Call for IC Design Contest

COMPETE FOR THE $1,000 AND JOIN THE HALL-OF-FAME

The 2025 edition of the SMACD Conference, which will take place at Istanbul, Turkiye, from the 7nd to the 10th of July, will also hold a thrilling and dynamic event where M.Sc. and Ph.D. students can compete with their best use of EDA methodologies, to reach one unique yet challenging goal:

ENHANCE INTEGRATED CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS DESIGN

The winner(s) of the event will receive a prize of $1,000 sponsored by.

HOW TO ENTER THE COMPETITION?

All participants must submit a paper (following SMACD 2025 submission guidelines) that fits into one or more of the following categories:

• Novel IC designs whose performances compete within the state-of-the-art of its research field (at least including Post-Layout simulations);
• IC designs where at least one step of its development flow was partially (or fully) assisted by custom/academic Computer-Aided Design and/or Electronic Design Automation tools;
• IC designs clearly identifying one or more steps of the development flow that would greatly benefit from the development of new Computer-Aided Design and/or Electronic Design Automation tools.

The layout of the circuit must be present and a prototype test is considered an added value. The first author of the submission and presenter at the conference must be a MSc or a PhD student!

EVALUATION CRITERIA

A Judging Committee will select the winner(s) based on the quality of the paper, the presentation at the conference, and the Q&A during the special session, using the following criteria:

• Complexity of the problem posed in the paper.
• Level of EDA support to reach the presented IC design.
• Robustness of the design solutions (e.g., against parasitics, variability, etc.).

TOPICS OF INTEREST

IC designs resulting or enhanced by EDA methodologies and tools related to all application topics of the SMACD24, e.g., AMS, RF and multidomain circuits, and also, emerging devices.

IMPORTANT NOTES

• All accepted submissions in the IC Design Contest will be presented by the students in special sessions and published in the conference proceedings.
• Papers not accepted for the contest short-list will still be considered by the technical program committee for the SMACD 2025 regular sessions.