The phenomenal progress in semiconductor technologies has been, in part, facilitated by the equally dramatic advancement of design automation tools and capabilities. Instead, implementation of an electronic system in silicon must consider new forms of design regularity and structure as a concurrent process with advancement in design automation. The center has strong ties to both the national and international semiconductor, design and EDA industrial communities. In deep submicron designs, the patterns we draw are close to the wavelengths of the light used to expose them,so wave interference can create unwanted distortions. Novel circuit design projects push the limits of circuit performance.
Recent designs focus on low-power electronics.
A new methodology called QuadRail inserts extra power supplies to allow slower portions of a design to operate ata lower voltage, saving significant power. In experiments with the core of a digital signal processor, a QuadRail design was as fast as conventional CMOS, but consumed roughly three times less power. The integration of electronics with mechanical sensors and actuators enables complete single-chip miniature systems for applications such as inertial measurement and mass data storage. This work includes synthesis, analysis, and built-in test and tools to allow system designers to specify and verify complex MEMS devices with the same efficacy that is available for digital ICs. The Circuit Level Modeling and Analysis group works on both the geometrical and electrical problems associated with distribution of signals across integrated circuits and systems.