ISSCC 1999 - Communications

• Summary
• Daytime Paper Sessions
• Evening Panel Discussion
• Tutorial

Subcommittee Chair: Robert Bayruns, Anadigics, Warren, NJ

HIGHLIGHTS

• Communications Techniques & ATM [TA9]
  
  • Smart Radio-Frequency Identification [9.1]
    
  • ATM Switching [9.3, 9.4, 9.5, 9.6]

• Wireless Circuits For Portable Applications [TP13]
  
  • Direct-conversion receiver architectures [13.1, 13.5]
    
  • Low-power, low-voltage circuits [13.2, 13.7, 13.8]

• xDSL Signal Processors With Improved Analog Front Ends [TP14]
  
  • Optimized analog front-ends for DSL systems [14.2, 14.7]
    
  • 70Mb/s VDSL chip with a new architecture for high-speed computation of FFT/IFFT [14.6]

• Clock- & Data-Recovery Improvements Toward Lower Jitter [WA20]
  
  • Burst-mode PLL for high-capacity crossbar switching [20.1]
    
  • Code- and bit-rate-independent repeaters for flexible fiber infrastructure [20.2, 20.3]
    
  • Improved PLL jitter generation, tolerance, and transfer [20.6]

• Optical Links Trending Toward Higher Speed and More Parallelism [WP22]
  
  • High levels of integration for reduced power consumption and reduced system cost [22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4]
    
  • Low-cost opto-electronic chip for CD-ROM and DVD [22.5]
    
  • Low-power laser drivers and fiber-embedded circuits [22.5, 22.7]

ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPACT

• Lower-cost home-wireless gadgets
  
• Faster Internet connections, better phone connections, and more services
  
• Better higher-capacity infrastructure for phone and Internet backbones

PANEL

• They Don't make engineers like they used to... [ME1]
  
  • A discussion of how engineers, fresh out of school, stack up against older and wiser engineers

TUTORIAL

• Residential High-Bandwidth Systems [T2]

Session: TA9

COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUES AND ATM

Chair: Charles Chien, Rockwell Science Center, Thousand Oaks, CA
Associate Chair: Yukihito Oowaki, Toshiba R&D Center, Kawasaki, Japan

DRIVERS

• High-speed backbone
  
• Cables to the home
  
• Short-range wireless communications
  
• Wireless ATM systems

HIGHLIGHTS

• Low-power 2mW RFID Transponder with a dedicated CPU [9.1]
  
• 100MHz to 1.1GHz Cable Transmission for multiple channels without power increase [9.2]
  
• 300ns-Attack-Time BiCMOS AGC Amplifier for ATM systems [9.3]
  
• 2.4M-Transistor 622Mb/s ATM-switch Access LSI with 2.2%-jitter high-precision traffic shaper [9.4]
  
• 622Mb/s ATM Resource-Management LSI for 256k-cell-time burst shaping [9.5]
  
• Up to 640Gb/s scalable low-power 7W ATM switch in 0.25 micron CMOS/SIMOX [9.6]

Session:TP13

WIRELESS CIRCUITS

Chair: John Long, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Associate Chair: John Khoury, Lucent Technologies, Allentown, PA

DRIVERS

• Low-power/Low-voltage systems
  
• Portability
  
• High levels of integration
  
• Wideband CDMA
  
• High-efficiency power amplifiers
  
• Longer battery life for longer talk time
  
• Low distortion for higher quality of service

HIGHLIGHTS

• Direct-conversion receiver for Wideband CDMA [13.1]
  
• Low-power (22mW) NADC-receiver IF chip [13.2]
  
• 0.9GHz and 1.96GHz high-linearity LNA [13.3]
  
• 2.1GHz quadrature modulation for Wideband CDMA [13.4]
  
• 3.7W silicon power amplifier with 59% efficiency [13.6]
  
• High levels of integration in a CMOS transceiver, single-chip [13.5], multi-chip [13.7]
  
• 1.8V, 14-bit audio codec for cellular applications [13.8]

