variant compensation improves the DAC signal-to-distortion ratio by at least 6 dB.

 

17.6

5:15 pm

High-Voltage-Tolerant I/O Circuit Design for USB 2.0-Compliant Applications,  M.-J. Kim, T.H. Lee, Stanford University, H. Icking, H. Gossner, Infineon Technology

 

We present design strategies of high-voltage tolerant I/O circuits for interfaces of 3.3V or higher. The test vehicle is a USB 2.0-compliant I/O circuit. This is a challenging example because USB 2.0 requires substantial over-voltage tolerance from -1V to 5.25V. In addition, USB 2.0 requires continuous monitoring of this condition and protection when no power is present. The proposed concept is demonstrated in a 90nm CMOS process.

 

 

 

Session 18 – Compact Modeling for Analog and RF

Pine Ballroom, Tuesday Afternoon, September 18

 

Chair:  Rob Jones

Co-Chair:  Hong-Ha Vuong

 

This session presents advanced compact models and modeling/synthesis approaches to address analog and RF applications.

 

2:00 pm

Introduction

 

18.1

2:05 pm

PSP-Based Scalable MOS Varactor Model, (INVITED PAPER), J. Victory,  Z. Yan, J. Cordovez, Jazz Semiconductor, Z. Zhu, Q. Zhou, W. Wu, G. Gildenblat, Arizona State University, C. McAndrew, Freescale Semiconductor, F. Anderson, IBM, J. Paasschens, NXP Semiconductors, R. van Langevelde, Philips Research, P. Kolev, Qualcomm, R. Cherne, Intersil Corp. and C. Yao, Analog Devices

 

18.2

2:55 pm

An Accurate Scalable Compact Model for the Substrate Resistance of RF MOSFETs,  B. Parvais, M. Dehan, A. Mercha, S. Decoutere, IMEC, S. Hu, Shanghai IC R&D Center

 

A new scalable compact model for the substrate resistance of multi-finger MOSFETs is presented and validated up to 50 GHz on a 90 nm CMOS technology.  The physical foundation, used to capture the 2D distributed nature of the well resistance, provides a more accurate description of different layout styles over a wide range of geometries. The model is used to determine the folding for minimum substrate resistance and is implemented straightforwardly with the PSP model.

 

18.3

3:20 pm

Synthesis of Optimal On-Chip Baluns,  S. Kapur, D. Long, R. Frye, Integrand Software, Y.-C. Chen, M.-H. Cho, H.-W. Chang, J.-H. Ou and B. Hung, UMC

 

We describe a method for synthesizing on-chip baluns.  The method involves creating a scalable transformer model from electromagnetic simulations, followed by a search through design space to find an optimal balun.  We used this method to design 90nm RFCMOS baluns. The baluns have insertion loss less than 1.5dB, phase imbalance of 0.25 degrees and amplitude imbalance of 0.25dB.  These characteristics are equal to or better than off-chip baluns while requiring significantly less area.

 

3:45 pm – Break

 

18.4

4:00 pm

An Integrated Modeling Paradigm of Circuit Reliability for 65nm CMOS Technology,  W. Wang, R. Vattikonda, Y. Cao, Arizona State University and V. Reddy, A. Krishnan, S. Krishnan, Texas Instruments

 

The de facto modeling method to analyze channel-hot-carrier (CHC) is based on substrate current (Isub), which becomes increasingly problematic with technology scaling as various leakage components dominate Isub. In this work, we present a unified approach that directly predicts the change of key transistor parameters under various process and design conditions, for both negative-bias-temperature-instability (NBTI) and CHC degradation. Using the general reaction-diffusion model and the concept of surface potential, the proposed method continuously captures the performance degradation across subthreshold and strong inversion regions. Models are comprehensively verified with an industrial 65nm technology. We benchmark the prediction of circuit performance degradation with measured ring oscillator data and simulations of an amplifier.

 

18.5

4:25 pm

Mismatch Characterization of Ring Oscillators,  A. Balankutty, T.-C. Chih, C.-Y. Chen and P. Kinget, Columbia University

 

We investigate frequency matching of ring oscillators to study matching of non-static operation of identical high speed analog, digital and RF circuits. The oscillator test structures on a 0.25 µm  CMOS technology operate in the 500MHz to 3GHz range. The non-static matching experimental results are compared to predictions based on DC matching parameters.  Stage averaging versus device size averaging for constant frequency designs is investigated. Global variations and long distance matching are also examined and compared.

