Center of Excellence in RF, Analog, and Mixed Signal ICs

Analog, RF, and mixed-signal ICs form the basis for converting real-world signals into digital form, and storing, processing and transporting these signals. Scaling of semiconductor technology throws new challenges and opportunities at circuit designers. Cases in point are the emergence of new communication standards (5G) that demand the integration of multiple RF transceivers on a chip in a power- and area- efficient manner, the problem of transporting data at several tens of Gbps in data centers in a power and area efficient manner, and the need for implementing low-power inference engines used in AI/ML algorithms. The analog/mixed-signal space is one of those few areas that not only drives a thriving academic research community, but also has significant industrial impact. Further, the learning curve in this area is steep. This explains the dearth of top-class talent in the area worldwide, and particularly in India.Closer home, virtually all multinational companies have design centers in India, making analog/mixed-signal designers very well sought after in the job market. Consequently, this area attracts top-class students at the master’s level. In the past, it has been difficult to convince students to stay on for a PhD -- the hope is that with top-up salaries from the CoE, as well as opportunities to spend time in top research groups abroad, and travel to top-tier conferences that broaden their exposure, more Master’s students can be convinced to pursue doctoral studies. It is hoped that the CoE can attract funding from the strategic sector to develop cutting-edge technologies. ;