• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.196-203
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• 2004

A three-dimensional (3D) IC technology platform is presented for high-performance, low-cost heterogeneous integration of silicon ICs. The platform uses dielectric adhesive bonding of fully-processed wafer-to-wafer aligned ICs, followed by a three-step thinning process and copper damascene patterning to form inter-wafer interconnects. Daisy-chain inter-wafer via test structures and compatibility of the process steps with 130 nm CMOS sal devices and circuits indicate the viability of the process flow. Such 3D integration with through-die vias enables high functionality in intelligent wireless terminals, as vertical integration of processor, large memory, image sensors and RF/microwave transceivers can be achieved with silicon-based ICs (Si CMOS and/or SiGe BiCMOS). Two examples of such capability are highlighted: memory-intensive Si CMOS digital processors with large L2 caches and SiGe BiCMOS pipelined A/D converters. A comparison of wafer-level 3D integration 'lith system-on-a-chip (SoC) and system-in-a-package (SiP) implementations is presented.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.145-154
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• 1997

Based on a new search strategy using circuit simulation and simulated annealing with local search, a technique for design automation of high-performance operational amplifiers is proposed. For arbitrary circuit topology and performance specifications, through discrete optimization of a cost function with discrete design variables the design of operational amplifiers is performed. A special-purpose circuit simulator and some heuristics are used to reduce the design time. Through the design of a low-power high-speed fully differential CMOS operational amplifier usable in smart sensors and 10-b 25-MS/s pipelined A/D converters, it has been demonstrated that a design tool developed using the proposed technique can be used for designing high-performance operational amplifiers with less design knowledge and less design effort.

• Journal of the Institute of Electronics Engineers of Korea SC
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• v.37 no.6
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• pp.35-41
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• 2000

This paper describes a merged-capacitor switching (MCS) technique to improve the signal Processing speed and resolution of CMOS analog-to-digital converters (ADCs). The proposed MCS technique improves a sampling rate by reducing the number of capacitors used in conventional pipelined ADCs. The ADC capacitor mismatch can be minimized without additional power consumption, die area, and the loss of sampling rate, when the size of each unit capacitor is increased as much as the number of capacitors reduced by the MCS technique. It is verified that the ADC resolution based on the proposed MCS technique is extended further by employing a conventional commutated feedback-capacitor switching (CFCS) technique.