| Abstract |
"Moore's Law" scaling of transistor dimensions to the submicron range has enabled dramatic innovation in digital,
analog, and mixed signal integrated circuit design. Paradoxically, the assumptions that simplify analysis of
semiconductor devices can inhibit the creativity required for synthesis of designs intended for innovative
applications.
This talk begins by presenting a model for creativity that accounts for the role of assumptions, and then explores the
assumptions necessary for designing with the MOS transistor. For long-channel MOSFETs, noise behavior is
predicted by an expression derived from thermal noise in the MOSFET channel. For short channel MOSFETs,
however, observed noise can be much higher. While the cause of this excess noise is the subject of some
controversy, it is helpful to consider the fundamental difference between shot noise (carrier motions are independent
events) and thermal noise (carrier motions are dependent due to thermal equilibration).
Given this background, the talk concludes by examining the noise implications of scaling from measured jitter
performance for ring oscillators fabricated in a 0.18um CMOS process.
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| Biography |
John McNeill has over 25 years of experience in design of low noise, high precision, analog and mixed signal
circuits and systems. He was born in Syracuse, New York, in 1961, and received the A.B. from Dartmouth College
in 1983, the M.S. from the University of Rochester in 1991, and the Ph.D. from Boston University in 1994.
From 1983 to 1990 he worked in industry in the design of high speed, high resolution analog-to-digital converters
and low noise interface electronics used in high speed, wide dynamic range imaging systems. In the early 1990s,
working at Analog Devices as a consultant, he developed a low jitter voltage-controlled ring oscillator architecture
used in the AD805/7/8/9 series of clock-recovery and clock synthesis PLLs.
Since 1994 he has been with the Electrical and Computer Engineering department of Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
In 1999 he received WPI’s campus-wide award for Outstanding Teaching, and in 2007 was one of the first
recipients of WPI’s Exemplary Faculty award recognizing accomplishment in teaching, research, and service. He is
named on multiple patents in the areas of phase-locked loop, analog-to-digital converter, and instrumentation
technology, and is author or co-author of more than 40 technical papers.
His 1997 paper "Jitter in Ring Oscillators" in the IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits has been cited over 200 times
and is included in the IEEE Press volume Monolithic Phase-Locked Loops and Clock Recovery Circuits : Theory
and Design (B. Razavi ,Editor). In 2006, McNeill and co-authors Michael Coln and Brian Larivee received the
Lewis Winner Award for Outstanding Paper at the 2005 IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference.
Since 1998, McNeill has been director of the New England Center for Analog and Mixed Signal Integrated Circuit
Design (NECAMSID) at WPI, a consortium of industry sponsors supporting undergraduate projects and graduate
research in the area of analog and mixed signal integrated circuit design.
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