IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Spring 2014 - 68

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ISSCC Student Research Preview
Exemplar Technical Paper Presented as Welcome Address by IEEE Fellow Asad Abidi
Unveiling the Regenerative Latch
In the era of mixed-signal systems, the regenerative latch circuit is almost as
important as an amplifier. It is the dividing line between the world of continuous analog waveforms and binary data. Regenerative latches are at the heart
of data converters, decision circuits in digital receivers,
and sense amplifiers in memory readout. Unlike amplifiers, their operation is only roughly understood.
The latch presents difficulties where the amplifier
does not because it is nonlinear, time varying, and unstable, three behaviors for which our education prepares us least. But it need not be so. Circuit designers
have cracked open opaque circuits using their insight,
coupled with well-chosen methods of analysis. It is
time now for the regenerative latch.
It is relatively easy to estimate regeneration time
constants but harder to understand how transistor and
capacitor mismatch as well as clock phasing determine
offset. Equivalent circuits are developed that show how
Asad A. Abidi.
latch offsets from all sources can be compensated.
Biography
Asad A. Abidi (abidi@ee.ucla.edu) received the B.Sc. (with honors) degree from Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, in 1976, and the
M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of
California, Berkeley, in 1978 and 1981, respectively.
He was at Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, New Jersey, from 1981 to 1984
as a member of technical staff in the Advanced LSI Development Laboratory.
Since 1985, he has been with the Electrical Engineering Department of the
University of California, Los Angeles, where he is a professor. He was a visiting faculty researcher at Hewlett Packard Laboratories in 1989. His research
interests are in CMOS RF design, data high-speed analog integrated circuit
design, conversion, and other techniques of analog signal processing.
Dr. Abidi was the program secretary for the International Solid-State
Circuits Conference (ISSCC) from 1984 to 1990 and general chair of the
Symposium on VLSI Circuits in 1992. He was secretary of the IEEE Solidstate Circuits Council from 1990 to 1991. From 1992 to 1995, he was
editor of IEEE Journal of Solid-state Circuits.
Research Interests
Prof. Abidi's research interests are focused on the technology of RFCMOS integrated circuits, including development of a single chip
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2014.2316056
Date of publication: 24 June 2014

s p r i n g 2 0 14

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE

900-MHz transceiver for frequency-hopped, spread-spectrum communications at data rates of up to 160 kb/s. The mixed analog/digital transceiver, implemented in a standard CMOS process, encompasses all the
functions between antenna and the baseband signal
processing. His current research focuses on CMOS
ICs for very high-bit-rate integrated transceivers at
2.4 GHz, supporting data rates in excess of 10 Mb/s,
using adaptive techniques and complex modulation
methods. An important recent accomplishment in
disk drive signal processing is the demonstration of
a low-power 160 Mb/s front end for EPR-4 partial
response signaling. The CMOS IC contains a new
equalizer, with coefficients that may be programmed
or adapted, and a discrete-time clock recovery circuit. In data conversion research, the first CMOS
10-b, 100-MHz A/D converter with near Nyquist
performance has been demonstrated. Working architectures and circuits are being extended to low
power and compact implementations of second
generation A/D converters with a similar performance.
Awards and Recognitions
** 2009 Third World Academy of Sciences
** 2008 UCLA HSSEAS Lockheed Martin Award for Excellence in
Teaching
** 2007 National Academy of Engineering
** 2007 IEEE Donald O. Pederson Award
** 2002 ISSCC Top Ten Author
** 2000 IEEE Third Millennium Medal
** 1998 Design Contest Award at the Design Automation
Conference
** 1997 ISSCC Jack Raper Outstanding Technology Directions Paper
Award
** 1997 IEEE Donald G. Fink Prize Award
** 1996 Best Paper Award of the 21st European Solid State Circuits
Conference
** 1996 IEEE Fellow
** 1988 TRW Award for Innovative Teaching.
Book
**

. Abidi, P. R. Gray, R. G. Meyer, editors, Integrated Circuits for
A
Wireless Communications, New York: IEEE Press, 1998.

http://www.B.Sc

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