IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015 - 6

a ssoc iate editor's vie w

Marcel Pelgrom

The Living and the Dead

T

The main character in the movie The
Sixth Sense can see both the living and
those who have passed away. The living are able to shape their world, enjoy
a creative life, and grow in personality. The dead crowd the places in the
delimited world that once was theirs,
communicating neither with the living
nor the dead. They are even unaware at
times of their own nonliving condition.
When I get on the train to my office
every morning, I feel as if I am surrounded by the living dead-enclosed
within invisible coffins with plastic lids
sized 5, 10, or 13 inches in diameter that
brightly illuminate their grey faces.
No matter how much you bump
into them when the train rumbles over
the changes, these unseeing, unhearing, and unthinking strap-hangers live
in their own sphere, entrapped within
their tabloids and blogs and by what
their leaders and favorite television
channels tell them. They frighten me.
And they show up at the office.
Lots of dead IC design engineers
reappear each morning to mindlessly
repeat in their cubicle crypts what
they did as students or young professionals. And that's OK because in many
of today's integrated circuit design
departments, "Can you use this alternative instead of that?" is a worrying
question. Dead designers, on the other
hand, excel at producing "derivatives,"
yet another version of what the marketing department thinks they can
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MSSC.2014.2369273
Date of publication: 11 February 2015

6

w i n t e r 2 0 15

sell. "Well, I need to discuss that with
result and presents it in review meetmy system architect." Hear! A dead
ings. To politely silent colleagues.
designer is talking.
Are today's engineers doing what they
Now, nothing is wrong with designshould have been trained for-thinking?
ing derivatives, as long as it does not
Some universities attempt to train
get in the way of conjuring up and
their students to think of the right
considering alternatives, even under
alternative. Performing the algorithm
deadening time pressure.
"For i = 1 to N," check whether the
All designers must
a(i) is better than the
simulate circuits. But
required spec."
the dead designers
But the sad fact is
A live designer
simulate much more
that many universities
figures out which
than living designers-
more typically supdifferential pair
corners, temperatures,
press thinking of any
is crucial for the
voltages, use cases-
kind, with educational
distortion
the same circuit with
programs that focus
performance.
another interface, 10%
on reproduction and
less power, or 3 dB
memorization. I have
more THD. A dead designer will simuencountered fascinating exemplars of
late the entire circuit and vary every
deadened thinking, even at the Ph.D.
component value until the required
level, who could reproduce paragraphs
value is mysteriously reached. Ask any
of textbooks down to the last comma
designer, "What outcome did you expect
with tape-recorder brilliance and the
when starting this simulation?" If he or
desiccation of autumn leaves.
she gazes at you not understanding the
Some companies love dead workers:
question (it happens too often), you can
they fit excellently into their industrial
be sure he or she is peering at you from
crypts. But when a fundamental turn
the realm of the dead.
in a project requires out-of-the-box
A live designer figures out which
thinking, executives find themselves
differential pair is crucial for the diswaiting desperately for such staffers
tortion performance. In the head of
to come back to life, as their marketing
a living designer, a circuit is shaped
opportunity turns into dust.
and formed; alternatives are examIn real life and The Sixth Sense,
ined, accepted, or rejected. After
there is no escape from physical
he or she globally knows what the
death. But it is a shameful waste of
simulation result should look like,
talent when engineers accept mental
the run command is given. A living
death years before that, when they
designer realizes whether the CAD
could still be gloriously alive.
or the circuit limits the simulation. A
dead designer accepts any simulation

IEEE SOLID-STATE CIRCUITS MAGAZINE



Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015

IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015 - Cover1
IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015 - Cover2
IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015 - 1
IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015 - 2
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IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015 - Cover3
IEEE Solid-State Circuits Magazine - Winter 2015 - Cover4
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