The faculty and students of the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department at Rice University’s George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing received several prestigious awards and accolades for outstanding research at the International Solid-State Circuit Conference (ISSCC) that was held February 16-20, 2025 in San Francisco, California.
“We are thrilled that for the second consecutive year, our department has had a very strong presence at ISSCC, which is the premier event for showcasing cutting-edge advancements in solid-state circuits research and is considered the place where the most significant breakthroughs are often unveiled,” said Ashok Veeraraghavan, chair of the electrical and computer engineering (ECE) department at Rice. “I am extremely proud of all the prestigious awards and research accolades our outstanding and hard-working faculty and students have won at ISSCC."
The following Rice ECE faculty received prestigious awards this year at ISSCC:
- Associate professor Kaiyuan Yang received the IEEE Solid-State Circuit Society (SSCS) New Frontier award. This is a prestigious and highly selective award that is conferred upon solid-state researchers who are within 10 years of graduation. Past recipients of this award were from very top-ranked universities around the US and the world. The award was presented to Yang at the opening ceremony of ISSCC on February 17, 2025.
- Assistant professor Taiyun Chi and his research team received the Lewis Winner Outstanding Paper award – presented to the most well-received paper in the field - for the work they presented last year.
In addition, the Rice ECE team received the following notable research accolades at the conference:
- Four papers led by Rice researchers were selected to be presented at the conference, which is an impressive feat considering that only the most innovative and impactful research studies are selected to be presented at the conference. The following Rice faculty members were involved in these studies - Taiyun Chi, Lei Li, Ashok Veeraraghavan, and Kaiyuan Yang. The four featured papers were -
- A 24-to-29GHz Compact Transmit/Receive Front-End Module Featuring an Asymmetric Doherty Power Amplifier and 0.22mm2 Area by X. Zhang*, R. Wang*, Q. Zhou*, H. Guo, C. Shi, and T. Chi.
- A 9.05-to-37.0GHz LO Generator with Magnetic Mode Switching and Tuning-Free Octave-Bandwidth Common-Mode Resonator Achieving >190.7dBc/Hz FoM by H. Guo, Y. Hu, and T. Chi.
- A Spatial-Domain Compressive-Sensing Photoacoustic Imager with Matrix-Multiplying SAR ADC by H-C. Liao*, S. Zhang*, Y. Su, A. Govinday, Y. Zou, W. Wang, V. Boominathan, A. Veeraraghavan, L. Li, and K. Yang.
- A Miniature Biomedical Implant Secured by Two-Factor Authentication with Emergency Access by W. Wang*, Y. Su*, H-C. Liao, Y. Zou, T. Qiu, and K. Yang.
- A 24-to-29GHz Compact Transmit/Receive Front-End Module Featuring an Asymmetric Doherty Power Amplifier and 0.22mm2 Area by X. Zhang*, R. Wang*, Q. Zhou*, H. Guo, C. Shi, and T. Chi.
*Equally Credited Authors (ECAs)
- Three graduate students - Yaolong Hu, Wei Wang, and Qiang Zhou - received the SSCS predoctoral awards. These are the highest honors that a graduate student in solid-state circuit research can receive. Seven Rice students have received the SSCS Predoctoral Award since 2024.
- One graduate student, Yumin Su, won the SSCS student travel award.
About ISSCC
Often referred to as the "Olympics" of chip design, ISSCC is widely considered as the top-notch conference in the field of solid-state circuits and Systems-on-a-Chip (SoC) for the following reasons:
- Prestige: ISSCC has a long and rich history, dating back to 1954. It has consistently been the venue for groundbreaking innovations in integrated circuit design, showcasing technologies that have shaped the entire electronics industry.
- Impact: The papers presented at ISSCC often have a significant impact on the field, influencing future research directions and product development. Many of the technologies that we use in our everyday lives, from smartphones to computers, have their roots in the research presented at ISSCC.
- Industry Recognition: ISSCC is highly regarded by both academia and industry. Leading companies and research institutions around the world actively participate in the conference, sending their top researchers and engineers to present their work and learn about the latest advancements.