# Mihai Sanduleanu

Mihai Adrian Tiberiu Sănduleanu is a Dutch-Romanian electronic engineer, academic, inventor, and author. He is an Associate Professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology.
Sanduleanu's research focuses on wireless transceiver design for RF to THz communication, high-speed communication circuits, phased-array systems, ultra-low power radios, analog/mixed-signal circuits, system-on-chip (SoC) design, and electromagnetics and antenna design. He is most known for authoring books including Power Trade-offs and Low-Power in Analog CMOS ICs and High Efficiency Power Amplifier Design for 28 GHz 5G Transmitters. He is also the recipient of 54 US patents and has received honors, including the IBM First and Second Plateau Invention Achievement Awards.

## Education

Sanduleanu pursued an MSc in Electronics and Telecommunications with a specialization in Radioelectronics at the Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași in Romania from 1985 to 1990. He continued his studies at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, earning a Master of Electronic Engineering (MEE) in Analog Electronics in 1994 with his thesis, "A High Frequency Video Preamplifier with Nonlinear Signal Processing for Application in a Monitor System," supervised by Ir. Evert Seevinck. In 1998, he earned a PhD in Analog Electronics and IC Design from Twente University of Technology in Enschede, Netherlands, with a thesis titled "Power, Noise, and Accuracy Aspects in CMOS Mixed Signal Design," with Ed Van Tuijl and Hans Wallinga as his supervisors.

## Career

Sanduleanu began his career as an RF Design Engineer at I.A.E.M.I. Bucharest (1990) and Tehnoton Iasi (1990-1991) before transitioning to academia as a Teaching Assistant at Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași for a year. After completing his PhD, he was employed at Philips Semiconductors from 1998 to 2000. Afterwards, he was appointed at IMEC Leuven briefly, serving as a Senior Research Scientist. In 2008, he joined IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center as a Research Staff Member, working on quantum computing, RF and THz electronics, and high-speed ADCs till 2013. Since 2014, he has been an Associate Professor at Masdar Institute (Khalifa University), leading research in microelectronics, focusing on mm-Waves, THz ICs, and various innovative projects.

## Research

Sanduleanu's research encompasses RF and analog/mixed-signal integrated circuit design, with a particular emphasis on high-speed broadband communications and THz integrated circuits.
Throughout his career, Sanduleanu published more than 120 journal/conference articles. He discussed the advantages and challenges of using radar-based techniques for continuous, contactless monitoring of vital signs compared to traditional contact-based methods. His research work developed a multi-function, dual-polarization phased array transceiver for radar and communication at W-band, integrating 32 receive and 16 transmit elements. Fabricated using IBM's SiGe BiCMOS process, the transceiver supported multiple operating modes and achieved strong performance, with an 8dB receiver noise figure and 2dBm transmitter output at 94GHz. He also presented a Ka band low-noise amplifier in 90-nm CMOS technology, achieving 19 dB peak gain and 3 dB noise figure. It featured a thin-film microstrip line and gain-boosting circuits, resulting in a 20% gain improvement and 27% noise reduction with low power consumption and compact size. Within the scope of his research on chopped amplifiers, one study focused on the design of a CMOS chopped amplifier with low noise and low residual offset, emphasizing the reduction of 1/f noise and achieving low residual offsets through high-frequency chopping and dynamic element matching. Similarly, another study described a millimeter-wave power amplifier fabricated in 90 nm bulk CMOS technology, achieving a linear power gain of 19.7 dB at 52.4 GHz and consuming 75 mA from a 2 V supply.
Sanduleanu has contributed to books and book chapters as well. In 2005, he co-authored the book Power Trade-offs and Low-Power in Analog CMOS ICs with Ed A.J.M. van Tuijl, which emphasized the continued importance of analog techniques in digital applications and highlighted the complementary roles of analog and digital methods in modern technology. Most recently in 2023, he co-authored High Efficiency Power Amplifier Design for 28 GHz 5G Transmitters with Nourhan Elsayed, Hani Saleh, Baker Mohammad, and Mohammed Ismail. The book covered power amplifier design for 5G applications at 28 GHz using 22nm FDSOI CMOS, detailing performance metrics, design trade-offs, and various amplifier classes with efficiency techniques.