Towards Nanoscale System-on-Chip Design

The recent advancements in process technology have enabled the idea of a system on a chip (SOC) to become a reality, allowing designers to pack hundreds of million devices on a single chip while continuously demanding for higher performance. Another aspect of this SOC integration is that SOCs are increasingly containing analog and RF circuits. In this talk, he will address our efforts in addressing several of the key challenges towards realizing high performance SOCs, such analog design automation as well as substrate and inductive coupling. Yehia will also talk about potential long-term solutions in Nanotechnology. Building interconnects that utilize carbon nanotube technology would provide an excellent alternative for global interconnects and would alleviate the problems associated with current interconnect. By exploiting advances in Nanotechnology, engineers will be better equipped to deliver future high-performance Integrated Circuits.
Dr. Yehia Massoud is an Assistant Professor in the departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Computer Science at Rice University, Houston, Texas. He received the PhD degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA in 1999. Before joining Rice University in 2003, he was a member of the Technical Staff at the Advanced Technology Group at Synopsys, Inc./Mountain View, California, from 1999 to 2003. He is interested in the modeling and design automation of high performance Systems-on-Chip as well as investigating nanoscale design methodologies and architectures for future Integrated Circuits. He received the National Science Foundation CAREER Award for 2004.