 

18.6

4:50 pm

The Advanced Compact MOSFET (ACM) Model for Circuit Analysis and Design (INVITED PAPER),  C. Galup-Montoro, M. Schneider, O. Siebel, Federal University of Santa Catarina, A. Cunha, Federal University of Bahia, F. Sousa, Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte, and H. Klimach, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul

 

Most of the new generation compact models for the MOSFET have many commonalities since they are based on the same main approximations: gradual channel, charge-sheet, and depletion charge linearization. In this study we show that if we include some additional physics-consistent conditions for the MOSFET equations we obtain a very compact model that we call the advanced compact MOSFET (ACM) model. The core ACM model, design-oriented equations, parameter extraction, and a design example are presented.

 

 

 

Session 19 – Front-Ends and Synthesizers for Communication Applications

Cedar Ballroom, Tuesday Afternoon, September 18

 

Chair:  Ranjit Gharpurey

Co-Chair:  Rick Carley

 

This session begins with presentations on four receiver front ends, covers two frequency synthesizers, and finishes with a high efficiency CMOS cellular power amplifier.

 

2:00 pm

Introduction

 

19.1

2:05 pm

A 3.5mW 900MHz Down-converter with Multiband Feedback and Device Transconductance Reuse,  J. Han and R. Gharpurey, University of Texas Austin

 

A down-converter is presented wherein the IF-output of a mixer is applied to its input transconductor to enhance gain without increasing bias current. A 900MHz receiver with power dissipation of 3.5mW is demonstrated in a 0.13 µm  CMOS process. The conversion gain is variable from 10-50dB, the NF is 9.8dB at peak gain and the OIP3 is 8dBV-p. The receiver has a third-order low-pass response at IF. The area requirement is 0.1mm2.

 

19.2

2:30 pm

A Highly Linear Broadband Variable Gain LNA for TV Applications,  D. Manstretta, Universita' degli Studi di Pavia, and L. Dauphinee, Broadcom Corp.

 

A broadband variable-gain LNA with triple output for TV tuners has been demonstrated in a 0.18 mm SiGe technology. The gain varies continuously from 27dB to -28dB and has better than 1dB precision over a 1GHz bandwidth. At 27dB gain the amplifier shows 6.5dB NF, 82dBmV OIP3 and 121dBmV OIP2. OIP3 is above 73dBmV down to -21dB gain. With all three outputs enabled the circuit draws 170mA from a 3.3V supply.

 

19.3

2:55 pm

A Current-Equalized Distributed Receiver Front-End for UWB Direct Conversion Receivers,  A. Safarian, L. Zhou and P. Heydari, University of California Irvine

 

A power-efficient distributed direct-conversion RF front-end (DDC-RF) circuit, using merged LNA/mixer cells, presented for UWB systems. A current-equalization technique was implemented to remove systematic IQ phase/gain mismatches. The DDC-RF prototype in 0.13CMOS with the use of programmable input matching achieved average gain of 14.3dB and NF of 5.7dB over the UWB. The IQ gain/phase imbalances are less than ±0.5dB/±2.5degree, respectively. the current consumption is 8mA from 1.8V.

 

19.4

3:20 pm

A 65µW, 1.9 GHz RF to Digital Baseband Wakeup Receiver for Wireless Sensor Nodes,  N. Pletcher, S. Gambini and J. Rabaey, University of California, Berkeley

 

A complete 1.9GHz receiver, with BAW resonator-referenced input matching network, is designed as a wakeup receiver for wireless sensor networks.  The 90nm CMOS chip includes RF amplifier, PGA, ADC, and reference generation, while consuming 65uW from a single 0.5V supply.  The input RF bandwidth of the receiver is 7MHz, while the maximum datarate is 100kbps.  When detecting a 31-bit sequence, the receiver exhibits -56dBm sensitivity for 90% probability of detection.

 

3:45 pm – Break

 

19.5

4:00 pm

A 4GHz Low Complexity ADPLL-based Frequency Synthesizer in 90nm CMOS,  J. Zhuang, Q. Du and T. Kwasniewski, Carelton University

 

A 4GHz ADPLL-based integer-N frequency synthesizer is reported in this paper. It employs a low-complexity digital phase and frequency detector as well as a non-linear phase and frequency decision circuit to significantly reduce the hardware complexity while maintain a comparable in-lock performance to other high-complexity ADPLLs. The ADPLL was fabricated in 90nm CMOS technology to prove its feasibility. Operating with an high-frequency-resolution DCO, the proposed low-complexity ADPLL exhibits a programmable loop bandwidth from 100kHz to 6MHz with and an excellent in-band phase noise performance.