Session: TP14

xDSL SIGNAL PROCESSORS

Co-Chair: Russ Apfel, Consultant, Austin, TX
Co-Chair: Lars Thon, IBM Almaden Research Ctr., San Jose, CA

DRIVERS

• High-speed Internet access for the home
  
• Use of already-installed twisted-pair wiring
  
• Inexpensive solution to high-bandwidth demand

HIGHLIGHTS

• 14-bit, 1MHz analog circuitry combined with DSP on a single chip [14.2, 14.3, 14.4]
  
• High-linearity analog front-ends allow >18kft wire lengths for more than 90% household coverage [14.2, 14.4]
  
• Advanced modulation schemes for high spectral efficiency [14.2, 14.6, 14.7]
  
• 768kb/s to 70Mb/s xDSL designs cover a wide range of applications [14.4, 14.6, 14.7]

Session: WA20

CLOCK AND DATA RECOVERY

Chair: Richard Walker, Hewlett Packard Labs, Palo Alto, CA
Associate Chair: Mehmet Soyuer, IBM T.J. Watson Research Ctr., Yorktown Heights, NY

DRIVERS

• Burst-mode operation for crossbar switching
  
• Bit-rate independence for flexible fiber infrastructure
  
• Improvement in jitter generation, tolerance and transfer
  
• High-speed operation in digital CMOS for low cost

HIGHLIGHTS

• Rapid timing synchronization using adaptive bandwidth PLL for burst- mode operation acquires lock within 40 cycles [20.1]
  
• Bit-rate detection and frequency autoranging allow transparent operation from 155Mb/s to 2.488Gb/s. [20.2, 20.3]
  
• Oversampled PLL for 3.5Gb/s operation in digital CMOS process meets Fiber-Channel jitter specifications [20.4]
  
• Track-and-hold loop filter for good performance with data run-lengths up to 140 bits [20.5]
  
• New architecture allows independent control of jitter generation and jitter transfer function [20.6]

Session: WP22

OPTICAL LINKS

Chair: Paul Davis, Lucent Technologies, Reading, PA
Associate Chair: Takaaki Baba, Panasonic Technologies Inc., Cupertino, CA

DRIVERS

• Higher bit rates
  
• Higher integration for smaller size
  
• Lower power consumption
  
• Lower cost

HIGHLIGHTS

• Single-chip 12-channel transmitter and receiver at 1Gb/s [22.1, 22.2]
  
• Use of SiGe for 10Gb/s data in a receiver product [22.3, 22.4]
  
• Low-cost opto-electronic chip for CD-ROM & DVD application [22.5]
  
• 10x Power-reduced (15mW) laser driver for ATM application [22.6]
  
• Fiber-embedded lightwave circuit on Si substrate [22.7]

Panel Session: ME1

THEY DON'T MAKE ENGINEERS LIKE THEY USED TO

OBJECTIVE

• To explore the present and future state of engineering education.

CHALLENGES

• Are engineering students being taught what they will need to know?
  
• How do we keep practicing engineers from becoming obsolete as technology marches on?
  
• Is a feel for physical reality important in the age of simulation?

CONTROVERSIES

• Have engineers become CAD weenies? Or have simulation tools made them more powerful? Or both?

Tutorial: T2

OVERVIEW

• A number of competing technologies are emerging to provide high- speed access to the Internet for the residential consumer: HFC, copper twisted pair (xDSL), wireless (satellite), power-line modem access
  
• High-level overview of all four systems
  
• System-level description of requirements
  
• Advantages/Pitfalls of each technology and where they are most likely to be implemented.

TUTORIAL SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Trudy Stetzler, received the BSEE in 1984 from Pennsylvania State University and the MSEE from UC Berkeley in 1985. She joined Bell Laboratories in 1985 and designed analog and RF ICs for wired and cellular phones. She was elected Distinguished Member of Technical Staff in 1995. In 1997 she received her MBA from the Wharton School and joined TI. At Texas Instruments, Houston, TX, she is currently Senior Member of Technical Staff, analyzing various communications systems for the New Business Development Group.