Keynote Talks
Prof. Georges Gielen
KU Leuven, Belgium
Designing Analog Integrated Circuits:
Designers, Synthesis or Generative AI ?
Analog/mixed-signal integrated circuits are key in applications where electronics interface with the physical world. But whereas digital circuits are largely synthesized through EDA software, surprisingly, the design of analog circuits in industry is mainly still handcrafted, resulting in long and error-prone design cycles and high development costs. The rebirth of AI and machine learning, and the recent rise of generative AI (GenAI) methods, however, create a whole new spectrum of techniques to automate this process. This keynote will explore the high potential of using advanced machine learning (ML) techniques to automatically synthesize and lay out analog circuits, even to create new circuit structures. What will be feasible? Will we still need designers?
Georges G.E. Gielen received the MSc and PhD degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium, in 1986 and 1990, respectively. Currently, he is Full Professor in the MICAS research division at the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) at KU Leuven. From August 2013 until July 2017 he served as Vice-Rector for the Group of Sciences, Engineering and Technology. He was visiting professor at UC Berkeley and Stanford University. Since 2020 he is Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering (ESAT) at KU Leuven.
His research interests are in the design of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits, and especially in analog and mixed-signal CAD tools and design automation, including modeling, simulation, optimization and synthesis as well as testing. He is a frequently invited speaker/lecturer and coordinator/partner of several (industrial) research projects in this area, including an ERC Advanced Grant. He has (co-)authored 10 books and more than 700 publications in edited books, international journals and conference proceedings. He is a 1997 Laureate of the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences, Literature and Arts in the discipline of Engineering. He is Fellow of the IEEE since 2002, and received the IEEE CAS Mac Van Valkenburg award in 2015 and the IEEE CAS Charles Desoer award in 2020, as well as the EDAA Achievement Award in 2021. He is an elected member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium in the class of Technical Sciences, and of the Academia Europaea.
Prof. Yusuf Leblebici
Sabanci University, Turkey
Designing Some of the Most Influential Hardware
in Human History: Our Collective Responsibilities
As circuit and system designers, we have been responsible for bringing to life some of the most ubiquitous hardware during the last 50 years, including microprocessors, memory chips, wireless and wireline communication circuits, and data converters – all of which have profoundly influenced how we perceive our world, and how we interact with other human beings. Now, two very powerful technologies, namely AI/ML and quantum sensing/computing, are converging to change the human experience fundamentally, mainly thanks to the hardware infrastructure, designed by us, that enables them. In the case of AI, the influence flows both ways: While the capabilities of ever more powerful AI platforms are enabled by the hardware infrastructure, the availability of AI-enabled tools will also enhance the capabilities of the new hardware that is designed by using AI. The enormous potential of quantum computing, on the other hand, will likely influence fundamental changes in our thinking, and in our perception of “reality”. As designers of the hardware platforms that enable these revolutions, it is incumbent upon us to be aware of our responsibilities and to act accordingly.
Yusuf Leblebici received the BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering from Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul, Turkey, in 1984 and 1986, respectively, and the PhD degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), IL, USA, in 1990. In 2002, he was appointed as a Chair Professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL) and Director of the Microelectronic Systems Laboratory which he led for more than 16 years. In November 2018, he was appointed as President of Sabancı University. His research interests include design of high-speed CMOS digital and mixed-signal integrated circuits, computer-aided design of VLSI systems, intelligent sensor interfaces, modeling and simulation of semiconductor devices, and VLSI reliability analysis. So far, he has graduated 58 PhD students and more than 100 MSc students. He is the coauthor of nine books (including two internationally acclaimed textbooks), as well as more than 350 scientific articles published in various journals and conferences.
Yusuf Leblebici has been the recipient of the prestigious Young Scientist Award of the Turkish Scientific and Technological Research Council in 1995, and the "Joseph S. Satin Distinguished Fellow Award" in 1999. He was elected as an IEEE Fellow in 2009, and as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society for 2010–2011. In 2020, Yusuf Leblebici has received the Electrical and Computer Engineering Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), and in 2023, he was elected as a Member of Academia Europaea.