 

19.6

4:25 pm

A 4.2 GHz PLL Frequency Synthesizer with an Adaptively Tuned Coarse Loop,  T. Wu, Rambus Inc., P. Hanumolu, K. Mayaram and U.-K. Moon, Oregon State University

 

A 4.2 GHz integer-N PLL frequency synthesizer for WLANs is described. An analog split tuned LC-VCO is controlled by coarse and fine loops to achieve both a large frequency tuning range and a small VCO gain. An averaging varactor is employed to reduce the amplitude sensitivity of the varactor, thereby reducing the AM-to-FM noise conversion. A new adaptively tuned switched capacitor integrator is used in the coarse loop for a fast lock time. The prototype test chip in a 0.13- µm  CMOS process has a measured phase noise of -110dBc/Hz at 1 MHz offset, and a settling time of 50 us.

 

19.7

4:50 pm

A 1.7-GHz 31dBm differential CMOS Class-E Power Amplifier with 58% PAE,  R. Brama, L. Larcher, A. Mazzanti, Universita di Modena e Reggio Emilia and F. Svelto, Universita di Pavia

 

This paper shows that CMOS Class-E PAs are capable of high efficiency, even when delivering large output powers at RF. A cascode device is used to assure reliable operation. A differential solution has been adopted to maximize 2nd harmonic suppression and minimize potential on-chip interference. Prototypes realized in 0.13 µm  CMOS technology show 31dBm maximum output power at 1.7GHz with 67% drain efficiency and 58% PAE, -51dBc and -39.5dBc suppression for 2nd and 3rd harmonics, respectively.

 

 

 

Poster Session

Cascade Ballroom, Tuesday Afternoon, September 18

5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

(Authors are at the posters from 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm)

 

 

TP-01

A 2.4GHz Efficiency-Enhanced Rectifier for Wireless Telemetry,  K.-H. Chen, J.-H. Lu and S.-I. Liu, National Taiwan University

 

A 2.4GHz full-wave rectifier for wireless telemetry applications is presented. A conventional full-wave rectifier using diode-connected MOS transistors suffers from the power loss due to the intrinsic threshold voltage. In this paper, a full-wave rectifier using a transformer is presented. It has been fabricated in a 0.18 µm  CMOS process. When input power ranges from 6dBm~12dBm, this proposed rectifier improves the efficiency of 2.5% compared with the conventional one.

 

TP-02

Comparative Studies of Common Control Schemes for ReferenceTtracking and Application of End-point Prediction,  Y. Wu and P. K. T. Mok, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

 

This paper analyzes the reference tracking behavior of Buck converters using several control schemes including voltage-mode, current-mode and V2-control from both large-signal and small-signal domains. Loop gains applicable to reference tracking are highlighted, and reference-to-output transfer functions are derived for the cases when end-point prediction (EPP) is applied to enhance the response. A novel V2-controlled Buck converter with EPP is fabricated. The measured reference tracking response shows 10 times improvement in speed.

 

TP-03

An Energy Management Circuit for Self-Powered Ubiquitous Sensor Modules, J. Pan and Y. Inoue, Waseda University

 

An energy management circuit is proposed for self-powered ubiquitous sensor modules using vibration-based energy. With the proposed circuit, the sensor modules work with low duty cycle operation. Moreover, a two-tank circuit as a part of the energy management circuit is utilized to solve the problem that the average power density of ambient energy always varies with time while the power consumption of the sensor modules is constant and larger than it. In addition, the long start-up time problem is also avoided with the timing control of the proposed energy management circuit. The CMOS implementation and silicon verification results of the proposed circuit are also presented. Its validity is further confirmed with a vibration-based energy generation. The sensor module is used to supervise the vibration of machines and transfer the vibration signal discontinuously. A piezoelectric element acts as the vibration-to-electricity converter to realize battery-free operation.

 

TP-04

An Ultra-Low-Power Power Management IC for Wireless Sensor Nodes,  M. Seeman, S. Sanders and J. Rabaey, University of California Berkeley

 

A power interface IC is designed and demonstrated to convert and manage power for a wireless tire pressure sensor node.  Power conversion is performed using on-chip switched-capacitor converters with size-optimized devices and level-shifting gate drivers.  A synchronous rectifier efficiently harvests energy from an electromagnetic shaker and control circuitry regulates the output voltage while minimizing power consumption. The converters achieve efficiencies approaching 80%.

