MOS-AK/GSA merge

In January 2009, GSA merged its efforts with MOS-AK, a well-known industry compact modeling volunteer group primarily focused in Europe, to re-activate its Modeling Working Group. This working group will help to create a smooth compact modeling interface between the technology (CMOS fabrication) and the IC design. For more information on this working group, contact Chelsea Boone or Wladek Grabinski

visit: EDA/Design Working Groups

MIXDES'09

I'd like to kindly remember you that the MIXDES Conference deadline is approaching, and that they have a special session on Compact Modelling... I paste here the relevant parts of the email from the Organizing Committee:

Due to some requests and to make this schedule less tight we would like to extend the deadline by one week, thus the paper the paper registrations and file uploads ready for scientific reviews should be completed till March 8th, 2009. Please note that the files for registered papers can be later updated till the final papers deadline (May 18th).

As the organising committee is willing to start reviewers assignment at the very beginning of March, I would like to kindly ask you to proceed with papers' basic data registration (the title, keywords, preliminary abstract) as soon as they are ready. It will be very helpful for us with the assignments. The file uploads can be completed till the deadline.

Spring MOS-AK Meeting at IHP in Frankfurt (Oder) // 2nd announcement

I post the mail from Wladek Grabinski:

Note that the MOS-AK is in Frankfurt oder, NOT in Frankfurt.... (see the distance in this gmaps link)


Please visit the MOS-AK/IHP Meeting web page
  http://www.mos-ak.org/frankfurt_o/
with updated:

* April 2-3 meeting agenda
* Driving directions and recommended hoter
* New tentative list of the MOS-AK presenters

To register, use available Free On-line Registration form:
  http://www.mos-ak.org/frankfurt_o/pre_register.php

*Important dates
   * Final workshop program  - March.21
   * MOS-AK Workshop         - April 2-3

* MOS-AK/IHP Committee
   * Prof. Tillack Bernd, IHP; Meeting Chair
   * Prof. Benjamin Iniguez Technical Program Chair
   * Dr. Rene Scholz, IHP; Technical Program Chair
   * Richter Christine, IHP; Executive Assistant
   * Wladek Grabinski, GMC Suisse; Workshop Manager

Variations in Analog Design

I've just seen a press release in EDN about a new tool for analysis of the impact of parametric variations on the performance of circuits, specially oriented to analog design. This new tool from Solido Design Automation seems a quite potent toolbox, very related to what you can do with UTMOST, but more oriented to integration in a simulation environment. This tool promises to be able to determine the best corners from foundry data, run sensitivity analysis, etc....

If anybody has tested it, I'd like to read first-hand opinions....

Rising salaries in technological sector in 2009?

This is not a post closely related to compact modeling, but I feel that it is relevant... I've read an article in EDN, and it seems that the technological sector is a nice one to be during this crisis. In fact, they say that the unemployment ratio is halt that of the general population, and that salaries are actually growing... Incredible, isn't it? Maybe they hint at a possible explanation, because it seems that most of the people are trying to improve their situation, and that can lead to an increase of the mean salary, since the employers must keep the better...

Anyway, the full article is here... What do you think?

1/f noise in (100) and (110) Si

I've been looking to a paper from the January Issue of J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B, by Philippe Gaubert, Akinobu Teramoto, Weitao Cheng, Tatsufumi Hamada, and Tadahiro Ohmi, "Different mechanism to explain the 1/f noise in n- and p-SOI-MOS transistors fabricated on (110) and (100) silicon-oriented wafers".

They discuss the differences in both orientacions, and present some nice experimental results, with some theory explaining the differences. If you're interested in noise (other than pub music, I mean), perhaps this can interest you.