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A Research Leader in Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuit Design


 
  • General Benefits
  • Interesting Statistics
  • Recently Reported Benefits
  • Technology Transfer & Breakthroughs
  • A Few Thoughts from Our Members

    • General Benefits
    There are many general short-term and long-term benefits for our industrial sponsors including:
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    		•  Ability to actively participate in setting the research agenda.
    Access to specialized faculty skill.
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    		•  Leveraging company research funding for a fraction of the price typically paid for one university project.
      Networking opportunities through center meetings.
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    		•  Pre-publication access to research results, copies of graduate theses and other materials resulting from center projects.
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    		•  Access to students for internships and employment who have worked on industry-relevant projects.
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    		•  Two in-person research reviews a year.
       
    Interesting Statistics
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    		•  With 15-20 industry sponsors supporting CDADIC-related research, the center has been able to award approximately $4 million in research funding to center-affiliated universities in the past five years.
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    		•  Garnered $770,000 NSF grant ('99-'04)
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    		•  Approximately $4 million Air Force (AFRL) award, 2002-2005
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    		•  Sponsored over 200 projects since its inception.
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    		•  Trained more than 400 students.
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    		•  Provided numerous internships and employment opportunities for students. (Over 90% of CDADIC students are placed in industry upon graduation.)
     
    Recently Reported Benefits
    These are some of the benefits reported by our industrial members during the last fiscal year. This is an example of what can transpire in any give year. (The items listed here are in addition to the general member benefits listed in the CDADIC brochure.)
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    		•  One industry partner reported a saving of $2 million on the technical transfer of an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) design.
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    		•  AMI, Analog Devices and other CDADIC companies are still using the Matlab toolbox for delta-sigma converters developed by CDADIC researchers.
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    		•  Analog Devices hired five Ph.D. students from CDADIC universities.
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    		•  One company reported using a CDADIC delta-sigma design tool that has saved them months of time on many designs and has paid for their center membership many times over.
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    		•  Another CDADIC company is using center-related research that they reported to be worth millions of dollars to them.
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    		•  There are numerous other examples of the benefits CDADIC's industry partners reported on over the years, from gaining highly trained employees, to tremendous savings due to center research, and patent rights.
       
    Technology Transfer & Breakthroughs
    The National Science Foundation in its 2004 publication, Compendium of Technology Breakthroughs of NSF Industry/University Cooperative Research Centers, identified six of CDADIC's research breakthroughs particularly noteworthy:  
    • New Integrated Circuit Technique: Output Prediction Logic
    • Delta-Sigma Toolbox
    • Circuit Protection Modeling Systems
    • Low-Cost Phased Array Antenna Using Silicon Germanium Technology
    • Current-Mode Logic Circuits for Low-Noise Performance
    • Advances in Analog-Digital Converters

    Specific examples of technology transfer/member benefits that took place during the last few years are listed below. (More detailed information about our research and other accomplishments is given in the Annual Report.)

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    		•  Our company has benefited from the DAC IP, through CDADIC
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    		•  Interconnect models and algorithms have been used by our group, reports another company.
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    		•  We've benefited from further knowledge of analog processes in CMOS and high-speed ADCs.
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    		•  New concepts, new circuits, new design techniques from CDADIC have all been used by our company.
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    		•  We are using center design information; summary of design measured results; and design databases, including schematic capture and layout.
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    		•  CDADIC research in phased array antenna technology should be instrumental to the Department of Defense's next generation battle-space communications systems
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    		•  We are using one of the center's receiver-on-a-chip (ROC) and hope to accelerate our ROC prototyping y 24-months.
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    		•  There are numerous other examples of industry partners benefiting from CDADIC research and interacting with the centers researchers, as well as having access to a highly trained labor pool through the centers graduate students.
       
    A Few Thoughts from Our Members
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    		•  “The only way we can achieve all of [our] goals is to develop close relationships with the best universities, which we consider the member [universities] of CDADIC to be.”
    Brian Evans, Branch Manager, Analog Baseband Design, Texas Instruments
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    		•  “We value the opportunity that the CDADIC meetings provide to interact with industry. This has given us insights on their solution approaches to common problems, provided collaborative development opportunities and, on occasion, provided excellent employment referrals for experienced ASIC designers.”
    Greg Kromholtz, ASIC Business Development,The Boeing Company
     
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