 

TP-05

A Low Standby Power Flip-flop with Reduced Circuit and Control Complexity,  L. Clark, M. Kabir and J. Knudsen, Arizona State University

 

A flip-flop using thin and thick gate transistors combines high performance and low standby power. The design has reduced circuit and power-down control complexity compared to previous circuits using thick gate shadow latches for low standby power state storage. Measured test chip results on a foundry 130 nm process prove the viability of the design. Reduced shadow latch supply voltage during standby is shown to be effective at mitigating the drain to bulk leakage components.

 

TP-06

A 610-MHz FIR Filter Using Rotary Clock Technique,  Z. Yu and X. Liu, North Carolina State University

 

This paper presents a novel FIR filter design based on a resonant clocking technique called rotary clock. It utilizes the spatially distributed multiple rotary clock phases and achieves the full rotary clock power saving potential. Our filter operates at 610 MHz, delivering a throughput of 39 Gbps. In comparison with the conventional clock tree based design, it achieves a 34.6% clocking power saving and a 12.8% overall circuit power reduction.

 

TP-07

A 186Mvertices/s 161mW Floating-Point Vertex Processor for Mobile Graphics Systems,  C.-H.  Yu, K. Chung, D. Kim and L.-S. Kim, KAIST

 

In this paper, a power-efficient vertex processor with a geometry-specific arithmetic unit, vertex caches, and a vertex texturing unit is presented for mobile graphics environments. The proposed vertex processor achieves 186 Mvertices/s of geometry performance which is 1.6 times faster than the previous results among the IEEE754-compliant arithmetic units, and it supports OpenGL ES 2.0 and Vertex Shader Model 3.0. The processor is implemented in a 0.18-µm 1P4M CMOS process.

 

TP-08

A 0.8-1.2GHz Single-Phase Resonant-Clocked FIR Filter with Level-Sensitive Latches,  V. Sathe, J. Kao and M. Papaefthymiou, University of Michigan

 

In this paper we present the design and experimental validation of RF1, a 0.8-1.2GHz frequency-scalable, resonant-clocked FIR filter test-chip with level-sensitive latches. Designed using a fully automated ASIC flow, RF1 was fabricated in a 130nm CMOS process with an on-chip inductor and clock generator. At its resonant frequency of 1.03GHz, RF1 dissipates 132mW, with clock power accounting for 10.8% of total power dissipation. Resonating 42pF of clock load, RF1 achieves 76% clock-power efficiency over CV 2f.

 

TP-09

Addressing Parametric Impact of Systematic Pattern Variations in Digital IC Design,  P.-H. Wang, B. Lee, G. Han, UMC, R. Rouse, P. Hurat and N. Verghese, Clear Shape Technologies

 

A simulation methodology to predict changes in circuit characteristics due to systematic lithography and etch effects is described. This methodology is used to update an existing circuit netlist to produce accurate delay calculation and is silicon validated using various transistor and ring oscillator structures. In a digital IC design flow, the delay variation due to lithography and etch is calculated and used to identify and repair timing “hotspots” or parametric failures due to systematic variations.

 

TP-10

Design Considerations and Benefits of Three-Dimensional Ternary Content Addressable Memory,  E. C. Oh and P. Franzon, North Carolina State University

 

Three dimensional (3D) ternary content addressable memory (TCAM) has been designed in a 0.18 µm fully depleted silicon on insulator (FD SOI) 3D IC process. This paper demonstrates that a 3D TCAM with three tiers can achieve 40% matchline capacitance reduction and 21% power reduction compared to a TCAM in a conventional single-tier process. This paper also discusses design considerations of 3D TCAM including partitioning methods for multiple tiers and layout methods of interconnects.

 

TP-11

A 37 ppm/°C Temperature Compensated CMOS ASIC with ±16 V Supply Protection for Capacitive Microaccelerometers,  H. Ko, S.-J. Paik, B. Choi, D.-I. Cho, Seoul National University, and A. Lee, T. Ahn, SML Electronics

 

A high reliability CMOS-MEMS hybrid microaccelerometer system is presented. To enhance the temperature response and to minimize die-to-die variations, a low-noise continuous-time front-end architecture with temperature-compensation and parasitic-cancellation is proposed. The temperature coefficients of the output bias and the scale factor are measured to be 37 ppm/°C and 27 ppm/°C, respectively. The bias instability level is measured to be 42 µg. The integrated ±16 V supply protection gives the enhanced system reliability and reduced form-factor.

 

TP-12

A 500 MHz Low Phase-Noise A1N-on-Silicon Reference Oscillator,  H. M. Lavasani, R. Abdolvand and F. Ayazi, Georgia Institute of Technology

 

This paper presents a 496MHz refere