Events Calendar

CENG Seminar

Speaker: Dr. Janet Roveda , University of Arizona, Tucson

Talk Title: Conquering Variability for Robust VLSI Circuit Design

Abstract: Growing variability has been observed in nanometer CMOS due to limits in design and manufacture technology. The resulting diminished accuracy has caused a significant reduction in the parametric yield. In the presence of significant variations, the worst-case-based analysis is too pessimistic and the simulation based sampling schemes require excessive computation time due to the large parametric space. A new, efficient approach that models variability in the polynomial chaos domain through a set of orthogonal polynomials is proposed. The new method provides a functional presentation of circuit response in terms of process variations. The approach significantly reduces turnaround time for the pre-silicon stage, and provides accurate full chip verification down to 40nm technology. The presentation addresses a range of techniques that have been developed by Dr. Roveda’s group: second order cone for robust optimization, fast probability collocation method, Principal Hessian Direction, and Chebyshev probability bound estimation. Looking forward, we focus our efforts on the creation of a unified framework that maps quality of applications to quality of circuit design. Additional comments on present efforts in Interface Models for smart grid, Nano-Sim for CNT based circuit design, and self-tuning techniques for robust and low power multi-core systems will conclude the discussion.

Biography: Janet Roveda received a B.S. degree in Computer Science from The East China Institute in 1991, M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences from the University of California, Berkeley in 1998 and 2000, respectively. She was a recipient of the NSF career award and the PEACASE award in 2005 and 2006, respectively. She received the best paper award in ISQED 2010 as well as best paper nominations in ASPDAC 2010, ICCAD 2007, and ISQED 2005. She is the recipient of the 2008 R. Newton Graduate Research Project Award from DAC, and the 2007 USS University of Arizona Outstanding Achievement Award. Her primary research interests focus on robust circuit design, VLSI circuit modeling and analysis, and low power multi-core system design.

Host: Massoud Pedram

Location: Hughes Aircraft Electrical Engineering Center (EEB) - 248

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Estela Lopez