IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Summer 2014 - 23

to thank them for always being by my
side when I needed them. They are too
many to possibly mention individually.
I just thank them as a group even if in
my mind I often think of them one by
one with affection. I cannot, however,
avoid spending a word on my immediate family (see Figure. 14). My children, each in his individual and very
different way, have been the best gifts
that I could have ever received. Chiara,
with her artistic talent, has been for me
an incredible example of strength and
determination but also a source of support when times have been difficult.
Francesca, with her rare combination
of brightness, empathy and ability to
stay focused on her goals, has helped
me overcome some of my insecurities
with the example of her amazing inner
strength. Angelo, with his unusual
combination of sharp analytical mind
and creative artistic talent has helped
stir my path in the right direction
when I was risking to go astray. Finally,
my loving wife Anna, who has so many
times accepted to sacrifice her own
preferences and desires to allow me
to carry on all my duties and commitments. She has done it in a such a
natural and happy way that I have, on
several occasions, taken her generosity for granted.
Perhaps the best way to acknowledge the importance that she has
had in my life is to quote a phrase
that Weili (a truly amazing woman
herself) has often told me when talking about Anna: "Remember Rinaldo
that behind a successful man there
is always a great woman".
In conclusion, I would like to say
that, looking back on my life, it has
confirmed, in a striking way, the truth
of the message given by Steve Jobs in
his famous speech at Stanford which
I freely summarize as follows: "Look
back on your life and you will see
many dots that, when connected, will
reveal a beautiful picture". I certainly
can see a wonderful one in mine.

Acknowledgments
I am indebted to the many people that
have contributed to this issue whose
kindness I would like to acknowledge

here. First of all A. Baschirotto for putting together the entire issue, coordinating one of the articles and keeping
contact with the editors. He did more
than I had expected him to do taking time away from his busy schedule with an enthusiasm that touched
me. A special thanks also goes to the
main authors of the other 4 companion papers that will appear along with
my own. They are: W. Sansen, a close
friend on whom I can always count
who also sponsored my name for the
issue, G. Baccarani a colleague who
once again accepted to helped me just
out of friendship, E. Dallago a colleague
from Pavia who is always more generous with me than I am with him, and
last but not least C. Rudell who, notwithstanding a grueling schedule, did
an amazing editing job on the Berkeley paper. Finally a big thanks goes to
all the other contributors (both those
listed at the beginning of the issue and
those who contributed to the Berkeley paper). I would very much like to
acknowledge them individually (and I
plan to do it in person) but, since this
article is already too long, I just do it
as a group here. I just want to say that
each one of them added a very personal
note that touched me in a very special
way that I will always remember.

References

[1] R. Castello and P. R. Gray "A high-performance micropower switched-capacitor filter," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. SC-20,
pp. 1122-1132, Dec. 1985. Also included in
the selected reprint: Analog MOS Integrated
Circuits, II, P. R. Gray, B. A. Wooley, and R. W.
Brodersen, Eds. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press,
pp. 251-261.
[2] R. Alini, A. Baschirotto, and R. Castello,
"Tunable BiCMOS continuous-time filters for
high-frequency applications," IEEE J. SolidState Circuits, vol. 27, no. 12, pp. 1905-1915,
Dec. 1992; appears also in BiCMOS Integrated Circuit Design, M. I. Elmasry, Ed. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, pp. 442-452.
[3] S. Pernici, G. Nicollini, and R. Castello,
"A CMOS low-distortion fully differential
power amplifier with double nested Miller
compensation," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits,
vol. 28, pp. 758-763, 1993.
[4] F. R. Castello and P .R. Gray, "Performance
limitations in swiched-capacitor filters,"
IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst., vol. CAS-32,
pp. 865-876, Sept. 1985. Also included in
the selected reprint: Analog MOS Integrated
Circuits, II, P. R. Gray, B. A. Wooley, and R. W.
Brodersen, Eds. Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press,
pp. 262-273.
[5] R. Castello, L. Tomasini, S. Pernici, F.
Salerno, M. Mazzucco, and M. Ferro, "Analog
front-end of an ECBM transceiver for ISDN,"

IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. SC-25, no. 6,
pp. 1575-1585, Dec. 1990.
[6] I. Fabiano, M. Sosio, A. Liscidini, and R. Castello, "SAW-less analog front-end receivers
for TDD and FDD," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits,
vol. 48, no. 12, pp. 3067-3079, Dec. 2013.
[7] E. Vittoz, R. Castello, R. Brodersen, N. Lu, Y.
Higihara, and T. Lee, "Antiques from innovations attic, " IEEE Solid-State Circuits Mag.,
Summer 2013.

About the Author
Rinaldo Castello (S'78-M'78-SM'92-
F'99) graduated from the University of
Genova (summa cum laude) in 1977
and received the M.S. and the Ph. D.
from the University of California,
Berkeley, in '81 and '84. From '83 to
'85 he was Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of California,
Berkeley. In 1987 he joined the University of Pavia where he is now a Full
Professor. He consulted for ST-Microelectronics, Milan, Italy up to 2005. In
'98 he started a joint research centre
between the University of Pavia and
ST and was its Scientific Director up
to '05. He promoted the establishing
of several design centre from multinational IC companies in the Pavia area
among them Marvell for which he has
been consulting since 2005. Rinaldo
Castello has been a member of the
TPC of the European Solid State Circuit
Conference (ESSCIRC) since 1987 and
of the International Solid State Circuit
Conference (ISSCC) from '92 to '04. He
was Technical Chairman of ESSCIRC
'91 and General Chairman of ESSCIRC
'02, Associate Editor for Europe of the
IEEE J. of Solid-State Circ. from '94 to
'96 and Guest Editor of the July '92
Special Issue. From 2000 to 2007 he
was Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE
Solid-State Circuit Society. Prof Castello was named one of the outstanding contributors for the first 50 and
60 years of ISSCC and a co-recipient
of the Best Student Paper Award at the
2005 Symposium on VLSI of the Best
Invited Paper Award at the 2011 CICC
and of the Best Evening Panel Award
at ISSCC 2012. He was one of the two
European representatives at the Plenary Distinguished Panel of ISSCC
2013. Rinaldo Castello is a Fellow of
the IEEE and holds approximately 50
US patents.

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