Author Mikael Sahrling, discusses Fast Techniques for Integrated Circuit Design

Fast Techniques for Integrated Circuit Design – Introduces techniques that can lessen reliance on commercial software packages and simulators.

WHAT INSPIRED THIS BOOK?

Well so I noticed in the course of my work that a lot of young engineers have a tendency to overdo computers and simulators. They use them too much, so it’s good to have people that are used to technology when it comes to lab work and stuff but when it comes to circuit design, it’s much better to have a mathematical model first before you start simulating. It makes things faster and you can see how various perimeters depend on each other. So my book is about this type of mathematical modelling. It’s often called engineering group hand calculations, but I prefer to call it estimation analysis. Hand calculation is a little vague and it makes it sound like sloppiness that I do not like. So I prefer estimation analysis.

WHAT PRACTICAL BENEFITS DOES THE BOOK PROVIDE TO CIRCUIT DESIGNERS?

It shows through a number of examples how to do simple modelling, from simple transistor stages up to complex systems and it also goes through electromagnetic effects to quite some detail.

WHAT DO YOU HOPE WILL BE THE LASTING IMPACT OF THIS BOOK?

I hope that people will think before they simulate, and I also hope that people will be more comfortable doing electromagnetic calculations.

CAN YOU SHARE ANY INTERESTING ANECDOTES FROM THE BOOK?

Well, so the idea of estimation analysis in my mind, came when I took part in a class called Orders of Magnitude Physics many years ago when I was a post doc at Caltech. In this class the students learn to estimate the amount of rubber in the atmosphere from the course on LA’s freeways. The idea of estimations really took hold of me then, so when I moved onto doing electronic design, I took that idea further and I met other people, designers that are not necessarily physicists but do the same thing. So it’s a common approach but I present here that’s going to make it easier for circuit designers to adapt.

WHAT ORIGINALLY DREW YOU TO, OR EXCITES YOU ABOUT, THIS SUBJECT AREA?

It’s extraordinarily satisfying to be able to explain through simple models sometimes fairly complex systems, so what sets this modulation when measuring how are various perimeters relate to each other is a lot of fun and it teaches you how things work on a deeper level.

WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY WORKING ON THAT YOU’D LIKE TO TELL US ABOUT?

Well I can’t tell you a whole lot about it, but we live in a world that’s analogue and we only know so far how to process things digitally so their interface between interface and a digital world is very important and as the communication speed is going faster and faster we need faster and faster analogue-to-digital convertors, so that’s what I’m working on. We’re approaching speeds now that’s more about 400 gigabits per second and the bandwidth that approaches 100 gigahertz and it’s an extraordinarily fun time to do high speed design.

IN WHICH ARES OF RESEARCH DO YOU EXPECT TO SEE GROWTH IN THE NEXT TEN TO TWENTY YEARS?

Well, so I wold expect to see analogue-to-digital converters to be faster and faster and also the drivers, the input and output drivers, to become more and more sophisticated. Also, when it comes to data processing, artificial intelligence will certainly be an important field also.