TSMC announces winner of mixed signal/RF university design award

HSINCHU, TAIWAN: TSMC announced the winner of the TSMC Europractice Innovation award for the most innovative mixed signal or RF (Radio Frequency) design submitted by a European university through the Europractice IC service coordinated by imec.

The design from the ESAT team of K.U. Leuven showed a high degree of innovation by integrating a 120GHz Voltage Control Oscillator with a 10Gb/s phase modulating transmitter on TSMC's 65nM Low Power CMOS process. By demonstrating such a high frequency design can be implemented in CMOS, the team have enabled the further integration of digital processing circuitry with RF for future 120GHz consumer product data communication systems.

The award recognizes outstanding mixed signal or RF semiconductor design research in Europe and encourages smart silicon adoption. This inaugural award attracted applications from Universities from across Europe, including Germany, Belgium, Poland and Cyprus, who had all submitted mixed signal or RF designs through the Europractice service in the past 12 months.

A panel made up of technical experts appointed from imec, TSMC and the Global Semiconductor Alliance (GSA) judged each paper on its ingenuity, design efficiency, power efficiency and manufacturability based on real silicon results, along with explanation of the purpose and relevance of their research and contribution to the field.

"The design from K.U. Leuven will have a major impact on the development of short-range mm-wave communication link. I commend the team for their flair and innovation, and for demonstrating that European students lead the world in design talent," said Maria Marced, President, TSMC Europe. "The Europractice Multi-Project Wafer service has long been a channel to unleash that innovation. With a strong academic and research base, we believe Europe will continue to take a front seat in the world in mixed signal and RF silicon design innovation."

The Europractice IC service offers more than 600 European universities and research institutes cost-effective and easy access to technologies and prototyping on TSMC's CyberShuttle service.

The prize will be a trip for three design team members to TSMC's Headquarters in Taiwan, where winners will take a tour of one of TSMC's GigaFabs.