IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Spring 2014 - 22

The graphic was generated from a photo of an early
MOS ADC chip by McCreary and Gray.

Designing Analog MOS Circuits
at Berkeley in the Mid-70s
Yannis Tsividis

Introduction

ne often reads of cases in which the
confluence of several factors, key
among them the presence of a core
of driven individuals, attracts other
motivated people and leads to a happy
situation characterized by enthusiasm and creativity,
where "sparks fly". Examples can be found in many fields,
from physics (e.g., University of Göttingen, Germany, in
the 1920s) to music (e.g., Louisville Orchestra, 1950s).
In engineering, one of the best examples of this can be
found in the Integrated Circuits Lab at the University of
California, Berkeley, in the early-to-mid-70s and beyond.
Through the visionary efforts of Don Pederson (of SPICE
fame), an IC lab had been established at Berkeley in the
early sixties - a very daring feat, at a time when it was
generally believed that such an endeavor is not viable at a
university setting, and is better left to the industry. Dave
Hodges was a graduate student then, and grew with the
lab, returning as a faculty member in 1970. Paul Gray and
Bob Meyer joined the faculty around that time, too. These
events, together with the fact that the lab was part of a
great department at Berkeley, and the fact that the university was located next door to Silicon Valley, led to what was
a rather unique situation in academia, at least in the electronics field. I was fortunate to be a graduate student there
from 1972 to 1976. In this article, I will attempt to convey
what it was like to be part of the IC lab during the above
period, and particularly to be working on the design of analog MOS integrated circuits.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2014.2313711
Date of publication: 24 June 2014

s p r i n g 2 0 14

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

Education
The IC faculty at Berkeley had strong industrial connections, because of both prior experience before joining, and
contacts in Silicon Valley and beyond after joining. This
was reflected in their classes, which were a fresh breeze
compared to classical electronics classes elsewhere.
The senior/first-year-graduate classes in ICs had an industrial bend, and the emphasis was on practical hand analysis and engineering approximations. The examples were
realistic, and an order-of-magnitude feel was conveyed to
the students. Such classes on linear analog circuits, nonlinear analog circuits, and digital circuits (EECS 141, 140,
and 145), had their counterpart in advanced graduatelevel classes (with corresponding numbers 241, 240, and
245), where selected advanced topics were covered, culminating in a demanding design project, based on realistic
specs. These were classes with a true engineering flavor,
and true academic ones at the same time. Such classes,
taught by Paul Gray, Dave Hodges, and Bob Meyer, made
all the difference for students with classical backgrounds.
Some had to almost re-learn electronics. These classes
eventually led to the well-known books by Gray and Meyer,
and by Hodges and Jackson, and the approach spread to
other universities worldwide.
The above classes were different from those found at
most other places, thanks not only to the gifted teachers
that taught them, but also to some of the students taking
them. Several students in such classes were from Silicon
Valley, already with industrial experience. The mature,
challenging questions they asked in class, and the discussions that ensued, were a valuable part of the education
one received.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Spring 2014