VLSI and Circuits, Embedded and Hardware Systems Commons^™

Design & Analysis Of Mixed-Mode Integrated Circuit For Pulse-Shape Discrimination, Bryan Orabutt

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

In nuclear science experiments it is usually necessary to determine the type of radiation, its energy and direction with considerable accuracy. The detection of neutrons and discriminating them from gamma rays is particularly difficult. A popular method of doing so is to measure characteristics intrinsic to the pulse shape of each radiation type in order to perform pulse-shape discrimination (PSD).

Historically, PSD capable systems have been designed with two approaches in mind: specialized analog circuitry, or digital signal processing (DSP). In this work we propose a PSD capable circuit topology using techniques from both the analog and DSP domains. We …

Integrated Circuit Design For Hybrid Optoelectronic Interconnects, Kehan Zhu

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on high-speed circuit design for the integration of hybrid optoelectronic interconnects. It bridges the gap between electronic circuit design and optical device design by seamlessly incorporating the compact Verilog-A model for optical components into the SPICE-like simulation environment, such as the Cadence design tool.

Optical components fabricated in the IME 130nm SOI CMOS process are characterized. Corresponding compact Verilog-A models for Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) device are developed. With this approach, electro-optical co-design and hybrid simulation are made possible.

The developed optical models are used for analyzing the system-level specifications of an MZM based optoelectronic transceiver link. Link …

Design And Analysis Of An Asynchronous Microcontroller, Michael Hinds

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation presents the design of the most complex MTNCL circuit to date. A fully functional MTNCL MSP430 microcontroller is designed and benchmarked against an open source synchronous MSP430. The designs are compared in terms of area, active energy, and leakage energy. Techniques to reduce MTNCL pipeline activity and improve MTNCL register file area and power consumption are introduced. The results show the MTNCL design to have superior leakage power characteristics. The area and active energy comparisons highlight the need for better MTNCL logic synthesis techniques.

High Temperature Cmos Silicon Carbide Asynchronous Circuit Design, Landon John Caley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Designing a digital circuit to operate in an extreme temperature range is a challenge with increasing demand for a solution. Large variations in temperature have a distinct impact on electron mobilities causing substantial changes to the threshold voltage of the devices. These physical changes affect the setup and hold times of clocked components, such as D-Flip Flops, of a traditional synchronous digital circuit. Focusing primarily on high temperature circuit operation, this dissertation presents a digital circuit design methodology pairing an asynchronous circuit design paradigm called NULL Convention Logic (NCL) as well as traditional Boolean circuitry with a wide-bandgap semiconductor material, …

A Reconfigurable Digital-To-Analog Converter With Supply Invariant Linearity, Nicholas J. Chiolino

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A novel reconfigurable digital-to-analog converter (DAC) with supply independent linearity is presented. The process agnostic converter achieves wide supply range operation and re-configurability by being charge based. This converter consists of a 7-bit parallel digital input control core and an analog "summing" core utilizing charging capacitors with an operational transconductance amplifier in a voltage-follower configuration. This topology is highly configurable to allow for optimization across process voltages, step sizes and low power operation. The specification of the DAC is (1) supply independence (2) low power operation (3) operation up to 200 kHz and (4) conversion control through a DAC enable …