My research focuses on building microsystems and nanosystems. I specialize in the following areas:

• Interconnect Structures and Circuits. High-density, high-speed and low-power on-chip and intra-chip interconnect circuits and structures. Applications that benefit from high bandwidth interconnect, and SOP design techniques. This topic includes the following projects:

  • AC Coupled Interconnect. Novel contactless, high bandwidth, low-power packaging structures and circuits for chip packaging, sockets and connectors.
  • On-chip interconnect. Using on-chip equalization for the design of low-power repeaterless global on-chip interconnect. Past work includes other techniques for low-power interconnect design, and development of on-chip measurement techniques.
  • 3D ICs and Packaging. The design, and CAD support, for 3D (stacked) ICs and multi-chip packages.
  • Nanointerconnect. A nanofabrciated interconnect structures capable of sub-25 nm features.
  • Chip-Package Codesign. Methdologies and tools for codesign of chips, packages, and multichip modules. Includes ongoing support for IO macromodeling, including Spice2Ibis.
    
    
• Application Specific Processors and Microsystems. ASICs, SOCs and SOPs with an emphasis on novel hardware algorithms and design methodology for high performance systems. By "microsystems" I am referring to the design, and incorporation non-chip technologies, such as MEMS ("micromachining").

  • Network Hardware Design. Hardware support for line-rate network security, including filters (e.g. Snort), firewalls, and anomoly detection, correlation, effiecient IP lookup and other networking functions and applications.
  • Braille Display. Build a low-power portable full-page refreshable Braille display.
  • Food Processing Sensor. Build a low-power food processing sensor to allow certification of aseptic processing and for other food manufacturing applications.
  • Low-power Speech Recognition. Design of low-power speech recognition IC.
  • SOI radio design. Design of a low-power VHF radio for deep space sensor networks.
  • MEMS Varactor. MEMS structure for RF varactor (tunable capacitor).
  • Novel MEMS Applications. Exploration of MEMS applications outside of RF.
  • Past Projects include low-power memory design, high perofrmance actuators, and CAD for low-power and reconfigurable computing.

• Nanocomputing. Concepts for computation beyond the end of CMOS scaling. Includes devices, interconnect structures and circuit/architecture concepts.

  • Nanocrystal Electronics. Explore digital and analog circuit applications of nanocrystal floating gate FETs.
  • Molecular Computing. Structures and circuits for molecular computing.
  • Nanowire fabrication.. A nanofabrciated interconnect structures capable of sub-25 nm features.
  • Other Nanocomputing devies and structures.